Successful public – private partnership

First published in L'Express on 11/07/2006



Introduction

Soon after the government formulated its vision of transforming the country into a cyber island with three main dimensions, various teams emerged to realize this vision. One such team, the Implementation Working Group (IWG) emanated from the e-education taskforce headed by the Minister of Education (MOE). The IWG consists of ministry representatives (education, training, IT, etc), educational institutions (including the University of Mauritius) as well as private sector organizations.


The IWG is chaired by the director of the Joint Economic Council. Over time and through a process of self-selection, the IWG has became a core group of voluntary and committed individuals convinced that what was required to translate this vision was innovative ideas resulting from thinking “outside the box”. One such idea (the Computer Proficiency Project – CPP) consisted in offering mass IT training to the population using existing resources – computer labs in 30 state secondary schools (SSS) after school hours (from 16:00 to 20:00 on school days and from 09:00 to 16:00 during weekends and from 08:00 to 20:00 during school holidays in 2-3 hour sessions).



The CPP represented a capacity of offering 48 hours of hands-on computer training to 20,000 people every year at the cost of Rs 700-800 per head while the market rate would exceed Rs 3,000. This price was based on a detailed business plan and break-even analysis, given that the project was to be self-financed. The priority was to optimize the multiplier effect by focusing on the 10,000 primary and secondary school teachers in the first year. The MOE paid their training fees. On paper the plan so simple that few could argue against it especially since it involved low-cost mass training for the public in the shortest possible time. However, the first hurdle was to get approval for this simple but unusual project.


Lobbying and project approval

Resistance to the adoption of a non-conventional approach came from some members of the IWG itself. Some were prompted by personal motives given that they had direct/indirect interests in similar more expensive IT courses against which the CPP would compete. Others were simply sceptical about the ultimate success of the project because it had not been tried on such a large scale before, because it was so different from traditional projects characterized by huge financial outlay, foreign trips, foreign expertise, and inescapable bureaucracy. There was a genuine apprehension about the risk that state assets would get vandalized. In the light of all this resistance, it soon became clear that the project would not take off without some intensive formal and informal lobbying to deal with its ‘political’ dimension. This lobbying resulted in a coalition that turned out to be very effective in the project approval process (…), which however, from the presentation of the CPP at the IWG to its approval by the authorities, took about a year (from October 2000 to September 2001).


Leadership

For unusual projects like the CPP, one needs leaders with character, opinions and a will, who do not hesitate to take chances. The project owes a lot to the no-nonsense approach of the IWG chairman. Meetings were effectively managed, time-wasting digressions discouraged and personal attacks sanctioned. It soon became clear to everyone that the IWG meant business. The opinion of every well-meaning member of the IWG counts. There is no hierarchy and the leadership is animated by a contagious passion and this goes a long way to explain the success of the CPP.


The management team

It was agreed from the outset that such a large-scale project required appropriate management. Great care was taken in the recruitment of the project manager and the three supervisors with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and deliverables. The first priority was the setting up a management team running on private-sector principles characterized by flexibility, autonomy, performance-related pay and business-like rigour to ensure cost-effective delivery of the training using state assets.


This management team works at non-conventional hours, recruits and manages a team of more than eighty freelance trainers. It is responsible for the ‘sale’ of training seats, ensuring that break-even targets are attained, since, as the whole project is self-financed. This implies that the equipment is maintained in good running condition and that the quality of the training is constantly reviewed to meet the trainees’ expectations, the long-term success of the project depending on word-of-mouth advertising.


Public-private sector partnership

The management dimension was the main ‘contribution’ of the ‘private sector’ in this public-private-sector partnership characterized by an entrepreneurial spirit and empowerment. The CPP is probably one of the most successful public-private partnerships to date. (…) The management team is free to strike deals with other private sector partners to reduce costs and/or increase revenue. Thus the training manual sometimes contains commercial advertisement to reduce its cost. Similarly, the management team has partnered in a win-win arrangement with an Internet service provider (ISP) to facilitate the enrolment and management of applicants using scratch cards that bear the ISP’s logo. Other sponsors have willingly associated with the project because of their sense of social responsibility and their belief in the credibility and leadership of the project. These include free media advertisements and free sale of scratch cards in a major retail chain.


The management team has signed a MoU with the Ministry that takes care of the preventive maintenance and repair of the PCs thus reducing the red tape and ensuring that service to the customers does not suffer because of delayed repairs. State assets have thus been maintained and repaired to the satisfaction of all concerned. The management team has subcontracted this activity to young local IT technicians thus indirectly promoting business for local entrepreneurs.


The trainers

The trainers, an important link in this supply chain, were a source of doubt that fuelled the position of sceptics. Were there enough motivated trainers to embark on this adventure without demanding exorbitant salaries? To work at odd hours and during weekends? The salary issue was important since it was the bulk of the expenses and any increase would have significantly impacted the fees charged to the customers and the business plan.


It turned out that there was no dearth of trainers willing to attend a train-the-trainer course offered by the UoM at their own expense after office hours. Under normal circumstances, this course would have been offered during working hours and the trainees would have had to be paid an allowance. In fact many of the actual trainers joined when the project was launched more than two years ago and have fully subscribed to the CPP philosophy that they were not simply breaking stones but constructing a cathedral.


Moreover the trainers have acquired among their customers an unexpected status reminiscent of that enjoyed by teachers decades ago. Many have the added advantage of being able to compare the respect they enjoy while training people of all ages from all walks of life and their resulting status in the community to the attitude of the pupils they teach as part of their full-time job. Most of the trainers are clearly motivated by factors other than monetary incentives.


The motivation of the trainers is such that some have at their own initiative improvised detailed notes to supplement the CD and training manual provided to trainees. Others have struck deals with neighbouring cyber cafés and conducted part of the training relating to e-mails and the Internet there instead of computer labs without these facilities.


Marketing

The IWG was fully conscious that it does not suffice to have a strategy to sell and distribute a good product at an appropriate price. It was clear that an effective promotion and communication could not be taken for granted if the project was to succeed. In the early stages, this implied face-to-face sessions involving IWG members and hundreds of teachers who were to be the first customers of the CPP. Normally, teachers would have expected to be trained during working hours and paid an allowance for transport and sometimes lunch. Getting them to agree to attend training in the evening or during weekends at their own expense was unthinkable.


A drastic change in mindset was required. The question that was uppermost in many teachers’ minds was, “What’s in it for me?” The IWG approached the issue by participating actively in road-shows where the message was that it was in no one’s interest to be left behind in the cyber island project, that the train was about to leave and they had to decide whether to board it or remain on the platform. The IWG was offering an IT course to the public but was prepared to give priority to teachers. The public would be charged Rs700-800. However, the MOE would pay for teachers. Thousands responded and attended the course in the first year without protests from them or their trade unions.


This first short-term win brought a number of others – it brought significant cash flow, boosted confidence of those associated with the project, undermined the sceptics’ position and ensured renewed support from the main partner, the State.


The IWG has realized that this marketing effort must be maintained if the project is to thrive and has allocated a significant budget to this activity. IWG Members do not miss any opportunity to speak about CPP to the media. The consistent message is that computerization is an inevitable process and that computer education is the only way to avoid the digital divide and that it has significant psychological, social, political and economic implications. The fact that CPP involves mixed ability classrooms with professionals, students, housewives and retired persons learning together and helping each other has also helped to ‘demystify’ IT.



Results

There have been an overall number of 45,800 people since 2002 who have been trained. All those who have completed the 45-hour course have received attendance certificates bearing the seals of institutions like the University of Mauritius, the University of Technology, the Mauritius College of the Air and the NPCC. Some proudly list the CPP certificate among their qualifications on their CV. Those who needed an achievement certificate went further and sat for an examination administered by the VCILT at the University of Mauritius.


Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to highlight the salient features of a unique fully self-financed project characterized by an effective public-private sector partnership. The government vision was a necessary but not sufficient condition for CPP’s success. The leadership and management dimensions, often neglected in educational projects, have been a significant factor underlying this success.