Development Project Management: Experiences of Urban Local Governments in Oromia-Ethiopia

Abstract

The Urban Local Government Development Project (ULGDP) program, launched in 2008 in Ethiopia’s major cities, is coming to an end, and there is considerable debate on whether or not the projected impact on local government management of development projects would be realized. The paper examines the performance of the local governments involved in managing the ULGDP and was guided by the following question: How effective are urban local governments [ULGs] in managing development projects and what managerial/organizational challenges affect their performance? Basically, data and results from an ongoing doctoral research study were relied on substantially in writing this paper. Additional collaborative information was obtained by interviewing professional staff at all tiers of government regularly concerned or involved with the execution of local projects, and focus group citizenry. Preliminary findings of that study are quite revealing in the sense that while ULGs are commended for their performance in the areas of building infrastructures and providing municipal services to the community, despite quality control issues, the picture is not good in the areas of management and administration. There is abundant evidence of poor performance in the dissemination of annual budgets, project approval procedures, expenditure tracking, audit accounting, and sharing procurement results with the general public. Moreover, the revenue mobilization capacity of municipalities and budget allocation for operation and maintenance is not satisfactory. The paper concludes that ineffective resource management, organizational structures and administrative procedures are directly responsible for the poor state of affairs and recommends reforms in accordance with the mandate of local government. Largely, it calls for the establishment of modern management systems within the local government structure. The paper is structured into five parts as follows; introduction, the literature review, the methodology, results/discussion and conclusion.

Keywords: Development project, Local Government, Project Management