One of the most prominent themes to emerge from all those Africa summits that take place around the world is the importance of replacing traditional aid programs with new private-sector-led trade and investment initiatives, specifically public-private partnerships (PPPs).
The Japanese said they want to do it, so do the French, British, Japanese and, most of all, the United States. Part of their motivation is to use PPPs as a way to differentiate their approach in Africa against China’s state-led development model. The problem with that thinking, though, is that it overlooks the fact that the Chinese are also starting to build new PPPs in Africa as well.
The Chinese, admittedly, are new at this in Africa and really don’t have a lot of experience doing these multi-stakeholder partnerships elsewhere in the world either. So, they’re basically starting from scratch which often means there’s a very steep learning curve.
“The inability to speak the smae language with one another then creates an opening for mistrust and a “me versus you” attitude can easily take hold.”
Xinqing lu, associate program officer at the alliance for a green revolution in africa
Xinqing Lu, an Associate Program Officer at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, experienced that firsthand as one of the partners in a Chinese-led PPP in the Mozambican rice sector. She shared some of the key learnings from that experience in an essay published recently on the China Global South Project and joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the obstacles the different parties encountered and how they overcame those challenges to build a successful program.
Show Notes:
- The China Global South Project: What It Takes to Build a Successful Chinese Agricultural Partnership in Mozambique by Xinqing Lu
- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization: Fostering Effective Public-Private Partnerships in Agriculture
- Kenya News Agency: Agricultural Transformation Key Poverty Alleviation
About Xinqing Lu:
Lu Xinqing is an Associate Program Officer at AGRA, a non-profit based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her work focuses on developing and implementing strategic partnerships with China and strengthening African countries’ capacity to effectively leverage Chinese aid and investment to support agricultural transformation. Prior to AGRA, she worked as an associate strategy officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Beijing office to drive the innovation and China-Africa strategy. Xinqing also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company’s Shanghai office focusing on public and social sector engagements.
