Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / The aim of the study was to examine the public private partnership in Lekgalammetse Nature Reserve, which was championed by the Limpopo Tourism Agency under the banner of Limpopo Economic Development Environment and Tourism Department after the protected land was placed under restitution process. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether the partnership which was created has the capacity to enhance the socio-economic development of the claimants and the adjacent communities in the area where the nature reserve is situated. Land restitution process in case of an area declared protected area by law; says that there will not be physical occupation by the claimants in terms of section 42 of the Land Restitution Act. Therefore the only way that the claimants can benefit from the land, is to become land owners and partner in terms of activities that take place in the protected area for social and economic benefits. A public private partnership was recognised as a potential vehicle for social, economical and environmental well being of both parties. However the developmental prospects of the partnership were unknown and overestimated. Views from the study as well as the literature review support the assertions that in this type of land claim, a public private partnership is the best way to go about developing the claimants and the adjacent communities. The review also highlighted the importance of a partnership in a protected area and its benefits, especially in developing the adjacent communities. Thus the role of the community in participating in their development and of the protected area was the main focus of this study. The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data using interviews and a questionnaire. The study concluded by providing recommendations to stakeholders of Lekgalameetse Nature Reserve on how to improve their partnership relations. Some of the recommendations proposed are to involve a private partner to enhance development in the area; there should be provided with a coordinated and proper management, develop a capacity building tool to improve the co-management function and create an environment where all partners are equal in the partnership. The correct implementation of the Performance Management System will serve as a means to enhance organizational efficiency, effectiveness and accountability in the use of resources in accelerating access to good quality services and a better life for all. A well balanced partnership has a potential to increase community benefits and maximize the conservation of the biodiversity of the area.

Nigeria is rich country in terms of natural resources, It has one of Africa's largest economy, having being endowed with massive natural, human, renewable and non-renewable resources. With a population of about 160 million people which creates a large market for goods and services, rich soil suitable for commercial agriculture, deposits of natural resources including crude-oil, natural-gas, tin, and rock-salt, and cash crops including cocoa, kola-nut, cotton, groundnut and timber, Nigeria has the potential of being one of the largest economy globally and the political hegemony in Africa.1 However, the country has not been able to achieve sustainable development as a result of the deplorable state of infrastructure. Nigeria is confronted with the problem of immense infrastructure deficit which adversely affect national income, cost of production and distribution of goods and services, reduces Foreign Direct Investment(FDI), and result in poverty, unemployment, frequent youth unrest and fall in the general living standards.2 The poor state of infrastructure assets in the country is traceable primarily to the neglect by government and poor maintenance during the transition period from military rule to civilian administration. In an attempt to recover from the infrastructure decay, privatization was commenced in the late 90s through to the 21st century. Yet, there was no commendable improvements as the quality of public services dropped continuously and most of the enterprises were eventually wounded up as a result of corruption, poor maintenance and lack of skilled expertise.3 Furthermore, as a result of budget deficit caused by contraction in fiscal space, and continuous increase in demand for public services which correlates with population growth and rural-urban migration, public financing cannot facilitate bridging of the infrastructure gap. Also, having realized the success of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in other climes, government adopted PPP in 2005 to aid transition of the state of national infrastructure through private involvement in infrastructure financing. Unfortunately, for well over one decade of adopting PPP, Nigeria has not witnessed any commendable changes in her infrastructure assets. The poor performance of PPP in country has been traced to several factors including corruption, lack of transparency, and undue political interference. Central to the factors is the problem of regulatory deficit.4 Consequently, this study will examine the Nigerian PPP legal and regulatory framework to ascertain the problems responsible for the inability of the infrastructure financing technique to facilitate sustainable development through successful infrastructure projects. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014 / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

The prioritisation of private funds in financing public infrastructures due to limited financial resources available through the public sector has raised concerns about the protection of human rights and environment considering that the main goal of corporations is to generate as much profit as possible. The presence of the World Bank Group in the mix is to strike a balance between these competing needs by introducing the concept of sustainable finance through technical assistance and the adoption of standards that are integrated with the concept to influence the behaviour of state and non-state actors in their investment practices, especially in the developing world. This study employs a legal doctrinal approach in providing a critical analysis on the authoritativeness of the instruments adopted by the World Bank Group based on the established doctrines to derive logical conclusions from primary and secondary sources. It enquires into the work of the World Bank Group to explain the potential acceptance of the concept of sustainable finance and its impacts in infrastructure development and international investment law. This study found that the interactions established in the arrangement of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) among all various actors in international law is the key to internalise the concept of sustainable finance since it could form a community of legal practice adhering to the same standards. Furthermore, the compatibility between the standards adopted by the World Bank Group and the provisions found in the traditional sources of international law on human rights and environment could improve state and non-state actors’ compliance with those existing norms.

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly used to address pressing infrastructure demands. PPPs typically involve a long-term contract between governments and private firms for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure where private finance is put at risk throughout the contract's duration. By bundling these key tasks in the hands of the private sector, PPPs are expected to address certain limitations of traditional delivery approaches by capitalizing on private sector expertise and capabilities. Yet, while studies have shown the feasibility of PPPs in many cases, key challenges such as asymmetric information, incentive misalignment, bounded rationality, high transaction costs, and contract incompleteness are greater in PPPs than in traditional projects. This is because PPPs involve numerous heterogeneous stakeholders and multiple discrete project phases spanning decades. These challenges interact and result in high uncertainty in PPPs. Thus, how to address uncertainties is crucial in designing and implementing a PPP contract. Using a deliberately sampled data set of 20 contemporary greenfield highway contracts in Australia, the Philippines, and India, three studies explore the current practices of three key areas in PPPs: risk allocation, decision rights allocation, and lifecycle project management. Together, these studies shed light on how contracting parties design contracts ex ante to address ex post uncertainty due to inevitable changes in circumstances and requirements. In the study of risk allocation, the results support the risk transfer tenet and risk allocation principle and criteria. For instance, most of the comprehensive set of the 35 key risks investigated were transferred to the private sector or shared; exogenous risks had more consistent allocation and were shared more than endogenous risks across the three countries. A high level of similarity in risk allocation within each country and across the countries was uncovered regardless of remarkably different characteristics at both project and country levels. The similarities among these countries may indicate common risk allocation practices across other comparable countries in the region, and it provides the basis for revisiting existing literature such as studies about the relationship between institutional strength and the extent of risk transfer. Several silent or indeterminate provisions were also identified, indicating areas for improving current contractual designs. Some shift of responsibilities to the private sector in tolled projects (typically longer contract duration) compared with government-paid ones (typically shorter) was observed across the countries. Some limited trends over time such as less silent or indeterminate provisions and more risks retained by the public sector in recent projects in the Philippines and India, respectively, were also observed. For the examination of decision rights allocation, the key finding was the dominant level of owner control in a comprehensive set of 10 key provisions in almost all contracts regardless of the country's level of development and the substantial number of risks transferred to the private sector. The observed owner control aligns with agency theory, and this finding is likely driven by governments' accountability concerns and risk aversion. The extensive level of owner control does not support the argument that interprets property rights theory as applied to PPPs as providing the private sector with more extensive decision rights given their significant role in the decades-long duration of a PPP project. Contracts in Australia were more rigid, having distinctive, rigorous, and more detailed requirements with more ex-ante effort required to specify numerous provisions. Some limited national trends include contractual design evolvement over time in some provisions in the Philippines and India. The identified silent provisions indicate areas for improvement. For the lifecycle project management inquiry, the practices explored specify project structure, requirements, processes, and procedures that function as key elements of measurement- and process-based management throughout a project's contract period. Implementing these elements can trigger corresponding governance mechanisms to promote contractual and relational governance. Contracts in Australia tend to be more comprehensive in many areas requiring more ex ante contracting efforts such as naming contractors in contracts and ex post implementation efforts to comply with many distinctive requirements such as those concerning environmental and community/user management. Meanwhile, contracts in Australia likely rely more on trust-based management versus monitoring/control-based management, having limited requirements for monitoring and safeguarding the contract. Together, these findings provide insights to more comprehensively understand how contracts are designed to address uncertainties. The common and different practices revealed benefit both practitioners and scholars and consequently suggest pathways toward enhancing the potential benefits and efficiency of PPPs; the former by facilitating informed decisions such as market entry, project selection, and strategic contractual designs at both the project-level and policy-level, especially for evolving markets such as the Philippines, India, and other regional and comparable countries; the latter by providing a framework with supporting contractual evidence that (i) reinforces and supports numerous contractual and governance theories and principles and (ii) establishes a baseline for multiple subsequent inquiries such as examining the key factors affecting parties' contractual choices, the effectiveness of the practices uncovered, and the gaps with parties' preferences. The research is characterized by its broad scope exploring comprehensive sets of key provisions in 20 contracts spanning three countries and its important implications for both theory and practice of PPP contractual design. / Doctor of Philosophy / Public-private partnerships (PPPs) involve decades-long contracts between governments and private firms where a single private firm typically designs, builds, finances, operates, and maintains a specific infrastructure facility for revenues mainly from users (tolls) or governments. PPPs are theoretically expected to address certain limitations of traditional delivery approaches by capitalizing on private sector expertise and capabilities. Numerous studies have shown the feasibility of PPPs in many projects and sectors in various countries. However, PPP transactions are characterized by high uncertainty as a result of the involvement of numerous diverse stakeholders and the integration of multiple project lifecycle phases that span decades where changes in circumstances and requirements are inevitable. Contracts are the key and central instrument in project governance. Thus, addressing uncertainties is crucial in designing and implementing a PPP contract. Using a data set of 20 contemporary greenfield highway contracts in Australia, the Philippines, and India, this dissertation explored three key issues: risk allocation, decision rights allocation, and lifecycle project management. Risk allocation refers to which contracting party would take responsibility for certain contractual requirements with corresponding consequences or benefits. Decision rights allocation defines the boundaries of public sector involvement and consequently its control of the private sector's activities and decisions. Lifecycle project management is a set of contractual requirements, project structure, processes, and principles that steer the actions of and interactions between parties over a project's lifecycle. For risk allocation, the results reveal that most of the 35 key risks investigated were either transferred to the private sector or shared. One interesting and, to some extent, unexpected finding was the relatively high level of similarity in risk allocation within each country and across the countries, despite remarkably different characteristics at both project and country levels. This suggests that similar risk allocation practices may be employed across regional and comparable countries and perhaps beyond. No noticeable transnational trends or variances were observed except some shift of responsibilities to the private sector in user-paid projects (typically longer contract duration) compared with government-paid ones (typically shorter). Some limited trends over time such as a decrease in silent or indeterminate provisions and more risks retained by the public sector in recent projects in the Philippines and India, respectively, were observed. Additionally, exogenous risks (external to the project) had more consistent allocation and were shared more than endogenous risks (within a project's boundary). Some silent provisions were identified, indicating areas for improvement of contractual designs. For decision rights allocation, the key finding was the dominant level of owner control in 10 key provisions in almost all contracts, regardless of the country's level of development and the substantial number of risks transferred to the private sector. Contracts in Australia were more rigid, having distinctive, rigorous, and more detailed requirements with more efforts required beforehand to specify numerous provisions. Some limited national trends include contractual design evolvement over time in some provisions in the Philippines and India. Some silent provisions were identified, indicating areas for improvement or consideration. For lifecycle project management, parties designed contractual practices to rely on (1) contractual requirements with consequences for noncompliance and harmonious and collaborative relationships between parties, (2) rigid and detailed requirements and flexible ways to correspond to uncertainties, and (3) output-based management approaches (e.g., performance linked payments) and process-based management approaches (e.g., regular meetings and communication, procedures to resolve disputes) to address future uncertainties throughout a project's contract duration. Contracts in Australia tend to be more comprehensive in many areas requiring more ex ante contracting efforts such as naming contractors in contracts and ex post implementation efforts to comply with many distinctive requirements such as those concerning environment and community/user management. Meanwhile, contracts in Australia likely rely more on trust-based management versus monitoring/control-based management, having limited requirements for monitoring and safeguarding the contract. Overall, the common and different practices revealed facilitate informed decisions such as market entry, project selection, and strategic contractual designs at both the project-level and policy-level, especially for evolving markets such as the Philippines, India, and other regional and comparable countries. For instance, international developers expecting high revenue can choose the Philippines over India since revenue risk is typically a private risk in the Philippines but shared in India. Additionally, governments in the Philippines and India might want to consider adopting more trust-based management practices so that their contracts would better attract and incentivize international developers. The findings also provide contractual evidence that supports numerous contract and governance theories and principles and establishes a baseline for subsequent inquiries such as investigating the effectiveness of the practices uncovered, the key reasons for parties' contractual choices, and the gaps with parties' preferences. The research is characterized by its broad scope exploring comprehensive sets of key provisions in 20 contracts spanning three countries and its important implications for both theory and practice of PPP contractual designs.

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This case study examines why the Freedmen's Bureau, a Federal agency that existed within the War Department between 1865 and 1872, formed collaborative relationships with church-supported charitable organizations to establish schools during the Civil War Reconstruction Period in Virginia. This project examines the relationships between Freedmen's Bureau officials and the leadership of church-supported charitable organizations. Specifically, this project examines the formation of these relationships, the nature of the relationships that formed, the norms and values that shaped the relationships, and the impact those relationships had on education policy in the South. The examination of a historical federal agency through archival research methods generated findings that were consistent with current knowledge of the collaborative process. Preexisting relationships formed during the Civil War served as the foundation for collaborative relationships that formed between the Bureau and church-supported charitable organizations. These relationships were integral to the formation of schools that served formerly enslaved persons as well as other war refugees. Ultimately, political and social pressure facilitated the closing of the Bureau, but the schools remained, forming the foundation for public school systems throughout the South. Examining an extinct agency which worked alongside church-supported charitable organizations, shows that facets of collaborative governance occurred much earlier than presently identified, especially as it pertains to discrete steps in the collaboration process, specifically antecedent and initial conditions of collaboration, pre-existing relationships, and impacts of collaboration. The project also adds to the study of public administration as a field by extending the timeline of the practice of public administration. This dissertation also adds to the scholarship on the impact of race on policy implementation and administrative practice. / Doctor of Philosophy / This case study examines why the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau), a controversial federal agency that existed within the War Department between 1865 and 1872, formed collaborative relationships with church-supported charitable organizations to establish schools during the Civil War Reconstruction Period in Virginia. This project will examine the relationships between Freedmen’s Bureau officials and the leaders of various church-supported charitable organizations. Specifically, this project will examine the types of relationships that formed, the customs and values that shaped those relationships and the impact of those relationships had on education policy in Virginia. Relationships between charitable organizations and army officials formed during the Civil War and served as the foundation for relationships that formed between the Bureau and charitable aid organization. Although not unique for its time the Freedmen’s Bureau relied upon nongovernmental actors and entities in performing its functions, especially education. The schools that were established, served formerly enslaved persons as well as other war refugees and served as the foundation for the public school system across the South. Although the Freedmen’s Bureau would be abolished in 1872, the schools that were established with the help of the Bureau, remained. The fact that organizations were involved in Reconstruction-era schooling is known. That the Freedmen’s Bureau helped organizations establish schools throughout the South is known. Less is known about the extent of those relationships, however. Examining a historical and extinct agency which developed relationships with a number of church-supported charitable organizations shows that collaborative relationships occurred much earlier than we once thought.

Innovation is a popular topic that receives significant attention from both organizations and academics. This attention includes scholars, executives, public entities, and private organizations in the construction and infrastructure fields. Scholars have examined innovation in both construction and public-private partnerships (P3s). Despite this work, gaps remain – particularly regarding the impact of project-level factors on technical innovation in P3s. Hence, this dissertation contributes to the areas of infrastructure innovation and P3s using a three pronged approach. First, exploration of the literature identified 348 factors that drive or inhibit innovation in infrastructure projects. These factors were synthesized into 33 aggregate factors such as client, integration, and risk. Subsequently, case interviews with practitioners revealed 110 factors that influence innovation in P3 projects; these were further grouped into six main categories. Literature and practitioner perspectives were strongly aligned around four predominant factors influencing innovation in P3 projects: i) risk, ii) client, iii) procurement, and iv) project type. Second, a framework to identify and classify project level innovation was derived and tested using deviations from project baselines submitted as alternative technical concepts (ATCs) in four infrastructure project procurements. The developed framework provides the infrastructure and construction community with a replicable approach to assess technical enhancements in projects to determine whether they are innovative or not and if so the type of innovation. Application of the framework classified only 7 of 53 ATCs from the four projects as innovative. However, the remainder added significant value through cost savings, improved safety or operational efficiency. Lastly, a case study of six contemporary US highway P3 projects: i) Elizabeth River Tunnels in Virginia; ii) East End Crossing in Indiana; iii) North Tarrant Expressway segments 3A&B in Texas; iv) I-4 Ultimate Improvement in Florida; v) I-77 HOT Lanes in North Carolina; and vi) SH 288 Toll Lanes in Texas was conducted to determine the types of innovation found and to assess the influence of key project characteristics on P3 technical innovation. Technical enhancements proposed by concessionaires were assessed using project documentation and semi-structured interviews with 23 experienced public and private sector project participants. Innovations were uncovered, albeit limited. Procurement, project type, and payment mechanism (demand risk/traffic risk) were the key project characteristics influencing innovation. Further, these same characteristics promoted added-value in the form of increased safety, reduced project durations, and decreased project costs. Together, the three studies advance our understanding of the effect of project attributes on technical innovation and value creation in infrastructure public-private arrangements. / Ph. D. / Governments around the world are using public-private partnerships (P3s) to provide needed infrastructure. They often claim that the involvement of the private sector in the delivery of infrastructure will generate various benefits, particularly innovation. However, public agencies and private infrastructure developers provide limited evidence of innovation outcomes. While academic scholars have explored the topic, the studies are limited and have generated alternative results. This dissertation contributes to the areas of infrastructure innovation and P3s with three independent but interrelated studies. First, the exploration of the literature and the perspectives of 23 experienced project participants identified four predominant factors that influence the occurrence of innovation in P3 projects: i) risk, ii) client, iii) procurement, and iv) project type. Second, a framework to identify and classify project level technical innovations in a replicable and transparent manner was developed and tested. Lastly, a multi-case study approach was adopted to determine the types of innovation found and to assess the influence of key project characteristics on P3 project technical innovation. Project documentation was assessed and interviews were conducted with public and private participants in six contemporary US highway P3 projects. Technical innovation was found within the cases, albeit limited. Demand risk and involving the private partner early were two of the most influential project characteristics on technical innovation. Further, these two characteristics promoted added-value technical enhancements through increased safety, reduced project durations, and decreased project costs.

Public-private partnerships have become an important aspect of public administration theory and practice both in the United States and internationally. The National Archives and Records Administration, in partnership with private support foundations, administers 13 individual presidential libraries that make up the Presidential Library System. These privately constructed, publicly supported archives not only preserve official presidential records, but through their museum displays, also offer visitors a glimpse into the life and times of specific presidents. Although many consider these partnerships vital for the continued success of the Presidential Library System, relatively little is known about them. This qualitative case study explores the nature and extent of the public-private partnerships in the Presidential Library System, focusing on libraries established following the Presidential Records Act of 1978. Key themes related to the nature of these simultaneously mandated and voluntary relationships are their informal governance, decentralized administration, and increased reliance on private resources. This research has implications for both theory and practice of public-private partnerships in general as well as those supporting sites of collective memory such as archives, museums, monuments, and memorials. / Ph. D.

National calls for improving the prospects of STEM workforce development and broadening participation in STEM place the focus of change within the education system. Despite many efforts towards integrating STEM, and specifically engineering, into pre-college settings, mechanisms for change in schools towards these goals remain underdeveloped. While collaborative solutions involving multiple organizations across sectors towards addressing this complex problem appear promising, more work is needed to develop a critical understanding of the processes involved when such different organizations come together to collaborate towards a social goal. Based in an effort to bring more theoretical literature into the discourse around school-university-industry partnership, the purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of how K-12 STEM interorganizational relationships develop in their initial stages by focusing on the collaborative processes and structures and to develop implications for future success of such collaborations. To accomplish this, I used a multiple case study design to investigate the collaborative processes that emerged in the first year of the partnership within VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). I centered my analysis on select adult stakeholders in the collaborative problem who were also programmatic participants including teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates. Using pre-year and post-year semi-structured interviews with these stakeholders, I characterized the collaborative processes in the first year of the program. Interpretation of results comparing across cases indicated considerations for education and organizational theory literature as well as implications for collaborative practice. Findings confirmed the emergent and negotiated nature of interorganizational collaboration and highlighted the importance of managing communication and reflection in partnership. Organizational culture may impact capacity building when organizations come together towards a complex social goal, particularly when industry is involved, and autonomy and operational issues within the school system and teaching can make collaborating with schools particularly challenging. When organizations come together towards a social goal centered around one of the collaborative partners, equality in exchange may not be a good measure of success. With the caveat that communication needs to be well managed to build credibility among partners, an unequal but equitable exchange of resources may be appropriate in collaborations towards a social goal. While it is tempting to continue to measure quality in interorganizational collaborations narrowly by the outcomes produced, a macro-level look at the collaborative processes involved enables collaborative stakeholders to be intentional about designing for future success. / Doctor of Philosophy / National calls for a higher number and greater diversity of STEM professionals place the burden of change on school systems. Despite some successful efforts, there still remains significant challenges to making change in schools. Partnerships between private companies, universities, and school systems appear promising, but current work is limited in its conclusions. There is a need to reflect more critically on the process of how organizations build relationships in addressing social goals if we are to gain a better understanding of how to make these partnerships successful. To address this, I conducted pre-year and post-year interviews with teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates during the first year of VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). Because the project took place in three different rural school counties, I looked for similarities and differences across the collaborations in each county to build a broader understanding and develop implications for other partnerships. Findings from this study led to several important takeaways about collaborating across organizations towards goals in K-12 STEM. First, collaboration is a process and initial plans will change and develop over time. Reflecting on this and keeping open communication through changes potentially equips collaborators to better weather the ups and downs of partnership. Second, the nature and flexibility of an organization’s work environment impacts how much tension they feel between getting their everyday work done and contributing to the collaboration. Third, unequal costs and benefits may be acceptable in a collaboration as long as collaborators are in agreement on the balance. Again, communication is important to build trust and understanding among partners for a healthy balance to be achieved. Overall, taking a birds-eye view of collaborative processes allows collaborators to be more intentional about designing for future success.