Building Effective
Public-Private Partnerships:
Lessons Learnt from the Jordan Education Initiative
An Initiative of the World Economic Forum and Government of Indonesia
The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of
the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
Incorporated as a foundation in 1971, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is im-
partial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. (http://www.weforum.org)
We thank McKinsey and Company for this valuable pro bono contribution in helping us improve the quality of
our multi stakeholder initiatives. This report wil help al those who are working towards creating Education
reform leveraging public private partnerships while strengthening our efforts to develop similar partnerships
in other developing countries in the Middle East and beyond.
forward
This report was prepared by McKinsey & Company, the international management consultancy firm, following a pro
bono project on behalf of the Jordan Education Initiative. The work was led by a full-time team of McKinsey consult-
ants, based in Jordan. Assistance was also provided by RazorView, a local Jordanian consultancy firm, which pro-
vided local knowledge, and acted as thought-partners during the development of findings. We would like to thank
the members of the Jordan Education Initiative Program Management Office, the government of Jordan, the Jordan
Education Initiative partner organisations and the World Economic Forum for inviting our involvement and actively
contributing to the preparation of this report.
THE CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
ONE
OVERVIEW OF THE
JORDAN EDUCATION
INITIATIVE
TWO
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
THREE RESULTS ACHIEVED
FOUR
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF
LESSONS LEARNT
Introduction
The Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) is a global-
~$3.7 million to local companies as part of JEI
local, public-private partnership that aims to
programs and initial steps to expand the model to other
improve education in Jordan through effective use
countries in the Middle East region. (See figure 1).
of Information and Communication Technologies
McKinsey & Company, an international management
(ICTs), while at the same time building local ICT
consultancy firm, undertook a pro bono engagement
industry capacity and creating a model of reform
to codify the development of the JEI, assess its
for other countries. Although it is only 20 months
achievements, and identify lessons learnt. The purpose
since its official launch, the JEI has already achieved
was to develop recommendations that would help
some remarkable results: engagement of over 30
strengthen the JEI going forward, but also to share
active partners from the public and private sectors,
the JEI story with the rest of the world so that other
development of a full Math e-Curriculum (grades 1-12), countries contemplating a similar reform process could
ongoing deployment of in-classroom technology and
learn from the experiences.
training to 50 Discovery Schools, transfer of
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Jordan Education Initiative 1
The Jordan Education Initiative sits at the intersection
process, especially one involving ICTs. But they also
of three different spheres. (See figure 2). The first
have a wider application because this public-private
is the comprehensive national reform agenda of
partnership model could be used in many sectors
Jordan, which covers education and other key sectors
apart from education (e.g., public health). Therefore,
within the country. The second is the growing body of
it is hoped that this document will be relevant to all
international practice and theory related to the use
partnerships between the public and private sector
of ICTs to improve delivery of education, especially in
that pursue development or reform goals.
developing countries. The third is the use of public-
There is a growing consensus that public-private
private partnerships, involving global and local
partnerships can be extremely valuable for economic
organisations, to advance reform and development.
and social development. They can bring an injection
This document is focused on the last area – public-
of extra resources into the public sector. Equally
private partnerships. It contains details on the
important, the private sector can contribute skills
development of the JEI, the partners who became
(e.g., innovation, project management, performance
involved, the way in which they worked together, and
measurement, technical expertise) that will help the
the results that have been achieved. It identifies the
public sector in tackling critical issues. The private
main strengths of the JEI public-private partnership
sector can benefit from a strengthened position and
model, but also the weaknesses and challenges
reputation within society, a long-term “return” on social
faced. From these, it draws conclusions on lessons
investment in the form of a more prosperous economy,
learnt, touching on all features of the public-private
and the opportunity to innovate and test new products
partnership model. These lessons will be most relevant and services.
to any country considering an education reform
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2 Jordan Education Initiative
Above all, there are certain intractable issues that cut
within the JEI, comparing high-performing programs
across the public and private sectors and can only be
with slower performing programs to understand the
addressed by joint action. These types of partnership
difference and distil the critical success factors. In
allow for a deeper understanding of each other’s
addition, input came from external literature on best
needs and contributions than with an arm’s length
practice, McKinsey’s internal expertise on organisation
commercial relationship. However, there is a limited
and strategy, and case studies on other public-private
body of literature on what successful public-private
partnerships (e.g., Project Shiksha in India, The New
partnerships actually look like. The Jordan Education
Partnership for Africa’s Development, the International
Initiative can act as a useful case study to understand
Aids Vaccine Initiative).
the partners, processes, structures and strategies
The result is an honest appraisal of the Jordan
Education Initiative that elevates the strengths and
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successes but also highlights the weaknesses and
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challenges in order to derive maximum learnings.
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The JEI is still a work in progress and many objectives
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remain to be achieved. It is a testament to the
required to produce results. What this document does
commitment and integrity of the JEI partners and
not contain is a detailed assessment of the impact of
Program Management Office that they fully supported
the JEI educational model (which includes technology
an objective, external review in order to strengthen the
deployment, e-Curricula development and training) on
JEI going forward and ensure that other countries or
teachers and schools in Jordan. This would require
organisations could learn from their experiences.
a long-term, methodologically sound evaluation
This is in accordance with a founding principle of the
process to collect data on outcomes. Instead, the
JEI – to create, refine and communicate a model that
JEI has launched a separate effort, led by the British
can be re-used in other countries (taking into account
Council and the University of Keele, to develop and
the contextual differences).
implement an assessment framework that will measure The document has the following structure. The first
the impact of the learning model in schools that are
chapter provides an overview of the origins, objectives,
benefiting from the JEI program. The results of this
development and partners of the Jordan Education
program will be critical to understanding the full
Initiative. The second sets out a framework for
impact of the JEI. This document refers only to early
understanding global-local, public-private partnerships
indicators of success, and the steps and processes
and provides a summary of the key lessons learned
that are necessary to ensure that rigorous and credible from our analysis of the JEI experience. The third
assessment is an integral part of initiatives of this sort. assesses in detail the results produced by the JEI so
The findings derive from the work of a full-time team
far. The fourth contains a detailed description and
of McKinsey consultants based in Jordan from late
analysis of the key features of the JEI public-private
2004 to early 2005. The team interviewed over 40
partnership, both the strengths and the weaknesses
partners of the JEI and consulted a full range of
– this is the source of the lessons learned contained
internal JEI documentation. It analysed each track
in Chapter 1.
Jordan Education Initiative 3
CHAPTERONE:
Overview of the Jordan
Education Initiative
ORIGINS AND OBJECTIVES
Track 1a In-classroom Technology aims to
The Jordan Education Initiative was conceived at the
innovate, test and deploy ICT infrastructure
Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
within the Discovery Schools. Through a “blended
Switzerland in January 2003, when the Governors of IT
learning” approach, teachers will be given the
and Telecommunications agreed to sponsor an initiative
tools to integrate use of ICTs into everyday
for education reform in a developing country. Jordan
classroom teaching so that students
was chosen as the pilot country and was challenged
will have increased exposure to technologies and
with developing a proposal “of significant scope and
e-content. This has taken the form of deployment
size” that would catalyze a process of change and
of laptops and projectors to teachers, although
create value that transcends its borders. The JEI was
other models (such as use of computers on
formally launched at the Extraordinary Meeting of the
wheels, PDAs and TV monitors) are also under
World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea, Jordan in
consideration. Specialist “math labs” are also
June 2003.
being deployed to all Discovery Schools to give
students hands-on access to computers. Devices
The JEI has four main objectives:
will receive connectivity to a national intranet,
Improving the delivery of education to Jordan’s
and technical support services.
citizens through public-private partnership
Track 1b e-Curricula Development aims to
Unleashing the innovation of teachers and
develop rich digital content in new, outcomes-
students through the effective use of ICT
based curricula from grades 1-12 in multiple
subjects, using local companies for software
Building the capacity of the local information
development.
technology industry
Track 1c Training develops and provides
Creating a model of reform that can be used
professional development programs to teachers
by other countries
and principals in the Discovery Schools, covering
These objectives have been translated into 3 main
basic ICT skills, pedagogical use of ICTs,
tracks, which describe the key programs and goals
adoption of new e-Curricula, change management
of the initiative. (Figure 3)
and leadership. E-content should be developed for
this training where feasible.
Track 1 is focused on developing and deploying
new approaches to learning and teaching reform
Track 2 is focused on providing Lifelong Learning
into approximately 100 pilot Discovery Schools in
opportunities within Jordan. The original goal was to
Amman, Jordan (impacting 50,000 students and 2,300 complete an assessment of the existing Jordanian
teachers). It has three sub-tracks:
lifelong learning channels and their potential to act
Jordan Education Initiative 5
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