A short introduction to Innovative Public Partnerships

This platform helps you see how governments around the world are working with other organisations to tackle social problems. You can read about groundbreaking projects and connect both with people who were involved in them and with a global network of experts and practitioners.

Public partnerships have traditionally been limited to big infrastructure projects, but in recent years governments have increasingly come to believe that the problems our societies face are too large and complex to be tackled by government alone. Many of the methods developed in infrastructure are now being applied to a far wider range of thorny social issues.

This platform provides ideas and models for how government can work with business, NGOs and philanthropic foundations on topics like unemployment, pollution, poverty, disease and educational disadvantage.

We have divided these partnerships into three broad categories:

• Blended Finance
  This refers to new ways governments can collaborate with businesses or philanthropic foundations on paying for things that do social good. Examples include all manner of clever financing tricks, including social impact bonds, matchfunding, and micro-franchises.
• Shared Services
  Examples of how governments can draw on the expertise of businesses and non-profit specialists. That might mean using Uber's data to improve traffic flow; using local employers to teach schoolchildren job skills; embedding experienced NGO workers in a city's integration office; or providing free public Wi-Fi to the people of New York
• Convening Other Sectors
  This is where government uses its power to bring other people together, organising businesses and civil society to co-operate among themselves. Examples include arranging for medical suppliers and doctors to provide free care to vulnerable patients; connecting big businesses with ethical suppliers and setting up agreements with entire industries to raise their environmental standards.

If you don't immediately find what you're looking for, just ask our concierge team by clicking the button on the right of the screen. They can give you examples of projects similar to what you're working on or introduce you to people who've done something like that before.

• The case studies, contacts and concierge service are all free of charge. If you haven't registered already, you can do so here.
• Once you've registered, we'll also send you a weekly update on what's working around the world.
• Later this year, we'll be launching other topics as well: 'Inclusive Economies', 'Data for Impact, 'Smart Cities', 'Violence Prevention' and 'Women's Empowerment'.

We encourage you to use the discussion group to share interesting projects, events, webinars, jobs and resources – and ask questions of your peers.

But most of all we encourage you to connect with your peers in other governments. They and you together represent the biggest resource in the world available to public servants: a hive of minds thinking, tackling and solving.