Effect of Project Team Competences on Performance of Development Projects in Rwanda: A Case of World Vision’s Village Savings Loan Association Project in Gasabo District

Abstract

Competence is an effective demonstration of a project team in performing certain activities that are related to job relevant behavior, motivation and technical knowledge/skills. The purpose of this research study was to assess the effect of project team competences on performance of development projects in Rwanda; case of World Vision’s Village Saving Loan Association Project in Gasabo District. This study was guided by the following objectives; to assess the effect of project team professional competence on performance of World Vision’s Village Savings Loan Association project in Gasabo District, to determine the effect of project team social competence on performance of World Vision’s Village Savings Loan Association project in Gasabo District, and to determine the effect of project team leadership competence on performance of World Vision’s Village Savings Loan Association project in Gasabo District. In spite of significant investments in project management training and other project team systems and processes, there still exists a high rate of project failure. Majority of these failures have been linked to problems within project teams, lack of skills, lack of expertise and insufficient communication. This study target 120 employees of World Visions’ project team implementing the Village Savings Loan Association Project in Gasabo District. A descriptive research design was adopted in this study. Correlations were used to measure the associations between the dependent and independent variables appropriately. A final sample size of 92 respondents were chosen and structured questionnaires used to collect the data. Study findings revealed a strong positive correlation of 0.613 between professional competence and project performance; a weak positive correlation of 0.465 between social competence and project performance and lastly a rather insignificant positive correlation of 0.041 between leadership competence and project performance. This study therefore concluded that professional competence and social competence had an effect on performance of development projects. This study recommends for increased access to trainings and workshops for professional development; encourage and mentor one another using proved workable social relations to spur implementation of developmental projects and finally, to underline the significance of project leadership competence right from the top.

Keywords: Project Team competencies, Development projects, Project performance