Western and Central Africa have lengthyexperience with public-private partnerships (PPPs), both forwater supply and for combined power and water supplyutilities. Cote d'Ivoire's successful PPP datesfrom 1959, and, over the last two decades, as many as 15 outof 23 countries in the region have experimented with PPPs.Eleven PPPs are studied here, and detailed performanceindicators are reported for six large cases-Coted'Ivoire, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, andGabon. These PPPs all have had at least four years ofprivate operation. Through its successes and failures, theWestern and Central African experience offers interestinglessons for other developing countries on how to improve thequality of urban water supply services, increase theefficiency of operations, and establish the financialcredibility of the sector.