Join the Global PPPs E-List

 To join, please fill out this google form

The list aims to provide an online space for civil society and researchers from around the world who are concerned about the spread of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to share information, strategies and resources, and to coordinate around joint activities.

So-called ‘Public Private Partnerships’ are rapidly spreading around the world as the new preferred way to finance public services and infrastructure. Governments are arguing that they have insufficient funds to build and run schools and hospitals and essential infrastructure, and that the only way to provide these services is by ‘leveraging’ private finance through public guarantees. There is consensus amongst all the major global institutions, from the IMF to the G20, about the need for this type of funding model, and they are now moving to try and agree a standardised model so as to be able to accelerate the global expansion of PPPs. 

Yet, experience shows that, far from delivering on their promise, PPPs:

• Impose huge, disproportionate costs on governments and contribute to hidden, unsustainable public debts
• Undermine access to affordable, good quality essential public services like healthcare, education, water and energy
• Undermine democratic control over public services and infrastructure

PPPs are effectively the forefront of a new wave of ‘privatisation’, this time with a more acceptable public face. The new wave focuses significantly on energy, transport, water and information/communications technology (ICT).  Elements of the new PPP model that are new or reinvigorated include: an emphasis on megaprojects; deregulated investment regimes (including land acquisition rules); and “financialization” – the creation of large PPP portfolios to attract big investors.  The global push on PPPs threatens to permanently change the way that public services are provided, with corporate profits replacing public interest as the driving force.

List Membership

The list is restricted to broad ‘public interest civil society’, including activists, campaigners, researchers and investigators working to tackle the threat to public services and public finances posed by the rise of PPPs. The list is NOT open to representatives of governments, corporations or the media.

List Moderation

The list has been instigated by and is administered by Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, following consultation with various international allies working to tackle the threat posed by PPPs. It will be very lightly moderated to ensure a manageable volume of emails and respectful discussion - ie. if lengthy discussions ensue we may ask participants to carry them on off-list in order to save peoples’ inboxes.

Language / Translation

We realise that the struggle against PPPs is very alive in all corners of the globe, involving people speaking 1000s of different languages. Ideally this list would have Spanish and French translation as a minimum, but unfortunately we don’t currently have the resources to support that, or translation into other languages. We apologise for that, but believe that an English language list is a step forward and better than no list at all.

How do I join?

In order to keep track of who is on the list we ask you to provide some basic information about who you are and your interest in and activities on PPPs in order to join the list. You will also have the option of providing more information, and of allowing your basic contact information and details of your work on PPPs to be shared with other list members to allow for better information-sharing and coordination on PPPs. We will do this by periodically sharing with the list a contact database containing the details of those who have given permission for their details to be shared.

 To join, please fill out this google form