A pandemic is “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population”. It’s definitely fair to qualify the current situation as a global pandemic. In yet another Corona week this was confirmed by my different interactions around the world.
In the Netherlands the so called ‘intelligent’ lockdown was extended till end of April and expectations are that it will continue to a more or lesser extent thereafter. Government is already limiting face to face meetings till 1 June. My communication with government officials is done through calls and video conference and my PPP training has been postponed and will be transformed into an online training. Though also the online training has to take into account the fact that people are working from home and that most have an increased work load dealing with the impact of Corona on their regular projects and activities.
I was scheduled to be in Dubai this week, but this has also been postponed till further notice.
I have submitted a proposal this week to support Ministry of Health inn Makueni County, Kenya for a possible PPP in primary health care though obviously with the necessary caveats for the work plan for this assignment.
My projects with ADB in Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Pakistan are also impacted. Communication with the respective task managers is limited as they have to focus on immediate financial support schemes for these countries. Understandable and definitely a first priority. Also the interactions with my counterparts within the respective governments, typically Ministry of finance or Ministry of Economy has slowed down as they also are busy dealing with the different implications of Corona for the economy or the budget. And also having to do that working from home reducing efficiency of operations. Waiting from necessary inputs from respective government officials in Kyrgyzstan to finish our fiscal review of concluded PPP arrangements. Waiting for approval from Ministry of Finance on our submitted draft PPP Guide. Waiting for approval from Pakistan our submitted inception report.
In Indonesia, people are also instructed to work from home. At least till End of June and we hope that we can have the scheduled workshops in July. For now, we can only prepare for this through desk review activities. If Corona continues even beyond we have to shift to virtual stakeholder consultations through video conferencing. Not ideal, but the government needs to have the assignment completed by the end of this year.
In Nigeria I am working on a possible lead for a PPP with my good friend Mohammed Kumalia from PPP Advisories. Though he is also confined at least for 2 weeks at home in Abuja trying to reach out to ICRC for further guidance on this initiative.
In Spain, I have been interacting with my colleagues at K-Infra through emails and videoconference to develop our online training materials and approach. They have been hit hard by Corona. Not only because of the necessary stringent lockdown but also the impact on our training business. Less money is coming in though work needs to continue to develop alternative training offerings. Challenging times.
On a positive note, it was good to hangout with some of my friends this week celebrating a birth day. Even if it was through Google Hangout sharing a beer in front of the screen. Luckily everyone was doing OK given the circumstances and we were already discussing plans for our next outdoor event. We will prevail.
Comments