What we did
The project
In collaboration with a consortium of prestigious international partners, the World Bank Group launched the PPP Knowledge Lab, a pioneering initiative designed to revolutionize the global infrastructure sector. This multi-organizational effort not only centralized vast amounts of fragmented PPP data but would also foster a transformative community of practitioners.
Developing the platform strategy
Our goal was a user-friendly end product that reflected the needs of all stakeholders and was a cohesive environment for collaboration. We focused on thoughtful design and purposeful iterations: using a human-centered design approach, we researched, asked questions, and consulted PPP practitioners and experts to inform our development of use-cases, wireframes, and prototypes, testing constantly with those who would ultimately use the knowledge in their work. We tested our strategy at PPP Americas in Uruguay.
Centralized knowledge and resources
We created an architecture allowing multiple front-ends to use the same backend knowledge system, which allowed resources to be displayed in the same view despite originating from different development partners. This would be easier for users to navigate timewise but also add to the collaborative look and feel of the platform: all the resources, while differing in origin, shared a common goal. The tech stack for the platform included a central API using Ruby on Rails while linking several different front-end platforms to the API using JavaScript frameworks.
Rollout to practitioners
To introduce the platform to World Bank Group staff and partners, we traveled to the PPP Days Conference in London to host webinars and walkthroughs, outline guidelines for resources to be added, and launch a joint launch communications strategy coordinated with all participating institutions. The PPP Knowledge Lab is now part of the Public-Private Partnership Legal Resource Center (PPPLRC) which provides additional information in the legal sphere.
