Project sustainability

AMOUD SCHOOL OF
POSTGRADUATE
UNIVERSITY STUDIES&
RESEARCH

Course Code: PPM 8112

Course Title: PROJECT CYCLE AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT Student

Name: Mustafa Mohamed Farah

ID MBA/01/2159/2021/HG

Task Title: Project Sustainability.

January 20th, 2022

Introduction
Sustainability refers to a system's ability to persist over time and space, and it is directly

related to the project's ability to become persistent without its outcomes becoming diminished.

The notion of "sustainable development" was placed on the world agenda during the Rio

conference in 1992, when the term "sustainability" was highlighted within the environmental

realm. Within the Bruntland report (1987) environmental perspective, the term "sustainability"

was defined as follows: Meeting the requirements of the current generation without jeopardizing

future generations' ability to meet their own. From the inception of the system to the various

processes surrounding design, development, support, and implementation, sustainability can be

viewed as a process. Sustainability refers to the processes' long-term viability and how they

coexist over time, particularly when external support is withdrawn (Braa et al. 2003). The

problem is determining whether or not the system will survive on within an organization.

Ways of achieving project sustainability

rendered sustainable and it concluded that most of the cited articles proposed that participative

approaches empower communities, resulting in project success and sustainability. The process of

ensuring project sustainability is known as participatory approach. It also gives communities the

power to define their own future by providing them with resources and the authority to employ

those resources. Participation is a new vision that aims to put rural communities in charge by

giving them a new set of authorities, rights, and responsibilities that will allow them to assure the

long-term viability of their initiatives.

Members are not compensated for their membership, but they are delighted to be a part of

a group of like-minded people who conduct social duties, advance in their education, or seek
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self-help through such groups (Woodard, 1987). According to Ohiani and Oni (1987), when

people saw the necessity for economic advancement, they formed cooperatives to cultivate huge

farms for each member of the cooperative in order to have surplus to sell. People also asked

authorization to build schools from the government or volunteer agencies in the field of

education. Furthermore, as people became aware of the necessity for roads, dispensaries, post

offices, courts, and town halls, they helped to build them. These are done by the people without

the use of force or coercion, but rather via communal consent and individual willingness.

According to Hillman (1960), community development is a method of assisting local

communities in becoming more aware of their needs, assessing their resources more realistically,

organizing themselves and their resources in such a way as to meet their needs, and acquiring the

attitude, experiences, and cooperative skills necessary to repeat this process on their own

initiative. This is in contrast to Olson's (1973) notion that rational self-interested persons will not

act to accomplish their common or group interests unless coercion or some other special

technique is used to make them act in their own interests. When communities participate in their

own projects, we see the following things, according to Okafor (2005): - Communities that are

empowered are more efficient. - Better projects and outcomes result from local participation. -

Improved service delivery due to increased transparency and accountability - Community

involvement can help local contractors and service providers get started. - It also encourages

donors to work together. Communities that benefit from the programs should be viewed as assets

and collaborators in the development process, rather than targets for poverty reduction efforts.

Between 1968 and 1978, it was revealed, according to Amos (1978), that self-help groups

prioritized economic and social welfare programs in Nigeria. They were able to do so thanks to

donations, levies, community labor, and matching subsidies from the local government. Primary
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and secondary schools, clinics, maternity homes, roads, bridges, postal services, market stalls,

and town halls were among the projects completed. All these projects proved to be both

successful and sustained over a period of time.

Meris of developing project sustainability

and sustainability, as well as the benefits of sustainable project management. They also

expressed their hope that future organizations will recognize the importance of sustainable

project management, while Silvius (2017) promotes sustainable project management as a new

way of thinking (a new "school") in the field of project management, in addition to pointing out

the link between project success and sustainability project management. A project must be tied to

the organization's strategy in order to be sustainable. This link allows initiatives to fit within the

strategic framework for managers to make informed decisions about projects, organizations, and

society as a whole.

The adoption of sustainable project management necessitates a certain amount of

flexibility and openness to change at the project level. Project management theory has been

actively developed since the 1960s, according to our review of the literature. According to Garel

(2003) the lack of a single vantage point allowed project management theory and practice to be

viewed from several angles. According to Andersen (2016), the term "perspective" refers to a

method of thinking. The writers proposed alternative management approaches by researching

and analyzing different areas of project management. A traditional (waterfall) method has arisen,

which supports a sequence of project stages, process orientation, clarity of requirements and

results, and minimal modifications during a project's lifetime. Traditional approaches have flaws

when it comes to projects without these characteristics, indicating the need for the development
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of a management approach that can meet managerial demands, even when project stages are not

sequential, stakeholders do not precisely communicate all requirements at the start of a project,

and project changes are relatively common throughout its lifetime.

Challenges of developing project sustainability

Donor policies, which typically take a top-down approach to project design and

implementation, are a key factor influencing project sustainability (Walsham, 1992). As a result,

the project does not accurately reflect actual work practices at the grassroots level where it will

be implemented. The longevity of project is strongly dependent on the project being able to

deliver dependable and useful to its recipients, and the capability of users at all levels to properly

employ the project. Because of the lack of user participation, capability, and incentive, as well as

an inflexible system architecture, it is difficult for the system to evolve over time and for

institutional changes to be incrementally adapted. Donor support is typically short-term and

entails the use of foreign expatriates who return to their own country after the aid period is

through. Because of the donor's primarily technical focus, projects are frequently put in the hands

of local organizations who lack the technical and administrative ability to sustain the system over

time. (Braa et al., 2003; Heeks and Baark, 1998). Because such projects do not become part of

the organization's daily operations, they cannot be fully institutionalized. In most cases, there is

no clear and explicit sustainability strategy in place (Young and Hampshire, 2000) to ensure that

the advantages, if any, are retained and may be strengthened over time (Heeks and Baark, 1998).

According to Oyomno (1996), the long-term viability of the project is determined by the

degree of demand, the appropriateness of the project for the end users, and the availability of

local capability to sustain the gains gained over time. The level to which that technology is
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required within an organization, as well as the output it creates, determines demand.

Appropriateness refers to the quality of the data gathered as well as the financial and human

resources capacity to implement changes and institutionalize technology. The availability and

capability of technical, managerial, institutional, intellectual, socio-political, cultural, and

physical infrastructure is then dependent on both the technical features of the technology, such as

its operational simplicity, flexibility, maintainability, and robustness, as well as the availability

and capability of technical, managerial, institutional, intellectual, socio-political, cultural, and

physical infrastructure (Kiggundu, 1989).

References

Amos, E. 1978. Community Development: A Strategy in Mass Mobilization and

Political Integration in Ankpa LGA 1968-1978: A Case Study of Imane District, Benue

State. A Dissertation submitted to the Dept of political Science Bayero University, Kanofor

the award of B.Sc. degree in June, 1978 pp 16-18

Andersen, E. Do project managers have different perspectives on project management?

Int. J. Proj. Manag. 2016, 34, 58–65.

Hillman, A. 1960. Community Organization and Planning. New York: Macmillan.

Igboeli, M. O.1992 “Self-help as a strategy for Rural Development: A critique”, (Pp. 401-

413) in M. S. O. Olisa and J.I. Obiukwu (eds.), Rural Development in Nigeria:

Dynamics and Strategy. Awka: Mekslink Publishers.

Garel, G. A history of project management models: From pre-models to the standard

models. Int. J. Proj. Manag. 2013, 31, 663–669

Ihimodu I. I. 1997 “States’ vision plans of development.” A lecture delivered on

March 20, 1997, pp. 3 & 5.

Okafor, C. 2005 “CDD: Concepts and Procedure.” Paper delivered at the LEEMP

workshop in Kainji National Park, New Bussa, Pp. 2-10

Olukotun, G. A. (2008). Achieving Project Sustainability ThroughCommunity Participation. Journal of

Tiron Tudor, A.; Dragu, I.-M. Project success by integrating sustainability in project

management. In Sustainability Integration for Effective Project Management, Chapter: 7;

Silvius, G., Tharp, J., Eds.; IGI Global: Hershey, PA, USA, 2013; pp. 106–128
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Silvius, A.J.G. Sustainability as a new school of thought in project management. J. Clean. Prod.

2017, 166, 1479–1493.

Woodard, M.D. 1987. “Voluntary Association MembershipAmong Black American

and the Post Civil RightEra.” Sociological Quarterly, 28: 285-300