FEATURED PAPER

The need for Strategic Project Management Approach to Implement and Sustain Successful Economic Development Projects in Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

By Habeeb A. Quadri; MSc Econs, MBA, PMP

PhD Program in Project Management
University of Maryland
USA

This paper is in response to a clarion call to fill the deficit in the literature of project management and economic development by stimulating the beginning of a discussion on the challenges, prospects and panaceas of implementing and sustaining economic development projects in LDCs by utilizing strategic project management as an alternative ground breaking approach. It should be noted however, that the interdisciplinary nature of project management has not been fully applied in many studies. Therefore, employing strategic project management to build sustainable economic development serves as sui-generis in the perennial quest by less developed countries for fresh, innovative and practical solutions to implement and sustain infrastructural architecture necessary for socioeconomic transformation and proper integration into the global economic mainstream.

Strategic project management approach to implement and sustain economic development projects addresses the holistic method of applying soft skill-set of project management body of knowledge (leadership, team management, complexity and ambiguity management, political and diplomatic relationship management) to develop capacity, competency and tacit knowledge (beyond structures, systems and procedures) necessary to ensure successful prioritization, management, implementation and procedural close-out of development projects portfolio in Less Developed Countries.

This comprehensive but streamlined and unique approach [with emphasis on the baseline questions] simplify the modus-operandi necessary to reengineer the management and implementation of economic development projects to contain the logistics and strategic deficiencies that largely account for failure of economic development projects in LDCs…

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About the Author Habeeb Quadri Author Habeeb Quadri, MSc, PMP, MBA, PhD (candidate), is a Harvard trained leader in corporate governance and a Wall Street alumnus with Big 5 Consulting experience.. Currently working on his PhD in Project Management Engineering at the University of Maryland in the United States, Habeeb is also Managing Partner for Haquad Group Inc. in Lanham, Maryland. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (2004-2007), senior business analyst and financial controller for UBS Paine Webber (2001-2004), and senior manager/CFO advisor for Arthur Anderson (1996-2000), all of New York City. Previously in his career he was an economist for the World Bank and USAID in Nigeria and South Africa, and a procurement coordinator for ExxonMobil in Eket, Nigeria. He is an executive graduate of the International Corporate Governance and Leadership program at Harvard University (2010), has a PMI-RMP® Risk Management Professional certification and a project management professional (PMP®) certifications from the Project Management Institute (PMI®), holds an International Project Management Certification from the American Management Association, graduated from the Executive Graduate program in Project Management from New York University, and is a Chartered Economic Policy Analyst by the American Academy of Financial Management. He holds an MBA in Project Management from the University of Management & Technology, USA (2010), a MS in Economics from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (1996), and a BS in Economics from Ogun State University in Nigeria (1992). Habeeb Quadri can be contacted at hquadri@umd.edu.