Sustainable PPP Beyond the Obvious

Despite the fact that this article comes a month after my participation in the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, its value and importance are timeless, given the strategic topic it tackles. So, allow me to take you through the people-partners approach that we adopt to provide evidence that partnerships lead to the success of sustainability.

 People, Partners, and Proofs

People-first organizations prioritize strategic issues like diversity, equality, and inclusion, that are considered the keywords of the century. While these keywords are reshaping the course of the global landscape, they stress one single crucial point, it all starts with sustainability which we will shed light on through this article.

Embracing a successful sustainability approach is, in essence, embodying the quote of the Japanese writer Ryunosuke Satoro, who said, "Individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean." This quote holds both literal and metaphorical significance; we must not only create an ocean but also safeguard our oceans!

Sustainability is no longer a luxury; it is essential for improving our quality of life, protecting our ecosystem, and preserving natural resources for future generations. It is a noble concept that prioritizes people and builds communities. These strategic pillars are deeply intertwined within partnerships, between public-private partnerships (PPPs), being a leap of action towards making the sustainable vision come true.

While the focus is on people, partnerships are the tools, and the proofs will be truly remarkable and inspiring.  

Allow me in this article, to take you through the people-partners approach that we adopt to generate proofs that partnerships lead to the success of sustainability. 

People!

To maximize the impact, we must first connect! Businesses can build a strong connection with people by taking the link with customers from the operational level to the human and social ones.

Constantly connecting with customers should enables companies to understand their needs firsthand, thereby prioritizing the community and equipping its members with digital tools to make a tangible difference in people’s lives.

What should we do with this understanding? Connecting with people starts with trust!

Partners!

The answer lies in a PPPs model that is centered around trust, which is the cornerstone of partnerships. PPPs are vital as they enable organizations to leverage the expertise of established entities, enabling them to begin from an advanced position rather than creating everything anew.

These partnerships are based on a collaborative leadership approach where every party plays a pivotal role, collaborating actively with the public and civil organizations sectors to enable community members to have the proper exposure and access to a full catalyst of digital tools and facilities.

The Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, held in Beirut and themed “Partnerships for Accelerating the SDGs Roundtable,” served as a platform for this strategic topic.

I was honored to participate and showcase Orange Jordan’s experience in this field. We adopted this PPP approach to identify the community’s needs and then we developed a variety of activities designed to facilitate matchmaking of supply and demand of the digital innovation ecosystem by offering facilities and suites of actions, services, and programs open to everyone, and providing both a physical and digital space for private sector innovation advice, support, financing, and more.

People are being taken care of, the Partnership mode is adopted, and now it is time for proofs!

Proofs!

The proofs were impressive, represented in the implementation of impactful programs for the community, including the foundation of 50 Digital Centers across the Kingdom enabling more target groups to build their digital know-how.

This partnership approach with national institutions is magnified to be one with the whole country to materialize the digital transformation vision.

We supported the digital infrastructure, provided the needed expertise, built youth’s digital knowledge, utilized the digital assets to help them unleash their full potential, and bridged the divide and gaps related to the unemployment rate that hits 21.4% in Jordan.

The sustainable vision is now closer than ever with this PPPs model, both the systematic one and the one explained now!