Letter to the Editor:
NGO Shark Feeding on Relief Projects!

2 February , 2009

Dear David,

I am delighted to hear about the formation of the PM Manifesto for America – it can be SUCH a powerful medium to reduce the various unnecessary problems currently experienced with projects worldwide, especially where it involves governments and burocracies where bottom line is of lesser importance than political point scoring. Well done team!

Now it is of utmost importance to expand the concept to as many governments and NGO’s as possible – the first stake is in the ground and there is an example to follow and refine.

If you look at the recent article written in Zimbabwe under the heading “NGO sharks feeding on Zimbabwe crisis” (See link below for full story http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=4188) one cannot but realize that the image of project management needs a serious facelift. Please note that I am not making any judgment on the authenticity of the contents of the article itself – I am saying we should be concerned that articles like this even exist. I know of many more horror stories about projects in Africa which either failed miserably or received bad press because of poor implementation. Why? Because they DO fail and NGO’s DO exploit situations and fly-by-night opportunists DO get away with murder at the expense of the innocent. Unfortunately there is little control and little help to the uninformed out there, and many get away with it, with LOTS of money down the drain. Whilst a manifesto certainly is not the complete answer, it certainly is a good start to address the problems.

I therefore appeal for the formation of a Project Management Manifesto for NGO’s. One low hanging fruit (am I naïve?) is the United Nations. Not only will this be a great source of contact to various governments and NGO’s outside the USA for rolling out manifesto’s there, but has great potential to provide much needed credit to the cause.

Comments are welcome!

Best regards
Jaycee Krüger
South Africa  


Back to Table of Contents