World Bank Fudan University School of International Relations and Public Affairs University of Maryland School of Public Policy

Sustainable Public-Private Partnerships: New Opportunities and Challenges of Public Governance in Asia
Inducing Social Innovations through Public-Nonprofit Partnership

  May 25, 2013
Shanghai, China



Host: Douglas J. Besharov
3:20 - 4:30 pm

Public Private Collaboration in Education and Health
Presenter: Ariel Fiszbein, Chief Economist, Human Development Network, the World Bank

-Summary-

Professor Fiszbein showed us the perspective of World Bank about public private collaboration in education and health areas. As a matter of fact, there is a growing interest in PPP in the education and health sectors in recent years. The professor demonstrated the statistics, which clearly show the trend that a significant share of education and health services in developing countries are more and more delivered by private providers. Additionally, such a trend is promoted further by an increasing demand in social welfares.
The collaboration between public and private sectors, which is a �mega-trend� in both developed and developing countries, is playing an increasingly significant role in the provision of public services.
PRESENTATION

The Brief Introduction of Non-Profit Incubator (NPI)
Presenter: Ding Li, Vice President of Non-Profit Incubator Headquarters

-Summary-

Starting with the background of NPO/NGO operational environment in China, the presentation provides us with scholars' categorizing of Chinese NPOs/NGOs. Despite that it is still the government organized NGO (GONGOs) predominates, grass-root NGOs are experiencing a growth in recent years, among which social enterprises and community services organization are growing at the fastest speed in 1st tier cities within these 5 years. This has already attracted the attention from the government, along with which is the financial support. The mission of NPI, is to advance social innovation and cultivate social entrepreneurs in China, and the vision is that "All Chinese social entrepreneurs can flourishing in an empowering environment with the systemic supports of favoring policy, full services and general public engagement." NPI, established in 2006, with an annual budget of 24 million RMB and 150 full-time staffs, has developed a cluster of several intermediary agencies to support grassroots NPOs/NGOs as well as social enterprises, mobilizing 200 million RMB and managing 60,000 m2 of facilities. Currently, NPI is operating in more than 10 cities all over China, and has launched various projects, community service platform, capacity building, corporate social responsibility consulting etc. included. According to the life cycle of NPOs/NGOs, responding to their various needs under different development stages, NPI provides systematic supports, which has won them the honors of "National Outstanding Social Organization" by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC in 2010, and 5A grade NPO by Shanghai Administration Bureau of NPOs in 2009.
PRESENTATION

PPP in Environmental Services: Opportunities and Challenges for Co-Management in the Waste Sector
Presenter: Jose Antonio Puppim, De Oliveira Assistant Director and Senior Research Fellow, United Nations University; Editor-in-chief, Public Administration and Development

-Summary-

Governments and state organizations are important, but need coordination within other governments/sectors and other sectors of the society. Win-win (eco-eco) situations exist, but there are still several institutional obstacles, including:
  • lack of information on how to recycle, reuse and reduce;
  • lack of use or markets for recycling/composting materials;
  • lack of collective action to increase scale of collection;
  • informality of the recycling sector;
  • lack of trust on public agencies and corruption.
Countries should try to move to �ideal� partnership with jointly determined goals and collaborative and consensus-based decision making.
PRESENTATION

The Third Sector and social innovation: opportunties and constraints
Presenter: Stephen P. Osborne, Chair of International Public Management; Deputy Dean, University of Edinburgh Business School

-Summary-

  1. The constraints/challenges: How do you deal with risk? Does the Third Sector have a role in stakeholder engagement? What is the impact of government contracting? Can you innovate in times of austerity? How do you ensure that Third Sector Organisations do not get in between service users/citizens public policy making and implementation?
  2. The opportunities/challenges: It brings about users-driven innovation. The third Sector Organisations can be more oriented to innovation for social/public value. The third Sector Organisation can have specialist knowledge that can enable innovative practice. But it should be noticed that when should the Third Sector be involved, and for what types of services/needs?
  3. Four lessons for public policy for the future: Firstly, effective social innovation comes from externally focused public service organizations that understand social/public value. Secondly, public service contracts need to enable/reward appropriate innovation. Thirdly, most innovation fails � so it makes sense to spread the (financial and social) risks and the costs. And finally, co-creation and co-production are the future of effective social innovation.
PRESENTATION

From Service Procurement to Collaborative Governance: Forging Sustainable Public-Nonprofit Partnership
Presenter: Jing Yijia, Professor, Associate Dean, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

-Summary-

  1. Social service procurement gets to be a long-term strategy of nonprofit development in China. They result from reform of governmental functions, the support to nonprofit growth and development, the improvement of service efficiency and quality and soft regulation.
  2. Collaborative governance: a new trend. Firstly, nonprofits tend to be more autonomous. Secondly, nonprofits participate in decision making in many stages of service procurement. Thirdly, nonprofits get into the community governance system. And finally, nonprofits become one representative of community interests.
  3. Synergy and tension between service procurement and collaborative governance. For synergy, service procurement strengthens nonprofits, thus the organizational foundation of collaborative governance. Service procurement creates natural mechanisms toward collaborative governance. Collaborative governance may improve quality of service procurement. For tension, service procurement focuses on pragmatic results, competition and participation. This may prevent long-term stable partnership. Collaborative governance may politicize the relation and distract attention from service goals.
PRESENTATION

Concluding Remarks
Steven Kelman Weatherhead Professor of Public Management Harvard University

-Summary-

  1. All these papers are all about contracts.
  2. For better /cheaper service provision than government, we should consider the four factors: presence of competition, performance measures, length of contract/changes and to choose non-profits or for-profits?
  3. For collaborative governance, should we add more of a decision-making role for private parties or democratic governance/state authority?
PRESENTATION

 



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Fudan University Center for Collaborative Governance               The World Bank