VIEWPOINTS

Transferring Project Management Skills to Developing Countries

By John Edmonds
pearcemayfield

United Kingdom

Project management is pretty much second nature to business communities in the developed world. That’s not to say it is always successful or necessarily well executed, but in the developed world we do have the training expertise and resources to help make project management happen.

This is not the case in many developing countries, where the economic and political situation often means that education at all levels is poor, or non-existent. Yet it is vital these countries learn the necessary project management skills if they are to compete in the fast moving global marketplace.

Faced with barriers such as political and social systems, cultural limitations and a lack of financial support, trying to imitate the project management processes used by developed countries will not work. The way forward is for developed countries to provide effective project implementation through the transfer of project management knowledge.

For the past three years I have been involved with a charity called Roots in the landlocked country of South Sudan, recently hitting the headlines for its new independent status. The training and development company I work for, pearcemayfield, has been using its project management expertise to help to make a difference to the lives of people living there.

I made my first visit to the city of Yei, in the southwest of the country, close to the borders with two of its trading partners, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Uganda. I have returned twice since then, to develop plans to improve education through teaching the Sudanese business people the joys of risk management, product-based planning and project management governance.

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About the Author John Edmonds Author John Edmonds is Director of Strategy and Marketing at learning and development company pearcemayfield. He is an experienced project and programme manager as well as a skilled and practised training consultant. John is a PRINCE2 Consultant and an accredited Trainer in PRINCE2, MSP and the Management of Change.  He is a Practitioner in M_o_R® and holds the PMP qualification and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.  He has developed and run many in-house and public courses and supported organisations to implement PRINCE2 and MSP.  For information about pearcemayfield or to contact Mr. Edmonds, send email to Louise Esplin at louise@esplinpr.co.uk.