Women PPP Leaders Share Their Insights

Introduction

On Wednesdays the 16th?of February WAPPP’s Women in PPPs Chapter held a significant Webinar on the role of women leaders in PPP Units.??This women led initiative was an eye opener and should be a wakeup call to skeptics who under estimate the abilities of women leaders in the PPP Arena.? Highly accomplished and motivated women leaders who have worked diligently to reach their current leadership positions were invited to participate in the webinar.??Speakers included:

• Sultana Afroz, Secretary & Chief Executive Officer, Public Private Partnership Authority ( PPPA), Bangladesh
• Rinzin Pemo - Chief, Investment and Corporate Governance Division and Head of PPP Unit, Department of Macro Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Bhutan
• Natascha Veridiane Schmitt – Advisor to the Special Secretariat of the Brazilian Investment Partnerships Program (SEPPI), Ministry of Economy, Brazil
• Ireen Musonda - Director Public Private Partnerships, Ministry of Finance, Zambia

The moderators of the session are in their own right exceptional examples of women leaders in the PPP world. They were:

• Fatima Zohra Rahmoun - Chair of WAPPP’s Women in PPPs Chapter
• Jyoti Bisbey - Women in PPP Chapter Leadership Committee, WAPPP

The session was opened by Ziad Hayek (President of WAPPP) who emphasized the growing role of women in PPPs and the innovations and new ideas that they bring to the table. The format of the webinar centered around questions that were directed at the speakers.??

Question One: How Leadership Positions were Reached

The first question directed at the speakers focused on soliciting insights into how they reached the leadership positions that they hold.??Sultana Afroz pointed out that she was the first women to hold her position and that she has always strived to be an example for women in Bangladesh. Although she was hired under a policy of improving gender equity in the public service in Bangladesh, she had the appropriate skills for the position and immediately set about strengthening the role of women in PPPs.??Her approach was very strategic and included recruiting external consultants when the skill sets were not available internally, institutional capacity building, and introducing innovation.??By addressing challenges facing women in the public sector in Bangladesh, women were also empowered to introduce their perspectives to PPPs.

Rinzin Pemo had an interesting start in the world of PPPs.??Originally, she was employed as a customs officer in the Bhutanese public service.??Through hard work she worked her way up the bureaucratic??hierarchy and was appointed as the head of the relatively new PPP Unit located in the Ministry of Finance.??Her focus has been on building a good foundation for PPPs, advocating PPPs, and also improving the PPP regulatory framework. She state that she sees evolving Bhutanese PPP policy documents as living documents that can be improved as the practice of PPPs improves in Bhutan.

Natascha Schmitt has also worked diligently to achieve the position she holds today.??She started at the bottom in the private sector financial sector before reaching her current public servant position at SEPPI.??As a lawyer she stated that her focus is on investing effort into strengthening the pillars of successful infrastructure.??She said she was fortunate??to work for a unique institution where many of the top leadership positions are currently occupied by women.??She said that this situation is the consequence of the Government of Brazil’s policy of improving the visibility of women in government.

Ireen Musonda spend most of her early career working in the public service as an economist.??For the last two years she has been the Director of the Zambian PPP Unit which is located in the Ministry of Finance.??She said that one of the most rewarding challenges has been her role as a project manager in the PPP Unit.??As she has settled in her new role she has wholeheartedly focused on improving her and her colleague’s understanding of PPPs.??She has also been very strategic in her approach to PPPs which has included revisiting??Zambian PPPs, institutional capacity building, and advocacy of PPPs.??She is also focused on improving access to PPPs in Zambia.

Question Two: How do you assure equitable representation and what can governments do in general to increase women’s roles?

The speakers were asked what can be done to increase women’s equitable representation and what can be done to increase women’s institutional roles in general?

Natascha Schmitt said it is important to increase the value of women.??Ireen Musonda said it is important to focus on women being both users and drivers of PPPs. She felt that women should not be passive and should take up the challenges they face.??Ireen also said that “if you educate women, you educated a clan.” This Zambian proverb is relevant to women in any government institution. If you give them the tools, they will prove themselves.??

Rinzin Pemo says she works closely with the Bhutanese Gross Happiness Commission which is focused on achieving the SGD goals pertaining to gender equity.??Actions that she has undertaken include improved consultations with women, improving their education and listening closely during stakeholder consultations.??She felt women’s involvement and insights are critically important for PPP projects to be sustainable.??

Sultana Afroz stressed that women’s involvement is a fundamental right in the Bangladesh constitution. It is a future forward looking approach that is also balanced and has resulted in the top leadership of Bangladesh being dominated by empowered women (e.g. the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the speaker of parliament).??She felt that these women serve as an example of what can be done and what should be done in the PPP arena in Bangladesh.

Question Three: Should Specific Gender Entry Points be Provided?

Speakers were asked whether the Public Sector should provide specific entry points???

Sultana Afroz said that governments do need to address access for women, especially when it comes to women owned businesses competing on PPP contracts.??In this way, socioeconomic benefits of PPPs (through a balanced gender participation) could reach more people and women could also become enablers of economic development.

Rinzin Pemo felt that more could be done and that women’s participation needs to be addressed through the PPP legal frameworks of countries.??She also felt that gender specific requirements should also be addressed in PPP contracts.??

Ireen Musonda felt strongly that gender issues should be considered at PPP entry points in Zambia.??She also stressed the need to increase leadership roles through policy that states equal opportunity for women and men.??She also pointed out that when PPP projects are considered, an assessment needs to be made whether the services offered by PPPs are affordable for women and what gender risks the projects could cause. One way to mitigate this questions would be through involving women from the beginning of projects during stakeholder engagement.??A good starting point would be bidding documents that address women’s issues. Ireen also pointed out that currently PPP practice leans heavily on South African policy examples, but that Zambia is also focused on developing its own guidelines regarding empowerment of women.

Natascha Schmitt stressed that, in Brazil, states are looking at building social infrastructure that is women friendly.??She also stated that it is important to ask how PPPs impact women and whether they are being supported to engage in economic activity. It is important she said that women are not just empowered to participate in PPPs, but that the projects also provide well-being to women.

Conclusion

The webinar discussions were very insightful. It was impressive to see a cadre of empowered women PPP practitioners engage confidently in a meaningful debate who have taken their rightful place at the table when it comes to implementing PPPs.??

As they say - “watch this space.”???These leaders deserve best wishes in their successful endeavors to champion women PPP practitioners and stakeholders.

To see the full recording of the webinar, visit WAPPP’s website.