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Oshani Perera
Director, Public Procurement and Infrastructure Finance
Oshani Perera is the Director of the Public Procurement and Infrastructure Finance program of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
She advises governments on smart public procurement, public-private partnerships (PPP) and infrastructure financing strategies to optimize value-for-money, at the point of commissioning and across the asset life cycle. In the public procurement of goods and services, Oshani focuses on the design of policies, technical specifications, award criteria and contract conditions that embed environmental and social performance. In the commissioning of infrastructure, she focuses on the structuring of project preparation and of PPPs, developing robust feasibility analyses, optimizing risk allocation, improving predictability of demand and revenue, channelling capital towards green and sustainable public assets.
Oshani has advised policy-makers in the EU, USA, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Abu Dhabi, Chile, Bhutan, China, Ghana, South Africa, Costa Rica, Lao PDR, USA, Vietnam, Mauritius, Brazil and Costa Rica.
Before joining IISD, Oshani worked at KPMG, with a focus on corporate sustainability and supply chain management and at McKinsey & Company, specializing in foreign direct investment and industrial competitiveness.
- Biodiversity and Infrastructure: A better nexus?In this brief, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) provide initial policy guidance for parties to consider prior to COP 14 in Egypt on how biodiversity mainstreaming can be reconciled with the infrastructure sector.
- Behind the Scenes of the G20: a Substantive Process Leads to a Significant Statement After months of working behind the scenes to help develop recommendations for G20 leaders, I can tell you that it is a substantive process that led to a significant statement.
- Investing in Sustainable Energy: The case for solar technologies in Sri LankaThis commentary outlines why Sri Lanka should abandon coal and invest instead in a national solar energy program modelled on the experience of India.
- A Step in the Right Direction: The EU's revised directives on public procurementThe revised EU directives on public procurement provide welcome leadership on sustainable public procurement. The question that remains is how it can be implemented.
- Addressing the global infrastructure deficit—Can we rely on institutional investors?The global infrastructure gap is forecast to reach USD 50 trillion by 2030. In Canada, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports that CAD 145 billion worth of infrastructure is required in order to return infrastructure funding to historic levels—amounting to an additional CAD 20 to 30 billion a year for 10 years on top of current spending.
- Ideas and Solutions to Address the USD 50 Trillion Infrastructure Deficit: A contribution to the 2015 G-20 Summit, Antalya, TurkeyThe opportunity costs of not addressing the global infrastructure deficit are too high.According to Brodhead, Darling, and Mullin (2014), for every...
- Handbook for INGP Public Procurers / Manual para Agentes de Compras Públicas de las RICGThis handbook will guide government procurers on the design of procurement policies and preferential purchasing programs that will crowd-in SMEs, minority suppliers and women-owned enterprises.
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- 10 Big Ideas for Making Energy Efficiency Bankable in India In a continent that is starved for energy and infrastructure, it is an enigma that India’s markets for energy efficiency have yet to take off.The...
- Implementing Sustainable Public Procurement in South Africa: Where to startThis report investigates the extent of policy space for the practical uptake of sustainable public procurement (SPP) in South Africa.It also...
- Value for Money in Infrastructure Procurement: The costs and benefits of environmental and social safeguards in India This report debates the extent to which public-private partnerships (PPPs) are delivering value for money (VFM) in India.While VfM is traditionally...
- Investment Incentives for Sustainable Development: The case of Lao PDRThis commentary discusses how Laotian Policy makers can offer a differentiated mix of investment incentives as they upgrade their foreign direct...
- Developing a Sustainable Investment Framework in Lao PDR: Broad recommendationsThis commentary has recommendations on upgrading the Laotian framework for foreign direct investment.
- The Case for Pursuing Sustainable Public Procurement in Lower Income CountriesThis commentary discusses the economic and industrial gains afforded by well implemented sustainable public procurement policies
- Rethinking Investment IncentivesThis commentary tracks the disadvantages of long term tax holidays and describes how targeted and temporary tax reductions and allowances can help...
- Sustainable Development in Greenland: Perspectives from a preliminary stakeholder consultationHow Greenlandic policy-makers are planning for sustainable investment in their country's natural resources.
- Opportunities for Sustainability Along the Financial Services Value Chain (Speech)Keynote speech delivered by Oshani Perera, Progamme Leader at the Nordic Financial Unions Annual Congress on June 4, 2013.The speech explores how...
- Sustainable Procurement in Fragile StatesIISD has undertaken a preliminary assessment of the value of sustainable procurement in fragile states.It finds that governments as well as...
- Markets and Morals: Embedding values in the governance of the financial services sectorThe power convergence between financial corporations and government and the regulatory reforms supervising this close relationship have been a...
- Reforming Over-the-Counter Markets: The role of central counterpartsThe opacity, size, and complexity of over-the-counter (OTC) markets are under forensic examination by lawmakers, as they have led to the...
- Basel III: To what extent will it promote sustainable development?Traditionally, banks have been the main pillar of financial intermediation and, consequently, a fundamental source of systemic risk, which in its...
- "SCP at the Global Level" and "SCP at the Regional Level" in Global Outlook on Sustainable Consumption and Production PoliciesThe report Global Outlook on Sustainable Consumption and Production [SCP] Policies, developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)...
- IISD and Sustainable ProcurementThis brochure provides a brief outline of IISD's program on Sustainable Procurement, including the rationale and business case of sustainable...
- Harnessing the Power of Public-Private Partnerships: The role of hybrid financing strategies in sustainable developmentIISD has undertaken a preliminary investigation to gauge the scale and structure of PPP agreements in today's market. In doing so, it has...
- Sustainable Development: Is there a role for public-private partnerships? A summary of an IISD preliminary investigationWidely utilized across the developed world and continuing to diversify across sectors, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly...
- Procuring Green in the Public Sector: A checklist for getting startedThe IISD checklist for green procurement is designed to help procurers who are seeking to launch or improve sustainability practices within their...
- Rebuilding After Disasters: Why sustainable public procurement can be a practical policyIISD has developed a preliminary consultation paper that is designed to foster stakeholder discussion on if and how sustainable public procurement...
- Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication - Enabling Conditions Supporting the Transition to a Global Green EconomyUnited Nations Environment Programme's Green Economy Initiative, in collaboration with economists and experts worldwide, compiled the book: ...
- Sustainable public procurement assessment in Vietnam: A reference to the timber industryIISD performed an SPP-preparedness assessment in Vietnam, including a plan to introduce and implement SPP, especially with regards to the timber...
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- Oshani Perera talks about corporate social responsibilityOshani Perera talks about corporate social responsibility and the importance of ISO 20006 Social Responsibility. She says there is a need for...
- Towards Sustainable Outsourcing: A responsible competitiveness agenda for IT-enabled servicesIISD's primer on Responsible Competitiveness in the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) explores an ambitious agenda for countries,...
- Sustainable Electronics and Electrical Equipment for China and the World: A commodity chain sustainability analysis of key Chinese EEE product chainsSince its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China's e-product manufacturing sector has entirely reoriented itself from an...
- Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) Sector Industries Might be Cut Down to Size, but Globalization Will Continue: An IISD CommentaryIISD and AccountAbility will soon release a report on responsible competitiveness in information technology enabled services, which we hope will...
- Building accountability and transparency in public procurementGovernments are the largest consumers in an economy. The public sector on average spends 45 per cent to 65 per cent of their budgets on public...
- How material is ISO 26000 Social Responsibility to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)?The report maps the materiality of the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through a global survey of 59...
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