The 400 organisations were particularly concerned by the drive for PPPs as key avenues to achieve growth as had been fronted in the draft outcome document would lead to misuse of public funds to grow private firms.

On Thursday, the group, under the umbrella of the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE), held peaceful protests inside the venue of the final plenary session at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.

The group claimed the push for public-private partnerships would not lead to inclusive growth hence not in line with the principle of the HML2 of leaving no one behind.

Directed to the poor

CPDE founding leader Antonio Tujan Jr said the focus of development aid should be directed to the poor and the marginalised since they are the proper target of development.

“CSOs warn that development cooperation may be progressively reduced to being catalysts for private forms of financing, and that the use of public funds – and the accompanying standards of accountability and inclusiveness-will be weakened.

“Private capital has consistently shown itself to fail to substantively reduce inequality but further aggravates them. This is the experience of communities on the ground,” MR Tijuan said.

The groups dismissed any emphasis laid on the use of private firms, saying there has been little evidence showing that private investments can effectively raise public revenue, or make goods and services more accessible.

Lesotho experience

They cited the Lesotho experience in building the Queen Mamohoto Memorial Hospital to replace a public hospital through a PPP.

The government reportedly subsidised management inefficiencies in the privately-run hospital, costing half the Ministry of Health’s budget, while the private partner had gained high returns under this arrangement.

The group was also worried that the final outcome document would weaken the mandate of the global partnership corporation (GPEDC) by limiting its value to providing country-level data to the United Nations.

“This would constitute a rejection of GPEDC’s distinctive traits, especially its inclusive multi-stakeholder character,” a statement by the corporation warned.

The civil society organisations warned that the growing emphasis on the private sector and diminishing emphasis on the inclusive nature of the GPEDC would present a difficult future in ensuring that development is channeled to the poorest segment of the population.

The Nairobi meeting, which began on November 28 and concluded on Thursday, was meant to track efforts taken to realise the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires through mobilisation and effective use of all types of development resources.