TY - CHAP AB - Abstract We aim to explore to what extent and how pro-poor PPP projects engage with local communities and what the possibilities are for the communities to become genuine partners with governments, businesses and civil society organizations (CSOs). We look into three different PPP projects funded by the Dutch international cooperation that emphasize the pro-poor aspects in Africa and find patterns of how local communities are positioned in each project. The analysis of the three projects indicates that the existing pro-poor PPP projects deal with local communities as either mere beneficiaries, business partners with substantial brokering by CSOs, or those who potentially lead the projects. The difference stems from how a PPP project allows local communities to participate and balance the relationship between the project’s profit maximization and benefit-sharing for the poor. Our findings can be used to evaluate pro-poor PPP projects by reference to its local development relevance. They also show possibilities for local communities to identify their positions vis-à-vis large-scale investment projects and reflect on what pro-poor projects actually mean. The importance of PPP projects to become pro-poor and enhance its local development relevance has been widely discussed; however, the actual positionality of the poor within PPP projects remains unclear. In this chapter, we specifically look into the question of where local communities are in pro-poor PPP projects in order to suggest a new research and policy agenda. SN - 978-1-78714-494-1, 978-1-78714-493-4/ DO - 10.1108/978-1-78714-493-420171006 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-493-420171006 AU - Otsuki Kei AU - van Helvoirt Bram ED - João Leitão ED - Elsa de Morais Sarmento ED - João Aleluia PY - 2017 Y1 - 2017/01/01 TI - Pro-Poor Public–Private Partnerships for Development in Africa: Where Are Local Communities? T2 - The Emerald Handbook of Public–Private Partnerships in Developing and Emerging Economies PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 167 EP - 189 Y2 - 2024/04/20 ER -