Foreword
Africa and beyond
T
he continent of Africa,
considered the “Cradle
of Humankind”, is also
known as a place of diversities;
diversity in climate, weather,
natural landscaping, biological
species, ethnicity, mineral
and economic resources.
However, the continent still carries the
unenviable badges of the poorest transport and utility infrastructure, with one
of the highest death rates for children
under the age of five in the world, and
the least adequate education system (a
shackle Zimbabwe has proven could be
broken as they achieved a 90.7% literacy
rate despite most unfavourable socioeconomic circumstances).
The spirit of African Renaissance, firstly
articulated at the dawn of the sixties by
Cheick Anta Diop (of Senegal), still compels the people and nations of Africa not
only to joining our leaders in singing the
chorus of My African Dream [because in
my African Dream there is a new tomorrow] but, better still, to overcoming the
challenges confronting the continent and
achieve cultural, scientific, and economic–
the dream of sustainable development.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup, not great
from an African athletic performance
angle; however the readiness of a topnotch infrastructure and the smooth
organisation of the events, thanks to a
proper project management and a collective realisation of the stakes, proved
that no challenge can’t be beaten because there is a dream that we can follow
when we care to develop our transport,
utility, hospitality and medical infrastructures. Is this not what a solid project
management can help the people and
nations of Africa achieve, even in rebuilding war-ravaged structures?
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Seemingly daunting challenges, when
looked at from a positive, inspirational
perspective, may suggest great opportunities; so many rivers for world-class
bridges to still span on, so many school
and hospital systems still to be built in
rural communities, so many roads still
to feature in our glamorous landscapes,
so much oil and other minerals to still
be exploited from the ground, so much
green-clean power still to be extracted
from the Inga Dam sites in the Congo
and distributed inexpensively across
several African communities spreading
from Cape Town to Cairo, just to name
a few prospects that could skyrocket
Africa’s GDP to its highest levels through
economic growth. Even now Ivory Coast,
Angola, Mozambique, Ghana, and DRC
forecast real GDP growth at over 8 %,
with Nigeria as the largest economy.
While we are convinced that proper,
robust project management will assist
in addressing most of Africa’s developmental challenges, it shall be noted that
project managers, in starting new projects, could face a number of challenges
such as obtainability of capital, drifting
and/or creeping scope, immaturity and
lack of previous experience in similar
ventures, poor governance, political interference, fraud and deceit, poor health,
safety, and logistics in the work-fields.
Therefore, initial excitements, eagerness and Afro-empathy must be
supported with proper planning and,
moreover, with adequate delivery and
governance mechanisms and structures
that support and govern project delivery. Otherwise, their anticipation will
soon add to a string of project failures,
which unforgivingly wreak disastrous
and enduring macro-economy impairments to any host-nation. Nevertheless,
the African Dream shall live on!
PM Africa Magazine — september 2014
Pascal Mabelo