Strategic issues in development management: Learning from successful experience. Part I
| Date | 01 April 1990 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230100202 |
| Author | Diana Conyers,Mohan Kaul |
| Published date | 01 April 1990 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 10, 127-140 (1990)
Strategic issues
in
development management: learning from
successful experience. Part
I
DIANA CONYERS
Department
of
Physical Planning, Zimhahwe
and
MOHAN KAUL
Commonwealth Secretariat
SUMMARY
This paper draws general conclusions from
a
set of case-studies presented at two Round
Tables organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat. The paper is in two Parts. Part
I,
published
here, deals with the choice of criteria for determining the success of local development initia-
tives. The approach adopted at the two Round Tables was judgemental. However, an attempt
is made to measure ‘success’ more systematically by defining development and classifying
the indicators that might be used to measure the achievement of such development as quantifi-
able, partly quantifiable and qualitative.
A
set of hypotheses concerning the factors contribut-
ing to the success of local development projects was put forward at the Warwick meeting
and amended in Livingstone. Part
I
of the paper classifies the factors contributing to success
into four groups: the project environment, the basic character of the project, the mode of
project initiation, and project organization and management. Three environmental factors
are emphasized: the political environment,
local
leadership and the history of self-reliance.
Three basic characteristics of
a
project are of particular importance: the level of beneficiary
involvement, the use made
of
local resources, and the prevailing ‘organizational culture’.
Two aspects of project initiation are particularly important: the source of
a
project and its
scale. Five major organizational factors are stressed: the clarity of project goals; flexibility
and responsiveness to needs; autonomy and accountability; a ‘learning process’ approach
to project planning and management; and human resource development. Part
I1
will discuss
the broader implications of these factors in the local, national and international contexts.
INTRODUCTION
This paper presents some general conclusions about the management of successful
local ‘non-commercial’ development initiatives, based on the findings of two Com-
monwealth Secretariat Round-table meetings held in Warwick, England in 1987 and
Livingstone, Zambia in
1988.
It draws in particular on the reports of these meetings,
which have been published separately (Commonwealth Secretariat,
1987,
1988), but
Dr
Conyers is working on an ODA-funded rural development planning project at the Department
of
Physical Planning, PO
Box
836,
Gweru,
Zimbabwe. Dr Kaul
is
Director of the Management Development
Programme at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London,
SW
1Y
5HX.
0271-2075/90/020127-14$07.00
0
1990
by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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