Creating Jobs in Samoa Through Public-Private Partnerships

Samoa’s achievement in contracting out to the private sector the functions of its Public Works Department (PWD) is one of the most successful reforms to upgrade infrastructure; improve the effectiveness of public expenditure; and increase the overall employment, productivity, and capacity in a Pacific island economy in the past 20 years. The reform has resulted in the establishment of nearly 30 new Samoan road construction and maintenance companies. Directly and indirectly, the reform has led to the creation of more than 2,000 new jobs, making this a prime example of the power of public–private partnerships to promote economic development and increase employment.1 Prior to the reform, much of this work was undertaken inefficiently by the PWD, or by foreign companies under contract. All construction and maintenance in Samoa is now outsourced to Samoan companies, which are sufficiently productive and cost-effective that foreign firms now struggle to compete

Public-private partnerships in aquaculture: a case study on tilapia research and development

In Philippines, Nile tilapia is the second most important food fish for domestic consumption, next to milkfish. Genetic improvement research for this species has progressed significantly. Public sector institutions that have played a primary role in development of improved strains of the species have also worked on sustaining the genetic quality of stocks. They have ensured that the improved stocks are disseminated commercially for the benefit of more fishfarmers. However, in view of the enormous and complex resource requirements, there is tremendous challenge for the public sector institutions to sustain the cost of long-term genetic improvement and commercialization of the improved seed from the national breeding programs. In the crop sector, such a situation has encouraged the public sector institutions to involve the private sector as a partner in breeding programs and commercialization of the products. In the case of fish, a similar trend is now emerging. In Philippines, there is an increasing private sector participation in the production and dissemination of improved tilapias.Genetics, Research, Philippines, Oreochromis niloticus

Report of the Fifth Meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee

Report of the fifth meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee, held in London, March 31-April 2, 1997 and chaired by Andreas Büchting and Assia Alaoui. Matters discussed included funding cuts and staff reductions at ICRISAT and IRRI, a draft paper on a private sector perspective of agricultural research, plans for the third CGIAR System Review, and the possibility of raising the level of CGIAR investment in biotechnology. The Committee also discussed means of increasing awareness of the CGIAR and its activities in the private sector, including preliminary preparations for a high level conference with selected representatives of that sector. Committee members described their visits to various centers.Agenda document, CGIAR Mid Term Meeting, May 1997

Report of the Third Meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee

Report of the third meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee, held at CIMMYT headquarters in El Batán, Mexico, August 19-20, 1996. The Committee had a discussion of common interests with the TAC Chairman. It reviewed the results of a survey of the IARCs. It appointed a working group to prepare a statement of the private sector perspective on the status and needs of global agricultural research The Committee agreed in principle to hold a private sector summit on agricultural research, to be further considered at the next meeting. The mission statement for the Committee was revised, and would also be further considered.Agenda document, CGIAR International Centers Week, October-November 1996

Comments of the Private Sector Committee on the CGIAR System Review Report

The response of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee to the third CGIAR system review. The comments deal with the importance of CGIAR collaboration with the private sector, and the mechanisms for ensuring collaboration. They urge definitional clarity, particularly of responsibilities, and urge the creation of a central legal/policy body for areas that define the operation of the system as a whole. The Committee finds the report lacking in concrete and realistic priorities, and urges more direct attention to the problems of Africa. It believes that the private sector may provide resources to the CGIAR in cases of mutual benefit, but doubts that companies will become members.Agenda document, CGIAR International Centers Week 1998

Report of the Eleventh Meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee

Report of the eleventh meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee held at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. on conjunction with ICW 99, chaired by Sam Dryden. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Director General of IFPRI and incoming chair of the CDC, participated. The Committee discussed its role as revised by the system review process. Members agreed that it should provide policy advice to the CGIAR based on members' experience of private sector views and practices. The theme for the meeting was The Impending Impasse in Advanced Breeding and the Use of Proprietary Technology. Discussion utilized an ISNAR survey of proprietary science. The concern was that centers could face litigation if the properly licensed use of proprietary technologies was in question. There might also be a contributory infringement problem for donors. The public debate on biotechnology, and the danger that center application of advanced methods would be impeded was also discussed. A number of ways to overcome the impasse were explored, but each had some flaws.The Committee urged a complete inventory of center use of proprietary technology, and determination of ownership and the actions needed to permit dissemination of products. The planned high level dialogue between the CGIAR Chairman and major CEOs might help. The CGIAR could assist the private sector by providing public endorsements for biotechnology products. The Committee accepted a USAID invitation to cosponsor a workshop with IRRI and others on the impact of IPR on rice research.Agenda document, CGIAR International Centers Week, October, 1999

Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee

Report of the thirteenth meeting of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee, held in Washington on October 21-22, 2000, just prior to ICW 2000, Sam Dryden presiding. CGIAR Chairman Ian Johnson joined the meeting for an hour. He reiterated the imperative need for public/private partnerships. Dryden spoke of private sector perspectives and questions about the concept of global public goods and their relation to germplasm improvement activities at CGIAR Centers. World Bank representative Shawki Barghouti briefed the Committee on Bank plans for a high level policy dialogue with the private sector on new agricultural technologies and their significance to the global development agenda. The Committee discussed the future governance and organization of the CGIAR. It favored regional priority setting, and suggested changes needed to implement that approach. Use of consultants was suggested. Other items on the agenda were the future role of the Committee, the need to educate the public on the importance of germplasm improvement, and the review of plant breeding in the CGIAR. The Chairman briefed the CGIAR meeting on the work of the committee, and this written report was circulated as part of the summary report of ICW 2000

Private Revenge and its Relation to Punishment

In contrast to the vast literature on retributive theories of punishment, discussions of private revenge are rare in moral philosophy. This paper reviews some examples, from both classical and recent writers. It detects, both in the philosophical tradition and in contemporary moral discourse, uncertainty and equivocation over the ethical significance of acts of revenge, and in particular over their possible resemblances, in motive, purpose or justification, to acts of lawful punishment. A key problem for the coherence of our ethical conception of revenge, it suggests, is the consideration that certain acts of revenge may be just (at least in the minimal sense that the victim of revenge has no grounds for complaint against the revenger) and yet be generally agreed to be morally wrong. It argues that the challenge of explaining adequately why private revenge is morally wrong poses particular difficulty for purely retributive theories of punishment, since without invoking consequentialist reasons it does not seem possible adequately to motivate an objection to just and proportionate acts of revenge. The paper concludes by identifying some of the directions in which further reflection on the moral and political significance of revenge might proceed

A Primer on Private Equity at Work: Management, Employment, and Sustainability

Private equity, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and other private pools of capital form part of the growing shadow banking system in the United States; these new financial intermediaries provide an alternative investment mechanism to the traditional banking system. Private equity and hedge funds have their origins in the U.S., while the first sovereign wealth fund was created by the Kuwaiti Government in 1953. While they have separate roots and distinct business models, these alternative investment vehicles increasingly have been merged into overarching asset management funds that encompass all three alternative investments. These funds have wielded increasing power in financial and non-financial sectors – not only via direct investments but also indirectly, as their strategies – such as high use of debt to fund investments – have been adopted by investment arms of banks and by publicly-traded corporations. This primer focuses on private equity (PE) because this is the new financial intermediary that most directly affects the management of, and employment relations in, operating companies that employ millions of U.S. workers. However, as the boundaries among alternative investment funds have begun to blur, we will touch on hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds as their activities relate to private equity.private equity