Georgetown Public Private Partnership Training Course Opens Door to Development

John Butarazzi in PPP Course Last Year

A training course offered by the Executive Education program at Georgetown University in Qatar offers participants a practical hands-on learning experience in the design and implementation of public-private partnerships, or PPPs.

Held at the university’s Education City campus from November 10-12, 2019, the Certificate in Public-Private Partnership Advanced Course is taught by John Buttarazzi, a PPP professional with more than 25 years of experience and a professor of practice at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy in Washington, DC. Buttarazzi has advised hundreds of U.S. and foreign government officials on PPP matters, including the establishment of guidelines and procedures and building capacity for PPP transactions.

Rodolph Boughaba, the Associate Dean for the Executive Education program at GU-Q, says that, “Governments are increasingly turning to the private sector to collaborate on a wide variety of service programs and infrastructure projects. PPPs allow the public sector to benefit from commercial innovations, entrepreneurship, and efficiencies, in order to promote development and lower costs.”

Through the course,  which he says builds on the earlier Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Foundation course at GU-Q, participants will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how to select projects based on their  potential for success, how to compare the value of a PPP to traditional public sector options, and how to use project finance to ensure that projects successfully meet the conditions in order to access operating funds, and continue to deliver value-for-money for consumers.

“Until fairly recently, these types of public and private sector partnerships were virtually unheard of outside of massive projects involving large national or multinational enterprises,” notes Boughaba, adding that “With the right understanding of the opportunities and the tools needed to ensure successful implementation, PPPs offer fertile ground for opportunity and an underutilized reservoir for resources.”

Designed for public officials as well as private sector professionals, the course utilizes case studies and simulation exercises to provide participants with real-life examples and hands-on exercises that illustrate how to apply advanced PPP concepts in developing public-private partnerships. 

The final registration deadline is November 3, with a 25% discount applied to returning executive or community education students and GU-Q alumni. For more information or to register, visit https://epe.qatar.georgetown.edu/executive-education