Sustainability management of international development projects by International Non-Governmental Organizations: the case of INGOs working with refugees in Jordan

Abstract

Sustainability is one of the most significant challenges in International Development (ID) projects. This research aims to study the role of Project Management (PM) tools in promoting the adoption of sustainability strategies in the ID projects by International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs). A quantitative approach was used to collect data through an online questionnaire completed by 84 respondents who occupy managerial positions in the ID projects in Jordan. The results of this study indicate a moderate adoption of PM tools and high adoption of sustainability strategies in ID projects in Jordan. The results also show all the PM tools are positively correlated with sustainability strategies, but only “Work breakdown structure” and “Risk analysis” positively affect the adoption of sustainability strategies. The study concludes that by increasing the investment in developing sustainability practices and PM knowledge for project managers, an increase in sustainability knowledge and a better sustainability performance might be achieved. With the lack of similar studies in the humanitarian field, this study tries to provide evidence for the relationship between PM and sustainability.