What the Alumni have to say about the AIFP: throwback to Marion Mary Nabasese’s experience

Participating in the AIFP is above all a way for professionals in the infrastructure and PPP sector in Africa to strengthen their academic knowledge and skills in a long-term perspective, for greater efficiency in their day-to-day work. Let’s see what Marion Mary Nabasese, fellow of the 2022 cohort, has to say on this theme. 

Marion Mary is a Technical Officer at the Ugandan Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, as part of the Integrated Bank of Projects activities. Although she already held this position when she joined the AIFP, she explains that her participation in the program was a way for her to boost her academic skills in the field of PPPs: “Most of the time, when I do my analyses, I use what the Masterclass taught us, particularly in the way I analyze a project to find out which is suitable for a PPP, and which is suitable for a traditional project. […] The distinction between PPPs is now clearer, and the AIFP has therefore helped me to better analyze projects. […] In fact, there were two courses that particularly interested me. The first was on environmental impact assessment, because most of our projects are not undertaken without an environmental impact assessment. This study affects project implementation in some way. The other course was about monitoring projects, to see how they work. The fact that it’s a PPP project doesn’t prevent governments from getting involved in terms of supervision and verification of the project’s progress.” 

Reinforcing her skills and knowledge in the field of PPPs has also been a way for her to gain responsibility and be involved in new projects. She explains that she was integrated into the team working on the expressway project linking Kampala and Jinja following her participation in the program: “the project is still at the beginning. We are still on the preliminary stages, but what got me into the team is the fact that I had gotten the APMG certification for PPPs. It’s going to be a PPP, so, with that knowledge, I was requested to join the group”, she explains. 

Finally, Marion Mary explains that her participation in the AIFP was an opportunity to learn about the methods used in PPP units in other countries, and to share those used in her own country: “My major interest is the transportation sector. When I was sharing with some of the fellows, I realized the differences that we have with other countries. It opens your eyes. Right now, there are things I would push through for Uganda, because I got to learn about it from another fellow from a different country. This knowledge sharing is really important, because it makes us aware of the things we can change. For the other fellows, it’s also an opportunity to learn from our own experience and see what they can change.”