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Public/Private Partnership 2000 (PPP-2000) was created formally on April 30, 1997, as an initiative of 19 Federal agencies comprising the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction, the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), and over 20 private sector organizations (e.g., the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Disaster Recovery Business Alliance, Association of Contingency Planners, the World Bank, and others). The purpose of PPP-2000 is to convene a series of one-day forums in Washington, D.C. involving 100 policy-level participants to hold a "conversation" on 1) the interconnected issues of natural disaster reduction, and 2) ways to work together to resolve them. The forums also seek to involve other interested parties, some of whom are either "locked out" at present or lacking information.
Strategic partnerships being formed under PPP-2000 seem to be the key for a new way of thinking that is required in the predisaster mitigation environment. They may well prove to be the paradigm shift needed for effecting global disaster reduction. In contrast, coordination seems to work best in the disaster assistance environment, but this alone does not reduce disaster losses.
PPP-2000 brings the missing partner--business--to the table. So far, after seven forums more than 20 spinoff projects have been initiated. The message has reached the highest levels of government and business.
PPP-2000 is still not seamless. The mid-course corrections include efforts to improve feedback, facilitate implementation of ideas and new spinoff projects, and make research more relevant. PPP-2000 will continue through 1999. Visit their web site at: http://www.usgs.gov/ppp2000.
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