WELL Factsheet: Public-private partnerships and the poor in water supply projects

This factsheet examines some key issues and implications of involving the private sector in water supply and how this can impact on service delivery for the urban poor. It deals with those situations which involve relationships between organisations from the public and private sectors and identifies issues that are central to promoting the needs of the poor in Public Private Partnerships. The source for this summary is Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and the poor in water and sanitation. (www/lboro/wedc/ projects/PPPandthePoor); series editor M Sohail Khan.

It is worth noting that whilst many documents exist which hypothesise about the effects of private sector involvement on the poor, many of which appear to strike up distinctly pro- or anti- positions on the wider and contentious issues around privatisation, there remains little direct evidence-based reporting on what does, and does not, work.

Author: M. Sohail Khan and Andrew Cotton, May 2003 Quality assurance: Edited and produced as a PDF document: May 2020

Produced by WEDC and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the Department of International Development (DFID) of the UK government (now the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)), this archive collection of WELL factsheets remains relevant. It covers topics ranging from the anaerobic treatment of municipal wastewater through to water quality and safety plans.