Stakeholders Versus Stickholders: A Short Guide to Multi-Organizational Project 'Governance on the Ground' (Excerpt)

Abstract

In their article titled Action Planning in Post Conflict Societies, Clarissa Augustinus (UN HABITAT) and Michael Barry (University of Calgary) present a comprehensive framework for the development of a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the rehabilitation of land sector in post conflict situations. Their framework is based on principles drawn from the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) which is arguably more applicable to post conflict situations. I wrote a longer article that uses the Augustinus and Barry framework to analyze lessons learned from a large scale project implemented in Lebanon focused on automating land registration records and procedures. This current short paper (is an excerpt of the latter). Here I focus on the design and implementation with an emphasis on the “governance on the ground” for multi-organizational projects. “Governance on the ground” for me is the real work of getting projects done: leading, managing and coordinating the process of who gets/does what when and how? It is my conviction and backed by own experience (school of hard knocks) that the nitty gritty of “governance on the ground” is the (not so) secret sauce of success (or failure) of any development project. As such I believe such “governance on the ground” lessons if they are put front and center of any development project design and implementation, the initiative may have a higher chance of success.