Sharpening Project Implementation and Management Skills

Contact: Ayodele Hippolyte

Monday, September 11, 2000 - Improved efficiency and productivity in the implementation of governmental projects is expected soon. This is the hope of Minister of Planning and Development, the Honourable Dr. Walter Francois. He was speaking at the opening of a three-week "Project Implementation and Management Workshop" on Monday at the Bay Gardens Hotel. The Government of St. Lucia and the Caribbean Development Bank are putting on the workshop jointly.

In addressing the participants, Dr. Francois said that he expects that this training should improve the rate at which projects are implemented and that there will be, what he called, "a redefinition of project planning and implementation" to produce a more "timely and cost effective delivery of project output". He also called for more meaningful collaboration between governmental agencies that are involved in related projects and programmes.

The Planning and Development Minister reminded the participants that in order for St. Lucia to continue to benefit from lending agencies such as the Caribbean Development Bank, projects needed to proceed on schedule and the relevant feedback made available to such institutions on time.

Workshop Facilitator and Chief Project Officer in the Human Resource Development Unit of the Caribbean Development Bank, Herman Grant, admitted that the bank’s involvement is to ensure that the projects it supports are well managed. He said that if professionals are adequately trained in project preparation and planning, it makes the job of lending agencies easier since feedback on projects would be more analytical and precise. The bank would then be able to assess better, the country’s implementation rate and the success of its programmes.

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