DOT-COMments eNewsletter - March 2007 (Issue 19)

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

Welcome to the DOT-COMments eNewsletter, the newsletter of the DOT-COM Alliance. You can access all articles individually by following the links below. A complete copy of this issue can be downloaded as a PDF file.

This issue of the newsletter includes a short highlight of a recent public private partnership event organized by the Digital Freedom Initiative (DFI), two "Lessons Learned" from the dot-ORG program, a project update focused on the LMI Paraguay Project and a project update from dot-EDU in Yemen.

Digital Freedom Initiative: Public/Private Sector Roundtable of February 20, 2007
The DFI Public/Private Sector Roundtable of February 20, 2007 provided a forum for the U.S. Government, private, academic and NGO participants to exchange view and program ideas on how to best work together to achieve the key goal of using ICTs to aid development.
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Engaging the Private Sector - dot-ORG
Public/private partnerships can work. Understanding the exact nature of the partnership and leveraging potential is key as it helps to keep track of Return on Investment (ROI) related to such partnerships and to focus efforts on the types of partnerships that have the highest leveraging potential rather than focusing on specific types of partners.
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Expanding the Market for ICT Services Through Competitive Tendering and Subsidies
A good project design must include plans for long-term sustainability. For ICT projects, in particular where the private sector is involved, sustainability usually requires the right mix of competitive tendering and subsidies to ensure that 1) the incentives exist for the private sector to extend ICT services where it would otherwise not provide services; and 2) end-users are encouraged to test those services and acquire the skills needed to use those services effectively.
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Yemen's Public and Private Sectors Look Ahead Together
At a recent gathering in Tai’z, Yemen, leading members of the public and private sectors, and the international donor community met to discuss ways of propelling Yemen’s education system forward through the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT). The Looking Forward Summit: Harnessing ICT to Build the Future of Yemeni Education was presented by the Prime Minister and facilitated by EDC. The summit was a culminating event for the dot-EDU project Internet in Yemeni High Schools (IYHS) and the Instructional Leadership in Schools Initiative (ILSI) projects funded by USAID and the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), two projects that have been working in Yemen to integrate appropriate technologies in schools and grow capacity within its education system.
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Last Mile Initiative in Paraguay - Connecting Underserved Areas
The LMI Paraguay project currently brings connectivity to nineteen schools and other local institutions in two underserved communities of Paraguay. With local partnerships in place, the project is poised to expand its reach to up to 100 connections by the end of April 2007.
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