USAID Public Private Partnerships: A Snapshot

Editor’s note: In this blog, George Ingram provides a snapshot of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) dataset of its public private partnerships. For a more detailed look at public-private partnerships, read Ingram’s fact sheet, A Data Picture of USAID Public-Private Partnerships: 2001-2014.

In September, USAID released for the first time a dataset of its public-private partnerships since 2001. While the data set is not complete, reporting on about 90 percent of an estimated total of 1,600, it is the most comprehensive information yet available and provides a reasonable overview of the extent and nature of USAID’s public private partnerships.

I have sorted through the data and just released a report of data tables: A Data Picture of USAID Public-Private Partnerships: 2001-2014. The report sorts through the data to present a quantitative picture of USAID’s partnerships.

The data reveals that during the period of 2001 to early 2014:

• There was a total of 1,393 partnerships, or an average of 100 a year
• The total lifetime value of these partnerships is $14.3 billion, $3.8 billion from USAID and $10.3 billion from partners
• Each dollar invested by USAID has leveraged partner contributions valued at $3.74
• A quarter of PPPs have a duration of three years and 85 percent span one to five years
• Some 3,000 organizations have been involved in USAID PPPs; Sixty-four have been involved in 5 or more
• Africa has been the locus for the most partnerships (423), followed by Latin America (394) and Asia (340)
• PPPs have been carried out in 91 countries, 54 of which hosted 10 or more
• Economic Growth is the sector that has attracted the most public private partnerships (375), followed by health (314) and Agriculture (202)
• But the most value has been in health ($7.2 billion), followed by agriculture ($2 billion) and economic growth ($1.5 billion)

This data release by USAID is welcomed. It advances the administration’s commitment to open, accessible data and open government.  Such data provides citizens in America and in developing countries a better understanding of how the U.S. is investing its development dollars. I look forward to using this data and other information to analyze the nature and value of USAID’s PPPs.