Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid Projects in The Gambia - The issue of planning and its implication to sustainability

Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid

Projects in The Gambia

The issue of planning and its implication to sustainability

Ahmad Harsh

Jankeh Jobe

Faculty of Culture and Society - Department of Urban Studies Main field of study - Leadership and Organization

Degree Project Master of Arts (60 credits) with a Major in Leadership and Organization

Master Thesis with a focus on Leadership and Organization for Sustainability (OL646E), 15 credits Summer 2020

Acknowledgements

“Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

First and foremost, we would like to express our gratitude for all the support and guidance we have received that enabled us to conduct this research which is the culmination of an intense but very fulfilling year.

We would like to thank our supervisor Dr. Ju Liu for her guidance, constructive feedback and encouragement during the entire process. We thank you Dr. Ju for the motivation and reassuring us all the time that we were in good hands, and yes, we were.

We thank our professors; Hope Witmer Ph.D., Jonas Lundsten Ph.D., Fredrik Björk, Rebeck Forssell, Chiara Vitrano Ph.D., Carole Gustavsson, Gilbert Silvus Ph.D., Helgi-Valur Fridriksson Ph.D. and all staff members for facilitating and lighting our journey with grace and kindness. We will never forget the lessons learned and the guidance from all of you.

Our immense gratitude to all interviewees who participated in this research by providing honest and elaborated answers. This thesis would not have been possible without your valuable contributions.

We wish to thank our families for their support and encouragement throughout this journey, our children for their patience and understanding, and our friends for always being there for us and for the willingness to listen to our rants.

Finally, we are eternally grateful to Allah (SWT) for the grace and strength to complete this work under very difficult circumstances, Alhamdulillah.

Abstract

Low effectiveness of international development aid projects is becoming an increasingly popular research problem in the academic literature. A number of scholars and practitioners are under the opinion that ineffective stakeholder management is one of the main reasons why the outcomes of many development aid projects fall below expectations. In particular, there is a popular opinion that stakeholders are often not adequately engaged in the planning activities of such projects. The current thesis is dedicated to a detailed investigation of the engagement of beneficiaries, recipients, donors and contractors in the planning stage of international development aid projects in The Gambia. There is currently no consistent framework for analyzing stakeholder engagement in such projects; therefore, this study is addressing an evident research gap. From the practical perspective, the topicality of this research derives from the fact that the election of the new President had opened The Gambia for an increased amount of foreign development aid, which attracted the attention of scientists to research problems related to the effectiveness of aid projects in this country.

The study uses an exploratory research design in order to conceptualize the engagement of various stakeholder groups into the planning stage of international development aid projects in The Gambia. A mixed research methodology and the research methods of a survey and semi-structured interviews were utilized to mainly collect qualitative data and somewhat of the necessary quantitative data. After that, the researchers applied the thematic analysis for identifying themes and sub-themes relevant to the problem under investigation. The findings of the study indicate low levels of engagement from recipients, contractors, and beneficiaries in the planning stage of international development aid projects in The Gambia. The unique cultural, political, and economic characteristics of the country, institutional

constraints, bureaucracy, corruption, and the inability of managers to reach targeted populations directly were found to be the most important reasons behind this regularity. Explanations of this pattern and practical recommendations for stakeholders are discussed in details in the thesis.

Keywords:

List of abbreviations:

IDA: International Development Aid

IDAPs: International Development Aid Projects NGOs: Non-government Organizations

Table of figures

Figure 1: Youker’s ID Project Life Cycle (Youker, 1989) 12

Figure 2: Power/Interest Grid for Stakeholder Prioritization 14

Figure 3 Comprehensive Stakeholder Management Process Model (Preble, 2005) 15 Figure 4 Three Approaches Towards Stakeholder Management (De Colle, 2005) 18 Figure 5: Roadmap for understanding the theoretical framework of stakeholder engagement in

Table of tables

Table 1: Stakeholder Groups in International Development Aid Projects in The Gambia 13

Table 2: Classification of the Interviewees of the Study 23

Table 3: Level of Respondents’ Awareness of the Key Aspects of Development Aid Projects 27

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...1

1.5. Country Context - The Gambia ... 4

1.6. International Development Aid Industry ... 5

1.7. Structure of the thesis ... 6

2. Theoretical Background and Analytical Framework ...7

2.1. Stakeholders ... 7

2.2. Previous Research on Stakeholder Management ... 8

2.3. Project Planning in International Development Aid Projects ... 9

2.4. Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid Projects ... 12

2.4.1. Identification of Stakeholders in International Development Aid Projects ... 12

2.4.2. Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid Projects ... 14

2.4.3. Stakeholders and Sustainability ... 16

2.5. Stakeholder Approach Theory ... 16

2.5.1. Strategic Stakeholder Approach ... 16

2.5.2. Descriptive, Normative, and Instrumental Approaches towards Stakeholder Management ... 17

2.6. Stakeholder Response Strategies ... 18

2.7. Summary of the Analytical Framework ... 19

3. Research Methodology... 21

3.1. Justifications for Chosen Research Paradigm ... 21

3.1.1. Research Design ... 21

3.1.2. Research Approach and Time Horizon ... 21

3.2. Data Collection ... 21

3.2.1. An Overview of Methods of Data Collection ... 21

3.2.2. Interviews and Selection of Respondents ... 22

3.2.3. Surveys ... 23

3.2.4. Secondary Data ... 24

3.3. Data Analysis ... 24

3.4. Reliability and Validity ... 25

3.6. Research Limitations ... 26

4. Data Analysis and Main Findings ... 27

4.1. Main findings based on the Survey - Insufficient engagement of beneficiaries in IDAPs ... 27

4.2. Main Findings based on the Interviews: The reasons behind the insufficient stakeholder engagement ... 28

4.2.1 Main Findings ... 28

4.2.2. Analysis and Discussion ... 30

4.3 Implications for stakeholder management and sustainability in IDAPs. ... 35

5. Conclusion ... 36

6. References ... 38

Appendices ... 44

Appendix A. The Survey ... 44

Appendix B. Questionnaire Data Tree ... 45

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1. Introduction

1.1. Background

International development aid projects are defined as medium to large size public projects and/or programs in all sectors, initialed and implemented in developing countries with an endeavor to fight against a number of life-threatening and critical issues such as poverty, human rights or education, by creating values, aid and benefits for people or social groups (beneficiaries) who considered to be in need. These programs are usually financed by different types of institutions including multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, United Nations Associated Agencies, bilateral and multilateral government agencies, non-governmental organizations or government agencies.

The international development aid industry faces significant challenges that limit the sustainability of projects. The academic literature suggests that the main reasons behind the failure of many international aid projects are the insufficient planning and improper management of different stakeholders (Coppola, 2015; Jakupec & Kelly, 2016; Moyo, 2009; Easterley, 2006; Collier, 2007). Stakeholders are defined as “group or individual who can affect or are affected by the achievements of the organisation’s objective” (Freeman,1984). The current academic and policy discourse stresses the need to center sustainability in all contexts and sectors. Since the publishing of the “Brundtland Report” which gave birth to the most widely used definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations, 1987:41), there has been an explosion in use of the term and the need to apply it to all contexts from the personal, organizational and national levels and in all sectors. In the international development sector, most of the work done is in project forms implemented by diverse actors. The international development agencies that provide support to low developed nations range from development banks such as the World Bank, African Development Bank to multilateral and bilateral institutions like the United Nations, European Union, SIDA and NORAD.

The most common way of delivering aid is in the form of projects that happen in a chain of actions involving a complex web of stakeholders that have different backgrounds and represent different organizations and interests. In more than sixty years since most African countries have achieved independence, their status is still under debate as African nations are still heavily dependent on international assistance from western nations (Park, 2019). International development aid projects are a popular research topic in relation to various research problems associated with the development of African states. According to Coppola (2015), international development assistance is “an ongoing activity involving many national government donors and an even greater number of recipients… which primarily focuses on global disaster risk reduction” (p. 356). The monetary value of this assistance has been growing on an annual basis. Jakupec and Kelly (2016) explain that most international development aid projects aim at facilitating political, economic, and social development as well as alleviating poverty. Simultaneously, there is currently no consensus among scholars and development practitioners in regard to the outcome of such projects. International development aid projects are very important in the functioning of most African countries, but despite this importance, a study by McKinsey and Devex posits that international development aid projects are often inefficient and ineffective (Lovegrove, Gebre, Lee, & Kumar, 2011).

This sentiment is also collaborated by the findings of Ika (2012). It can be inferred from the existing literature that poor stakeholder management is seen as one of the reasons behind the poor performance of most projects. The structure of what constitutes a stakeholder varies from project to another based on a

2 number of factors, but each stakeholder has a degree of power on projects and thus speaks to the need to properly manage these relations. which leads to the relevance of exploring how to manage stakeholders in the planning stage of international development projects. Bryson (2004), states that in projects “failure to attend to the information and concerns of stakeholders clearly is a kind of flaw in thinking or action that too often and too predictably leads to poor performance, outright failure or even disaster” (p. 23). It is therefore the position of this thesis that is important to explore the management of stakeholders in international aid projects centering our focus on the country of The Gambia. The significance of this topic is based on the fact that the election of Barrow opened the country for substantial flows of international development assistance. In just two weeks after his inauguration, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the European Union established a plan for allocating $275 million on supporting the country (Anders, 2017). In other words, international development aid projects were supposed to become a strong driver of the state’s recovery.

Stakeholder management is a challenging function for any organization. An ability to identify relevant stakeholders, analyze their interests and influence on organizational performance, create an effective communication management strategy, and engage them in implementation is widely cited in the literature as one of the important drivers of success in various industries (Wasieleski & Weber, 2017). In the contemporary globalized environment, a multitude of stakeholders are collaborating with each other from different geographical locations in a both a virtual and physical environment (Huber et al., 2004; Roeder, 2013). When managing relations with beneficiaries, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders, it is extremely necessary to reap a sustainable competitive advantage (Jepsen & Eskerod, 2013). The critical importance of adopting effective stakeholder management strategies to improve performance is the main reason why this concept has received a substantial amount of attention in the academic literature.

The current thesis seeks to explore the stakeholder engagement in the planning stage of international development aid projects. As it is known, such projects play a pivotal role in fighting against poverty, hunger and other needs around the world, addressing two of the most highlighted issues that the Sustainable Development Goals aims to eradicate (The United Nations, 2015). International development aid is considered to be a way of redistributing income and “sharing resources within a much wider social setting” (Martens, 2005, p. 645). The amount of aid has steadily increased since the 1990s (UNDP, 2007), and it reached $72,881.12 million in 2007 and $86,454.84 million in 2008 (OECD, 2008). In 2018, the total amount of official development assistance was reported at $153,024.9 million (OECD, 2019). The numbers above illustrate the increasing significance of the role of international development aid.

Diallo and Thuillier (2005) clarify that this regularity is inherent for the aid that is delivered by both government and non-government organizations. The goal of international development aid projects is to improve the living conditions of citizens in emerging and less developed countries by enhancing their health care services, reforming the educational system, enhancing the agricultural sector, and investing in many other areas that are vital for the maintenance of an adequate quality of living (OECD, 2019). Considering the scope of such projects, there are a wide range of stakeholders usually involved in their projects ranging from donor agencies to the direct beneficiaries. Since they have different and sometimes conflicting interests, it is of paramount importance to explore how projects manage stakeholders in the planning stage thus increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of international development aid projects and ensuring that the projects and their intended outcomes are sustainable.

In the planning and execution of international development aid projects, most of the focus is usually on how the project will impact the designated beneficiaries but how much of the project planning process is geared towards managing the different stakeholders and implementing their input in the execution of the projects to ensure sustainability of these projects.

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1.2. Research Problem

The international development aid industry faces significant challenges that limit the sustainability and the eventual performance of projects. Unfortunately, those projects which aim at reducing poverty still have not fully succeeded in a number of countries, as a significant percentage of the world’s population still live below the poverty line, and approximately 10% of them live on less than $1.90 a day (The World Bank, 2020). The academic literature suggests that the main reasons behind the failure of many international aid projects are the insufficient planning and improper management of different stakeholders (Coppola, 2015; Jakupec & Kelly, 2016; Moyo, 2009; Easterley, 2006; Collier, 2007). Pierce (2013) defines project planning as the processes undertaken to make the decision on what tasks need to be performed in order to achieve the project's objectives within the given schedule and time. If most of the projects in the industry of international development aid are failing, it is imperative to look into the project planning processes to study how it affects the implementation and sustainability of these projects. The current thesis will explore this interesting research problem with the study of international development aid projects that have been implemented in The Gambia.

1.3. Research Aim

Theory wise, this research will provide an understanding of how stakeholders, in terms of their input and

influence, are engaged and prioritized by project leaders in the planning phase of international aid projects in The Gambia. By doing so, this study aims to challenge the existing theory on the engagement of stakeholders in the planning stage of IDAPs, and to contribute to the theoretical knowledge on stakeholder management in the project planning phase in the international development aid sector.

Practice wise, the study aims to generate implications and to draw conclusions that can provide practical

knowledge that would be relevant for development aid practitioners, donor agencies, NGOs, government organizations, sponsors/investors, project managers and project teams of such projects who face problems with achieving sustainable outcomes of their projects due to insufficient and ineffective stakeholder management.

In order to do this, the researchers will present a conceptual and theoretical background in relation to the concepts of project planning, stakeholder management and international development aid projects within the context of The Gambia. The researchers intend to conduct this research by studying some international development projects in The Gambia that are aimed at poverty eradication and education in order to understand how stakeholders are managed and prioritized by project teams in the planning phase of projects.

1.4. Research Question

Based on the above presented background, the research question that this thesis aims to explore is; How are stakeholders engaged in the planning stage of international development aid projects in The Gambia? And what are the implications to stakeholder management in IDAPs?

In order to answer this question, we will break it down into the sub research question;

SRQ: Who are the stakeholders? How are they prioritized in IDAPs and how are they involved in the IDAPs during the planning stage?

4 The focus of our research will be on exploring how recipients, donors, contractors, and beneficiaries are engaged in the planning phase of international development projects. To ensure an in-depth study that will provide answers to the research question, we will center our focus on the context of development aid projects in The Gambia.

1.5. Country Context - The Gambia

The country of The Gambia situated in the west of Africa is one of poorest countries in the world. It is deemed a critically fragile state due to, among other things, its political instability, slow growth, high inequality, unsustainable fiscal balances and the limited capacity of the public administration. The country is plagued by poverty levels that have remained essentially unchanged with a high level of poverty that translates into tenuous food security with a quarter of the population being food insecure (International Agricultural Fund for Development. 2006). The country has a population of 1.88 million people according to the 2013 census with the population expected to nearly double in the next 21 years and is one of the most densely populated counties in Sub-Saharan African (International Agricultural Fund for Development. 2006).

The Gambia is labelled as a Least Developed Countries (LCD) with an HDI rank in 2015 - 175, out of 188 countries, with 34% of Gambians living below US$1.25 a day poverty line, and 58% - below $2 a day poverty line. However, it has been experiencing a steady growth of 5-5.5% over several years by 2010 and macroeconomic stability, with one-digit inflation level (Gambia Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (2015).The victory of Adama Barrow in the 2016 presidential elections contributed to the cautious optimism of external observers concerning the future of The Gambia. The end of the 22-year rule of President Jammeh, who was criticized by Western diplomats for suppressing democratic processes in the country, led to the revival of relations between The Gambia and Western states and international organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (World Bank, 2017). This, in turn, has translated into an increase in the amounts of international development assistance delivered or pledged to the country.

Overseas Development aid (also referred to as international aid) reached US$99.7 million in 2014 and represented 12.7% of Gross National Income. The Gambia has a high reliance on development aid to finance its development strategy, making aid a vital source of revenue and resources. The major development aid providers to The Gambia include the African Development Bank, OPEC Fund, UNDP, European Union, UNICEF, World Bank, and other organizations (Global Partnership, 2016). The Gambia is highly dependent on external development assistance from diverse donors; however, donor harmonization and coordination remains weak. (African Development Bank, 2017). According to The Gambia Ministry of Finance, the total allocation of donor funds to The Gambia in 2016 amounted to €541,36 million, out of which GMD2,890,313,084.23 million was in the form of grants and GMD340,934,039 million in the form of loans. Compared to the previous period, grant-based Official Development Assistance (ODA) indicates a significant decline in 2011. Largest share of ODA in 2011 was provided in the Infrastructure sector, economic development, social protection sector and health sector (Gambia Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs 2015).

International development aid from donor organizations plays a crucial role in key sectors in The Gambia and involves different stakeholders which make it prudent to effectively manage stakeholders in the planning stage of these projects. Unfortunately, there is currently no detailed information about the ways in which stakeholders are engaged and managed in the planning stage of international development aid projects, which constitutes an evident gap in the literature.

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1.6. International Development Aid Industry

International Development Aid has become a lifeline for many African countries who largely depend on the funding provided for development projects to be able to provide some essential services for their citizenry. But despite the salience of these projects, a study by McKinsey and Devex posit that international development projects are often inefficient and ineffective (Lovegrove et al. 2011). There is a raging debate about the effectiveness of aid and its impact (Easterly, 2006; Collier, 2007; Moyo, 2009; Ika, 2011). Advocates for international development aid posit that aid works, not always as intended but should still be regarded as part of the solution (Collier, 2007). Critics contend that there is little evidence to show for the effectiveness of aid and that aid is in fact a part of the development problem for Africa (Easterly, 2006; Moyo, 2009).

Youker (2003)defined international development projects as medium to large size public projects and/or programs in all sectors of developing countries financed by the following types of institutions:

1. Multilateral Development Banks such as the World Bank and regional development banks (ADB, AfDB, IADB, CDB etc.)

2. United Nations Associated Agencies (including UNDP, FAO, ILO, WHO, UNIDO etc.) 3. Bilateral and multilateral government agencies (such as USAID, European Union or CDA) 4. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services or Save

the Children)

5. Government agencies in developing countries.

Diallo and Thuillier (2005) state that most of the international aid provided to both governmental and non-governmental organizations is done in project form financed by multilateral development banks, the United Nations associated agencies, bilateral agencies and these projects have evolved from being largely infrastructural to include “soft” projects which are targeted at more social issues. The goal of these international development projects is to improve the living conditions of citizens in emerging and less developed countries by for example improving health, education or agricultural systems. Bryce and Crawford (2003) state that the goal of such projects is to create “social transformation” by aiming to reduce poverty, improving on existing infrastructure in developing countries and providing disaster relief in trying and unprecedented situations. The authors further posit that the nature of such aid is a process that is both highly political and complex due to the complexity and diversity of stakeholders usually involved due to the fact these projects tend to have an impact that encompasses both the economic, environmental and social spheres.

The opinion that International development projects are usually executed under complex institutional settings and thus susceptible to the impact of the wider socio-political environment in which they take place is common in the literature, Binder (2007), Lessard and Miller (2000), Orr (2005) have all stressed on a universal characteristic of international projects is that they are complex and usually involve a larger number of stakeholders and how the interests of the different stakeholders are managed and given deserving relevance is an enduring dilemma in international development projects due to the uneven power relations between the different stakeholders. The goal of our research is prompted by an acknowledgment of the complexity of project management in the sector and the need for better planning and stakeholder involvement to ensure sustainable projects.

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1.7. Structure of the thesis

The current thesis has a structure that includes the preceding chapter where we presented an introduction of the research topic with a background of the research, research questions, and the aims and objectives of the research. The second chapter of the study will provide a detailed review of the literature on the concepts relevant to this research and a description of the theoretical framework. In particular, the chapter examines the strategic stakeholder approach, the stakeholder theory and the instrumental, normative, descriptive approaches towards stakeholder management. It also examines the response strategies in stakeholder management. Furthermore, the chapter contains the definition of project planning with an emphasis on the specifics of this process in the international development aid industry.

The third chapter of the thesis is dedicated to the methodology that is used in the empirical part of the research in order to explain how the aim led to the method adopted for this study. The current study will use a mixed research exploratory approach that identifies both qualitative and quantitative findings associated with the research topic (Creswell, 2007). Detailed information about the instruments of data collection and data analysis will be covered in this chapter. The researchers will also delve into the limitations and other considerations that had to be made in the course of the research. In the fourth chapter of this thesis, the authors will present briefly the findings based on the collected data and information and will analyze the findings and discuss them in details. Lastly, the fifth chapter will provide detailed conclusions of the research. Furthermore, it will summarise the main findings of the thesis and present key suggestions for further research as well as practical recommendations for managers, practitioners and organizations that implement international development aid projects in The Gambia.

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2. Theoretical Background and Analytical Framework

In order to address the research problem, which is the failure of international development aid projects and their performance limitations due to the insufficient planning and management of different stakeholders (Coppola, 2015; Jakupec & Kelly, 2016), in this chapter the authors will provide an insight and a review of the literature on the concepts, theories and scholarly debates that are relevant for this research.

2.1. Stakeholders

Considering that the main reasons attributed to the failure of many international aid projects in the academic literature are the insufficient planning and management of different stakeholders (Coppola, 2015; Jakupec & Kelly, 2016), the researchers of this study found it crucial to highlight the scholarly debate about stakeholder definitions, concepts and theories in relation to the international development aid industry.

The last few decades have seen a proliferation in the amount of attention given to the importance of stakeholder in organizations. Traditionally defined as “a group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievements of the organization’s objective” (Freeman, 1984), this definition was the starting point for the proliferation of stakeholder theory in the mainstream literature. At the center of stakeholder theory is the goal for managers to understand the different stakeholders who are affected and can affect the organization and to strategically manage these relationships (Freeman, 1999). Initially applied to just organizational management the core assumption of stakeholder theory is the need for managers to take measures to address interests and entities beyond just shareholder expectations. To explore the role of stakeholders and the management of their interests in the planning of international developments projects, the literature review will focus on the theories related to the different concepts relevant to our research. The concept of stakeholders and its significance was broadly extended in the early eighties by Freeman from its traditional sense to “those that can affect or are affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives” Freeman (1983, p. 25). The concept has continued to be expanded on even further since then. As According to Turner (2003) “stakeholders are those who have a vested interest in the success of a project as well as the environment within which the project operates and can significantly influence the success of a project” (p.759), and to Bryson (1988) “stakeholder is any person, group or organization that can place a claim on an organization’s attention, resources or output, or is affected by that output”(p.73). “In this shared power world, no one is fully in charge; no organization ‘contains’ the problem. Instead many individuals, groups and organizations are involved or affected or have some partial responsibility to act.” (Bryson, 2004, p.23).

In the context of international development projects, Provan and Milward (2001) states that the importance of this broad view of stakeholders is due to the wide range and nature of possible stakeholders that cannot be easily identified within the development industry compared to the private sector. As mostly, the focus of development aid projects is on the stake rather than the stakeholders, on the value that is being created rather than the beneficiaries.

Within the international development aid industry, stakeholders are the people, groups, institutions or entities who have an interest in the project or have the ability to influence the outcomes of the project either positively or negatively; they can be directly or indirectly affected by the project. The range of potential stakeholders is diverse and may include target beneficiary groups, locally affected communities or individuals, national and local government authorities, civil society actors, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international observers, politicians, religious leaders, the academic

8 community, private sector entities, public services and facilities, sponsors/investors, workers organizations, UN agencies and donors, project teams and other special interest groups. Additionally, stakeholders may include groups opposed to the proposed intervention which is intended by the development project.

2.2. Previous Research on Stakeholder Management

The academic literature provides a significant number of insights into the concept of stakeholder management. In the most general view, the term of “stakeholder management” could be defined as: “the systematic identification, analysis, planning, and implementation of actions designed to engage with stakeholders” (Luckmann, 2020, p. 12). Stakeholders, in turn, are a wide range of individuals, groups, and organizations that may affect or be affected by a specific company or project. It is important to emphasize that stakeholder management is a strategic concept that should not be interpreted as a set of operational decisions and tactical solutions that address situational problems. The literature argues that stakeholder management must be integrated into the framework of governance for maximizing the success of an organization’s operations and projects (Gnan, Hinna, Monteduro, & Scarozza, 2013). Accordingly, it might be hard or even impossible to address the needs and expectations of the stakeholders in a specific project without the adoption of a strategic framework for stakeholder management, using a strategic stakeholder management approach is, therefore, critical in any project.

The existing body of knowledge includes a variety of principles guiding the implementation of stakeholder management in projects. Most scholars recognize stakeholder management as an organic component of project management that is required for regulating the direction of projects (Atkin & Skitmore, 2008; Eskerod, Huemann, & Savage, 2015). Effective stakeholder management strategies play a crucial role in project success because they help maximize the value of projects for particular stakeholders (Porter & Kramer, 2019), align projects’ outcomes with broader business goals and objectives (Freeman, Martin, & Parmar, 2007; Freeman, 2010; Hung, 2011), and address possible problems that may arise during the implementation of projects (Atkin & Skitmore, 2008). In this situation, it seems justified to claim that stakeholder management has become a crucial component of project governance.

The need to integrate elements of stakeholder management into the framework of project management is a truism in the academic literature. The importance of this factor could be found in the studies by Crawford and Pollack (2004), Davis (2014), Mazur, Pisarski, Chang, and Ashkanasy (2014) and Mazur and Pisarski (2015). Furthermore, as Maylor (2001), Dagli (2018), and Liang, Yu, and Guo (2017) explain, stakeholder management is becoming a popular criterion for project success that supplements the common set of indicators based on the parameters of cost, quality, and time. In other words, it is prudent to approach stakeholder management as a strategic matter in projects.

The main goal of utilizing strategic instruments for planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling stakeholder management activities is to decrease the level of uncertainty related to stakeholders, as such factors can adversely affect project outcomes. As Muriana and Vizzini (2017) indicate, even a slight degree of uncertainty may significantly reduce the performance of projects; therefore, it is necessary to design structured mechanisms for evaluating possible risks related to stakeholder management and creating effective risk mitigation and risk prevention instruments. The discussion above illustrates that projects are unlikely to succeed in cases where the project teams do not implement effective instruments of approaching stakeholders and addressing their needs and expectations.

An analysis of the studies on stakeholder management shows that the importance of this concept correlates with the complexity of projects. Floricel Michela, and Piperca (2016) elucidate that the level of

9 uncertainty in complex projects is much higher than in simple ones; therefore, risk prevention and mitigation strategies, which are incorporated into the framework of effective stakeholder management, are crucial for project success. Ommen, Blut, Backhaus, and Woisetschlager (2016), Debrie and Taimbault (2016), and Tang (2014) argue that intricate, unstable, and inconsistent networks of stakeholders’ interrelations are one of the key sources of projects’ complexity. Accordingly, the development of an effective stakeholder management framework becomes a priority. The findings of studies on stakeholder management in complex projects are directly applicable to the investigation of stakeholder management in international development aid projects because these projects are well-known as complex with a variety of stakeholders and many entangled aspects that should be considered and addressed in a systematic manner.

A gap in the existing literature is that it does not offer a sufficient insight on the role of stakeholder management in international development aid programs. The limited literature on this issue is fragmented and inconsistent. Nguyen and Aguilera (2010), state that the overwhelming majority of stakeholders in such projects could be divided into donors, recipients, contractors, and beneficiaries. The scholars also found that the inclusion of many stakeholders can prove to be a counter-productive measure that adversely affects the project implementation. The situation looks even more disturbing considering that many managers of aid projects are not interested in learning about the needs and expectations of recipients and beneficiaries, an example of this is the research by Bhatta and Bardecki (2013) which revealed that non-government organizations that executed aid projects in Khimbu, Nepal neglected the opinions of stakeholders to the extent of cancelling activities that were supposed to collect data on the public opinion. The arguments above illustrate that stakeholder management is an important yet under researched aspect of international development aid projects.

In general, the academic literature illustrates that the management of international development aid projects is a challenging task from the perspective of stakeholders’ involvement and management. Nonetheless, almost all the scholars agree that the success of such projects is impossible without the incorporation of robust stakeholder management strategies into the framework of project management (Ika, Dialo, & Thuillier, 2010; Golini, Kalchschmidt, & Landoni, 2014). There is no consensus among scholars concerning the degree of standardization and customization in these strategies (Landoni & Corti, 2011). Nevertheless, an analysis of the literature did not reveal any academic studies that dispute the importance of considering stakeholder management as a strategic function of international development aid projects.

While many researches showed the importance of stakeholder management and its significance on project success, there is currently no consistent framework that would describe the implementation of the planning stage of stakeholder management strategies in international development aid projects. Furthermore, none of the past studies focused on the planning stage of international development aid projects in Gambia. In this situation, it seems justified to claim that the current study will address an evident research gap in the literature. Its results are expected to be interesting and relevant for the development practitioners, beneficiaries, local communities, donor agencies, NGOs, government organizations, the United Nations’ institutions, project managers, sponsors, investors, and project teams.

2.3. Project Planning in International Development Aid Projects

There has been an expansion on the academic literature on project management in recent times but most of the research has been concentrated on industries such as construction and manufacturing and little less on the international development projects even though this is a sector where the number of projects undertaken is in the tens of thousands. The most widely used definition of a project is: “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result” (Youker, 2003).

10 As previously stated, the literature on international development are in unanimity about the delivery of international development aid as happening in the context of different projects and to the complexity of such projects which leads to the necessity of good planning to ensure success in such projects. As the famous says goes “failing to plan is planning to fail”, projects in international development deviate from traditional projects due a number of factors, Ika et al. (2009) view international development sector as “a non-traditional PM although project-oriented industry sector where the use of PM tools, for example, is specific and non-traditional”. Diallo and Thuillier (2004) posit that the management of projects in this sector happens within the framework of being either managed by government institutions or independent project teams acting under project implementation units that are solely focused providing support for such projects. Project management in the international development sector is fraught with tension due to a number of reasons ranging from competing interests, uneven expectations to resistance to change (Ika et al.,2009) which underscores the need to efficient planning and correct prioritization of stakeholder to ensure success.

Scholars such as Abbasi and Al-Mharmah (2000) and Youker (2003) have elaborated on the role of the project manager in the implementation of these projects. According to the scholars, a project manager in an international development aid project needs to be adaptive to the cultural, economic and political context of the country of implementation and of the need for the project managers to become entrepreneurial in order to be successful in their role due to the complex settings these projects are implemented through. Muriithia and Crawford (2003) further reiterate this sentiment about the importance of cultural values and project environment in project management stating that there is a need to incorporate them in the fundamentals of project management.

Due to the nature of international development projects and the complexities of issues encountered in their implementation, the donor agencies including the World Bank have undertaken evaluations of their projects and from these annual report some of the issues highlighted include a “lack of shared perception and agreement on the objectives of the project by donor, government staff and stakeholders, lack of detailed, realistic, and current project plans (schedule, budget, and procurement) and lack of commitment to the project by the team, management and stakeholders”. (Youker, 2003). The aim of our research is made even more relevant by the results of these evaluations because if developing countries are going to have a systemic shift towards sustainable development then the current goals of development projects need to be met. In project management for any type of project the planning stage is of the most important stage for the success of the project, Pinto and Prescott (1990) argue that the key success factor for projects is in the planning stage.

This thesis will adopt the definition of project as put forth by Johnson (1984) as “a planned complex of actions and investments, at a selected location, that are designed to meet output, capacity, or transformation goals, in a given period of time, using specified techniques” (p.112). The reason for adopting this definition is how it emphasizes the need aspect of planning as an important prerequisite for achievement on set goals.

The salience of proper planning cannot be underestimated in any undertaking, but planning is especially important in projects where there are defined outcomes. Dvir et al. (2003), posit the existence of a strong correlation between project planning and the success of a project from the point of view of project stakeholders. Pierce (2013) defines project planning as a set of established processes used to make a decision on what tasks must be performed to achieve the project’s set objectives within schedule and cost. According to the author, planning is the process of developing schedules, calculating cost estimates, assigning resources and also taking into account the project stakeholders views.

A lot of the literature on project planning is centered on the construction industry but the basic tenets can be applied to all other projects. Baldwin and Bordoli (2014) posit that good planning in project

11 management creates a very positive effect for stakeholders with benefits that include, 1) the ability to forecast resource requirements and costs; (2) the ability to develop more realistic schedules with clear time deadlines; (3) the ability to communicate with clear and reliable information to project stakeholders; (4) providing reliable information for risk and opportunity assessment; (5) providing good information for monitoring and control; (6) minimizing materials wastage; and (6) providing a strong basis for team coordination and assisting in the negotiation of contractual claims. The authors further state that the different stakeholders who are responsible for different functions within the project have to be involved in the planning stage of the project or at least propose their own plan.

Project planning when done right has resulted in success stories across different industries but this level of success has not been registered in the international development industry. With more than $2 trillion disbursed over the past 60 year one will assume that international development projects have mastered the art of proper planning, but these projects have resulted in mixed results over the years which puts in question the issue of effective planning (Ika and Saint-Macary, 2014).

Kerzner (2013), states that to plan projects there is a need for knowledge and effective skills about both collection and analysis of data, communication with project stakeholders, resource negotiations, commitment and definition of milestones and also the involvement of top management. Mantel et al., (2001) further stress the importance of planning in project management for project success, according to the authors it is the project managers job to ensure that the project is properly planned, implemented and completed. Ensuring that there is an improvement of project planning is a necessity for the future of project management and enabling greater project success and ensuring that the end users of the project are satisfied. In certain projects there is a necessity to break the process into small pieces and handle them separately, scholars of project management see scheduling and planning as a major component of project success and indicative of the chances of success for projects (Hällgren, Lindahl, Ika and Saint-Macary, 2012).

Dvir et al. (2003) in a study of more than one hundred projects concluded that while there is a debate about how much is too much or enough planning there is no argument about the importance of planning and its centrality for project success in modern project management. According to the authors, “professional standards, such as the PMI Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, emphasize heavily the need to invest in project management processes and procedures to support planning” (p.89). This ideology is based on the belief that by properly planning there is a reduction of both uncertainty and a higher potential for projects to be successful but even though there is not an exact relationship between planning and project success, there is definitely a direct and causal correlation between lack of planning and project failure. The takeaway from the extensive research undertaken by the authors showed there should be no shortcuts at the start of new projects to ensure that both the goals and deliverables are defined and that this process should be undertaken in collaboration with the project customers or end users. This process of involving stakeholders in planning should not be a one-time effort but rather should be from the initiation of the project to its completion (Dvir et al.,2003).

What we glimpse from the literature is a consensus about the importance of proper planning and how it affects outcomes of projects and a general sense of dissatisfaction about the current state of project planning in project management, Hartman and Ashrafi (2004) go as far as stating that the complexities in today’s current projects makes the previous project planning processes redundant and inadequate.

As seen in all other projects, international development projects also have distinct stages, ranging from conceptualization, planning, implementation and closing (Youker, 2003; Khang and Moe, 2008; Muriithia and Crawford, 2003).

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Figure 1. Youker’s ID Project Life Cycle (Youker, 1989)

2.4. Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid Projects

2.4.1. Identification of Stakeholders in International Development Aid Projects

Considering that this thesis focuses on the investigation of the stakeholder engagement in the planning stage of international development aid projects, it is critically important for its success to define and analyze the stakeholders relevant to such projects. The chain of aid delivery, which was designed by Ostrom, Gibson, Shivakumar, and Andersson (2002) and later cited by Nguyen and Aguilera (2010), is one of the most well-known models in this sphere. In accordance with its basics, there are four groups of stakeholders in aid delivery projects: donors, recipients, contractors, and beneficiaries. Donors, in turn, comprise two groups: public and private institutions. Public donors usually operate on the basis of a strict hierarchy that includes a legislative body, a government, an agency that is responsible for aid delivery, senior managers of this agency, desk officers, and, finally, members of a field mission. In turn, private donors may involve multiple actors, such as local and international non-governmental organizations, multilateral and bilateral donors, charities, and private foundations (Nguyen & Aguilera, 2010). In some situations, public and private donors may work together on critical projects.

Recipients of aid projects are government organizations that are responsible for the receiving and distribution of aid. The chain of recipients usually includes a government, a Ministry of Finance, a line ministry, and a local agency (Nguyen & Aguilera, 2010). It is important to emphasize that target populations are not considered as recipients of aid projects, even though they are eventually supposed to receive this aid. Members of a target population are viewed as beneficiaries, a term that also refers to any other individuals or social groups that could directly or indirectly benefit from a project.

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Table 1. Stakeholder Groups in International Development Aid Projects in The Gambia Stakeholder

groups

Clarification Description

Donors Representatives of organizations or governments that fund international development aid projects

The identification of donors occurs separately for each project. As a rule, the profiles of most international development aid projects have brief information that, in particular, includes a list of donors.

Contractors Organizations that are hired as contractors in international development aid projects

Similarly, with donors, contractors of each project are usually listed on web pages of international

development aid projects. In dependence on the specifics of a project, contractors can be selected based on managers’ judgment or as a result of a tender. Recipients Government institutions

that receive international aid in line with

development aid projects

Depending on the type or a project, an industry or an area that is targeted, and a range of beneficiaries, the government of a country assigns the goal of receiving and distributing international aid to specific ministries, agencies, or other government institutions.

Beneficiaries Population groups that are directly targeted by a project and who are supposed to benefit from it

The identification of beneficiaries might be the most challenging stage of stakeholder identification in international development aid projects. This category is likely to include specific population groups, such as teachers, farmers, specific demographic groups, health care staff, or people who live below the poverty line.

For any project to include stakeholder management in the planning phase, it is crucial to not only identify the key groups of stakeholders but also to assess their interests in the project and the ways in which they could influence the project’s outcomes. That is in addition to the clear understanding and mapping of power relations, potential alliances and conflicts among stakeholders. “Power/Interest Grid” is a common tool used in stakeholder prioritization according to their importance/power and influence. Importance in this respect relates to the ones the project is most likely to affect (adversely or positively), as some stakeholders may have the power to either obstruct the progress of the project or to advance it, which may be different from the level of influence they may have to affect project outcomes.

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Figure 2. Power/Interest Grid for Stakeholder Prioritization

Group 1 of stakeholders are very important to the success of the project but may have little influence on its process. For example, private sector entities and public services and facilities are very important to facilitate the process of the project or some related activities, but these entities may not have much influence on the design and implementation of the project.

Group 2 of stakeholders are essential to be considered in the planning process, as they are both important and influential. They should be the key stakeholders for partnership initiatives. Civil society actors, religious leaders, (NGOs) and national and local government authorities may be both very important to mobilize citizens and influential as without their support the project may not be possible.

Group 3 of stakeholders are not the central stakeholders and have little influence on the success or failure of the project. They are unlikely to play a major role in the overall process. Academic communities and international observers are examples of groups that have little influence on the project. Similarly, they are not the intended beneficiaries and will not be affected by the project outcomes.

Group 4 of stakeholders are not very important to the project activities but may have significant influence. For example, political leaders may not be important stakeholders for the implementation of the project, but they could have major influence on the process due to their relations with the national and the local government authorities, and due to their ability in mobilizing people or influencing public opinion. Moreover, they can sometimes create distractions or disruptions to the project implementation. Therefore, they need to be strategically communicated with the purpose of seeking their support at all times.

2.4.2. Stakeholder Management in International Development Aid Projects

The management of stakeholders has emerged as a very critical function for organizations especially in their quest for greater sustainability. In a study of stakeholder management in mega construction projects, Jergeas et. al., (2000) state that the goal is to garner support for project implementation and also to ensure that the activities undertaken are “issues driven rather than certain stakeholders driven” and that the

15 attainment of this objective requires education, communication, mitigation and compensation. Karlsen (2002) proposed a six step for stakeholder management that is based on defining objectives, resources and operational details; identifying stakeholders; evaluating their interests and impacts; reporting evaluation results; formulating stakeholder management strategies; and monitoring effectiveness. Based on the aforementioned steps for stakeholder management one can theorize that the important stages for stakeholder management are identification, analysis, strategy development and performance control (Yang et al.,2009).

Preble (2005) posit that much of the literature talks on different elements of the stakeholder approach but falls short of coming up with a comprehensive stakeholder model, the author created a model that incorporates the steps needed to adequately manage stakeholders in organizations. The different stages of the Preble framework share similarity to those proposed by Karlsen (2002) and provide an approach that while grounded in the stakeholder theory comes with practical steps that enable managers to apply them for effective stakeholder management.

Figure 3. Comprehensive Stakeholder Management Process Model (Preble, 2005)

The identification of stakeholders is an important aspect of project management in any project. There are many different approaches towards identifying stakeholders. In particular, managers often employ the mode l of primary, secondary, and tertiary stakeholders (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2009). Primary stakeholders usually refer to beneficiaries or targets, as they directly gain or lose as a result of projects. Secondary stakeholders are influenced by projects indirectly; nonetheless, the magnitude of this effect might be just as significant as in case of primary ones. Finally, tertiary stakeholders are a broad category that involves various individuals, groups, and organizations that could be affected by a specific project as a result of the Figure SEQ Рисунок \* ARABIC 3. Comprehensive Stakeholder Management

16 cascade effect (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2009). As the framework above illustrates, there are no standardized criteria for distinguishing between secondary and tertiary stakeholders, as a decision might be subject to personal interpretations of the extent to which a project has an impact on specific individuals or entities. Therefore, instead of employing such general frameworks, it seems more rational to utilize more specific models that would be suitable for the identification of stakeholders in international development aid projects.

2.4.3. Stakeholders and Sustainability

A review of the academic literature shows an overarching consensus on the linkage between stakeholders, sustainability and sustainable development (Andersson, Angelstam, Axelsson, Elbakidze & Törnblom, 2013; Bendell 2000; Boyle et al., 2013). In order for sustainable development to be reality there is a need for the participation and interaction of different stakeholders operating in a collaborative system. In order for projects to be sustainable, the project managers are required to undertake ethical consideration for a wider spectrum of stakeholders and not just those who hold this purse strings, and stakeholder engagement in projects should be both a core activity and an ongoing process under the project cycle, this can be achieved by openly exploring both the stakeholders interest in the projects and also the interest projects have in the stakeholders.

The importance of sustainability of international development aid projects is especially evident. Since such projects are usually launched in developing countries with high poverty levels and a heavy reliance on non-renewable energy and other instruments that contradict the principles of sustainability, societies in these states face challenging problems related to various areas, such as deforestation, drought, erosion, and flood (Mahembe, Odhiambo, & Read, 2019). Armenia et al. (2019), argue that the engagement of stakeholders is one of the most effective instruments of making projects sustainable.

The European Union, one the most important players in the development industry articulates the goal of development as “the aim of development is to achieve sustainable economic progress and social equilibrium” (European Commission,1996), this notion is further elaborated by the OECD who define sustainability in the term of international development as “the continuation of benefits from a development intervention after major development assistance has been completed” (OECD,2002). The IFAD Strategic Framework 2007 – 2010 states that project sustainability is important in ensuring that the support rendered, and the proposed benefits of the project are maintained long after the projects have ended. To ensure sustainability of international development projects there is a general consensus that the participation and engagement of stakeholder are a relevant components of the project management, in particular the stakeholders that are directly affected by the project ranging from implementing agencies, governments and beneficiaries (Young & Hampshire, (2000),; Brinkerhoff & Goldsmith, 1992).

2.5. Stakeholder Approach Theory

2.5.1. Strategic Stakeholder Approach

Since this thesis focuses on the investigation of stakeholder management in project planning, it seems crucial to review the stakeholder approach. The rationale behind the utilization of the strategic stakeholder approach is based on the realization of the fact that a project or an operation should be aligned not only with the needs and expectations of shareholders but also with the needs and expectations of other individuals, groups, and entities that could affect the outcome of a particular initiative. The main goal of the stakeholder approach is to define relevant stakeholders, examine the ways in which they influence a specific project or an organization, and manage them in a way that improves the outcomes of a project or an operation (Bourne, 2016). The use of this approach in the academic literature usually takes place

17 within the framework of the resource-based view (Adamska, Dabrowski, & Grygiel-Tomaszewska, 2016). Stakeholders are considered as a potential source of competitive advantages; therefore, effective management of stakeholders can provide quantifiable benefits to an entity in the form of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of particular operations or projects. This statement is very important, as it illustrates that the application of the strategic stakeholder approach is driven not only by normative but also by instrumental considerations.

As it is known, the term “stakeholder” was used in 1963 for the first time. This notion was defined as “those groups without whose support the organization would cease to exist” (Freeman & Reed, 1983). An understanding of the possible obstructive influence of stakeholders on an organization’s operations required the use of a new definition. In order to incorporate various meanings of the notion, the scholars offered two different meanings of the term, distinguishing between the narrow and the broad concepts of stakeholders. The former defines stakeholders exclusively as actors who maintain the organization’s existence, such as customers or employees; simultaneously, the latter referred to any individual, a group of individuals, or an entity that could be affected by an organization or, in contrast, could influence its operations in any way (Wasieleski & Weber, 2017). Nowadays, it is common to associate stakeholders with the second meaning, including everyone who could be related to an entity’s operations in this group. Over the time, the stakeholders’ theory has evolved, incorporating different perspectives into its framework. In contemporary literature, stakeholders are usually analyzed from the position of four concepts: the organization theory, the systems theory, the concept of corporate social responsibility, and the model of corporate planning (Freeman, 2010). The emergence of the strategic stakeholder approach became a logical response to the realization of the fact that the operations of a company in the globalized world could affect numerous parties, and, at the same time, its success relies on a multitude of factors associated with external and internal actors (Bourne, 2016). In accordance with the definition that is in concordance with this approach, a stakeholder is “a party who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm’s objectives” (Freeman, 2010). From the perspective of the international development aid industry, such definition can be interpreted in a way that the term “stakeholders” could include any parties that could in any way influence the outcomes of international development aid projects or be affected by their implementation. Such a broad understanding of stakeholders is embraced in the current thesis, as the researchers seek to analyze the perspectives of all the parties that are related in some way to the implementation of international development aid projects in The Gambia.

Despite the seeming value of the approach, its application faces resistance among many scholars and practitioners. The stakeholder theory comes with its share of detractors who criticize the theory for being vague and ambiguous (Phillips, Freeman, and Wicks, 2003) to being difficult to ascertain who qualifies as a stakeholder due to the flexibility of the theory (Fassin, 2009). Waxenberger and Spence (2003) also share the perspective of the previous scholars labelling stakeholder theory as inconsistent and lacking in clarity. Laplume et al. (2008) argue that while there is some validity to the critique regarding stakeholder theory, this can be solved by conducting more empirical research on the core assumptions of the theory. Therefore, employing the stakeholder approach theory in this thesis seems rational.

2.5.2. Descriptive, Normative, and Instrumental Approaches towards Stakeholder Management

There are many different tools that could be associated with the strategic stakeholder approach. In accordance with Donaldson and Preston (1995), the most important arguments concerning the need to implement strategic stakeholder management functions could be grouped into the descriptive, instrumental, and normative categories. Descriptive arguments refer to the ability of managers and scientists to better understand the way in which organizations and projects operate after applying the