Managing Social Sector Projects : Importance of a Method in Madness

How project management can help bring in more focus and effectiveness in any social sector project

(This article of mine has been published in the November 2009 issue of MANAGE India - the online magazine of Project Management Institute, India)

The social sector in India faces tremendous challenges; this includes NGOs and community groups working on a range of development and governance related issues – in rural and urban India. The potential impact of this work needs no emphasis. While it can significantly impact various development issues, it plays an important role to keep our governments accountable and our democracy vibrant.

Therefore, it is extremely important for the social sector to operate within strict bounds of professionalism and use best available tools and techniques to manage their projects successfully.

Unfortunately, this does not match with the current reality. An overwhelmingly large majority of social sector projects in India are managed in an ad hoc and informal manner even today. Project management hasn’t matured to the extent it has in the private sector. Most of the organizations working in this space rarely take the typical approach to project management – defining clear targets, defining an action plan and timelines, allocating resources, mapping out dependencies, regular tracking and reviewing.

The reasons for this are varied, some of which are genuine. It is true that the vagaries and external dependencies that a social sector project is subject to, are rarely seen in other sectors. This is compounded by the fact that most NGOs have highly heterogeneous teams with non-uniform understanding on project management, and the tools that enable the same. In many cases, especially in rural NGOs, technology skills are a big impediment. On the other hand, many NGOs don’t feel the need to apply modern project management practices because they do not commit themselves to clear annual and quarterly targets.

But is it a wise choice not to adopt standard project management practices due to the inherent complexity of this space? I would argue this otherwise.

It is because of the fact that social sector is fraught with challenges and external dependencies – a chaos or a madness of sorts, it is even more important to deploy relevant practices in project management. To add to this, the resources available are so limited and the windows of opportunity so narrow, that one rarely gets a second chance to make an impact. Clearly then, little or no project management reflects poorly on an organization’s commitment to change.

Over the last few years, Janaagraha has taken important strides towards better project management in its various programs. Defining clear targets and action plans, and reviewing the same periodically are a norm. Weekly review meetings are conducted within programs and at the organizational level to ensure alignment of all staff and volunteers. All of these are open door meetings, where any kind of external input is welcome. This is complemented by a monthly review by the Executive Body and a Quarterly review by the Advisory Board.

Earlier this year, Janaagraha successfully executed India’s largest voter registration campaign – Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign – in partnership with Tata Tea. Strong project management practices were the backbone to running this nationwide campaign successfully.

Recently, Janaagraha has initiated an exercise based on Balance Scorecard approach to better define organizational goals and ensure alignment among its various programs. There has also been a shift from excel based project planning towards professional open source tools for project management. I am sure this will yield significant outcomes in the short and long term.