PPP Stakeholder Negotiation and Conflict Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends PPP Unit Managers, Project Directors and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PIF-012

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with PPP project structures, infrastructure procurement, concession agreements or public-sector contracting.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Public-private partnership projects bring public authorities, private sponsors, lenders, contractors, operators, regulators and affected communities into decisions that carry different incentives, legal duties and risk exposures. Disagreement over tariffs, land access, service standards, change requests, compensation, political commitments or contract interpretation can delay approvals, damage relationships and increase project cost. Effective PPP negotiation requires more than commercial bargaining: it requires disciplined stakeholder analysis, evidence-based preparation, clear governance and proportionate dispute-management routes.

This course develops practical negotiation, stakeholder engagement and conflict-management capability for PPP development, procurement, construction and operations. Participants assess stakeholder interests and influence, prepare negotiation mandates, identify BATNAs and reservation points, structure multi-party negotiations and document agreements. They apply recognised approaches including the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, power-interest mapping, principled negotiation and dispute escalation provisions used in PPP contracts. The course also addresses challenging public consultation, politically sensitive communications, contractor-public authority disputes, lender concerns and community grievances.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with infrastructure case work, facilitated group analysis, negotiation simulations and structured reflection. Cases may involve transport, water, energy, health, social infrastructure and municipal service PPPs. Participants leave with a reusable PPP stakeholder engagement and negotiation pack containing maps, plans, preparation tools, escalation routes and communication records that can be adapted to a live project.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with PPPs, infrastructure delivery or public-sector contracting and now need stronger methods for managing competing interests and resolving disputes before they affect project outcomes.

What you will be able to do

  • Map PPP stakeholders using power-interest analysis, salience criteria and engagement priorities
  • Prepare negotiation mandates using BATNA, reservation point and target-value analysis
  • Conduct interest-based negotiations on PPP risk allocation, variation and performance issues
  • Design stakeholder engagement plans using the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation
  • Facilitate multi-party meetings using agendas, decision protocols and issue logs
  • Manage community grievances through documented intake, investigation and response procedures
  • Apply contract escalation and dispute-resolution clauses to emerging PPP conflicts
  • Produce a project-specific stakeholder negotiation and conflict-management action plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare defensible negotiation positions for PPP procurement, variations and renegotiations
  • Handle difficult conversations with authorities, sponsors, communities and contractors
  • Recognise when informal resolution should move into contractual escalation
  • Create stakeholder records that support accountable public-sector decision-making
  • Contribute more credibly to lender, government and private-partner negotiations

For your organisation

  • Reduce delays caused by unmanaged stakeholder objections and unclear decision rights
  • Improve consistency between project communications, consultation commitments and contract obligations
  • Resolve emerging disputes before they become formal claims or arbitration matters
  • Strengthen audit trails for sensitive PPP decisions, commitments and negotiated agreements
  • Protect project value through better handling of variations, tariffs and performance issues

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can diagnose stakeholder interests, authority, incentives and likely conflict points in a PPP project.

  • PPP stakeholder roles across development, procurement, construction and operations
  • Public value, commercial return and bankability as competing objectives
  • Conflict sources in land, tariffs, service levels and risk allocation
  • Formal authority versus informal influence within project governance arrangements
  • Stakeholder salience model using power, legitimacy and urgency criteria
  • Political economy analysis for commitments, alliances and opposition groups
  • Early-warning indicators of relationship deterioration and decision deadlock

Participants can create a prioritised stakeholder map and engagement strategy for a PPP decision.

  • Power-interest grid for prioritising stakeholder attention and communication effort
  • Stakeholder register capturing interests, concerns, influence and relationship history
  • IAP2 Spectrum matching participation levels to decision-making authority
  • Segmenting affected communities, regulators, lenders, users and delivery partners
  • Engagement objectives linked to approvals, legitimacy, information and consent
  • RACI matrix defining communication ownership, consultation and decision rights
  • Engagement calendar aligned with procurement gates and contract milestones

Participants can prepare a structured negotiation brief for a defined PPP issue.

  • Negotiation brief defining mandate, objectives, constraints and approval limits
  • BATNA analysis identifying credible alternatives for each negotiating party
  • Reservation point and target value for commercial bargaining positions
  • Issue matrix separating price, risk, performance, governance and timing
  • Objective criteria drawn from benchmarks, contracts, laws and technical evidence
  • Information planning to test assumptions before entering formal negotiations
  • Internal alignment between technical, financial, legal and political decision-makers

Participants can conduct interest-based PPP negotiations while protecting mandated project outcomes.

  • Principled negotiation separating people, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Positions versus interests in disputes over tariffs and service obligations
  • Package bargaining across risk, price, duration and performance trade-offs
  • Contingent agreements for uncertain demand, inflation and regulatory outcomes
  • Concession strategy using reciprocal movement and conditional offers
  • Anchoring, framing and sequencing in high-value infrastructure negotiations
  • Closing techniques that confirm authority, conditions and implementation responsibilities

Participants can structure multi-party PPP discussions to reach documented and authorised decisions.

  • Multi-party dynamics among authority, sponsor, lenders, contractor and operator
  • Meeting architecture using purpose, agenda, roles and decision rules
  • Caucusing techniques for testing options without undermining joint discussions
  • Coalition mapping to anticipate alliances, blocking interests and swing parties
  • Consensus, consent and majority rules within PPP governance forums
  • Decision log recording options, rationale, owners and approval status
  • Minutes that distinguish discussion, agreement, reservation and action

Participants can plan consultation and grievance processes that address legitimate community concerns.

  • Stakeholder engagement plan for affected people, users and representative groups
  • Materiality assessment distinguishing project impacts from broader policy concerns
  • Consultation design for land acquisition, resettlement and service disruption
  • Grievance mechanism with intake, acknowledgment, investigation and closure stages
  • Accessibility measures for language, disability, gender and remote communities
  • Commitment register tracking mitigation actions, deadlines and accountable owners
  • Feedback communications explaining decisions, remedies and unresolved constraints

Participants can respond to emotionally charged PPP conflicts using structured communication techniques.

  • Interest-Based Relational approach for separating relationship and substantive issues
  • Active listening using paraphrasing, summarising and calibrated clarification questions
  • Nonviolent Communication framing observations, feelings, needs and requests
  • Reframing accusatory statements into negotiable interests and observable facts
  • De-escalation responses during public meetings, claims discussions and media pressure
  • Managing power imbalances without making commitments outside delegated authority
  • Conversation preparation for bad news, refusals and disputed accountability

Participants can select and activate proportionate dispute-management routes under PPP contracts.

  • Dispute clauses covering notice, negotiation, expert determination and arbitration
  • Issue notices preserving contractual rights without escalating unnecessary conflict
  • Escalation ladder from project teams to senior representatives and boards
  • Dispute avoidance boards and dispute adjudication board operating principles
  • Mediation suitability for relationship-sensitive PPP performance and payment disputes
  • Claim chronology linking events, notices, evidence and contractual deadlines
  • Settlement terms addressing release, confidentiality, implementation and future cooperation

Participants can negotiate change requests while maintaining value for money and contractual discipline.

  • Change-control process distinguishing variations, compensation events and relief events
  • Value-for-money tests for proposed scope, tariff and term changes
  • Risk reallocation analysis following force majeure, demand shocks and policy changes
  • Open-book evidence for cost claims, programme impacts and compensation requests
  • Lender consent considerations during material contract amendments and waivers
  • Renegotiation governance protecting transparency, approvals and public accountability
  • Agreement implementation plan with milestones, owners and verification evidence

Participants can assemble a practical stakeholder negotiation and conflict-management plan for their project context.

  • Conflict risk register linking triggers, stakeholders, impacts and mitigations
  • Stakeholder engagement dashboard tracking commitments, sentiment and unresolved issues
  • Negotiation preparation checklist for priority upcoming project decisions
  • Escalation protocol defining thresholds, authority levels and response times
  • Communication protocol for confidential negotiations and public-facing messages
  • Lessons-learned review after disputes, consultations and significant agreements
  • Ninety-day application plan for immediate workplace implementation

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. PPP stakeholder mapping and salience template
  2. Negotiation mandate and BATNA preparation worksheet
  3. IAP2-based stakeholder engagement plan
  4. Community grievance mechanism checklist
  5. PPP dispute escalation and issue-notice protocol
  6. Ninety-day conflict-management application plan

Who should attend

  • PPP Unit Managers — align public, private and community interests through project decisions
  • Project Directors — manage high-stakes negotiations during procurement and delivery
  • Contract Managers — address variations, claims and performance disputes constructively
  • Infrastructure Finance Professionals — protect lender interests during project renegotiations
  • Public Engagement Managers — plan credible consultation and community grievance responses
  • Legal Counsel and Advisors — support dispute prevention and contractual escalation processes

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder mappingPPP negotiation preparationMulti-party facilitationCommunity grievance managementContract dispute escalationConflict communication

Tools and standards

IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, Power-Interest Grid, BATNA analysis, Dispute Adjudication Board procedures

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by PPP case analysis, small-group planning and facilitated negotiation simulations. Participants work with realistic situations such as land-access objections, tariff disputes, variation claims, service-performance failures and lender consent requirements. Structured debriefs examine preparation, communication, power dynamics, decision authority and documentation. Each participant adapts course templates to a current or anticipated PPP assignment and completes an application plan for use after the course.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with PPP project structures, infrastructure procurement, concession agreements or public-sector contracting. Experience on a live infrastructure project, transaction advisory assignment, contract-management role or stakeholder engagement programme is useful. Participants should be able to read project documents such as risk matrices, term sheets, meeting papers or contract extracts. Formal legal training, advanced finance modelling expertise and prior mediation certification are not required. The course explains negotiation and stakeholder tools before applying them to PPP cases.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand the basic purpose and structure of PPPs or infrastructure contracts. Experience in procurement, project delivery, contract management, public engagement or advisory work is helpful, but mediation qualifications and advanced legal training are not required.

Bring a non-confidential example of a current or anticipated stakeholder, negotiation or dispute issue if possible. Participants can use this example when adapting the engagement, negotiation and escalation templates.

It is designed for public authorities, PPP units, project companies, lenders, contractors, operators and advisors working on infrastructure partnerships. It is particularly useful for professionals who must reconcile public, commercial and community interests.

The course applies negotiation and conflict methods to PPP governance, risk allocation, public consultation, lender requirements and concession-contract disputes. General negotiation courses rarely address the multi-party and public-accountability features of PPP projects.

Participants leave with templates for stakeholder mapping, negotiation preparation, grievance handling and escalation. These can be used for procurement negotiations, change requests, consultation planning, performance disputes and contract renegotiations.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor input, PPP cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations, facilitated debriefs and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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