Zimbabwe’s National Project Management Association born

By Peter Banda
Zimbabwe now has a National Association for Project Management practitioners, formed in October 2009 and registered in September 2010 as a trust known as the Project Management Institute of Zimbabwe (PMIZ).
The association currently has a national membership of over 150 spread over five chapters in Harare, Bulawayo, Manicaland, Midlands and Masvingo.
The PMIZ national secretariat office is based in Harare where the institute is spearheading various memberships and training services in line with the association’s vision of providing a leading national centre for project management excellence.
According to the PMIZ president, Mr Robert Taruwona, the institute has several national project management development programmes and among these they intend to accredit all practising project managers within and outside Zimbabwe and lobby relevant Government sectors for the recognition of project management via an appropriate legislative charter.
“We consider project management as a neglected dossier for Zimbabwe’s economic recovery prescriptions. This can only be addressed by challenging central authorities to appreciate how the tools of project management have worked wonders for other leading economies globally,” said Mr Taruwona.
Since the formation of the inclusive Government, there has been significant talking and writing about Zimbabwe’s economic recovery plans by politicians, journalists and business orators, covering issues like finance, human resources, marketing, production, IT, purchasing, entrepreneurship, etc.
Every dimension of these fundamentals of the economic business has been touched in these talks except one domain.
There has been no noticeable talk about the project management domain in public business and political forums inasmuch as how the profession is championed globally.
Media is quick to cover political talk about economic turnaround, recovery, infrastructure development, funding of project this and that, but no buzzwords of project management have been heard.
Why the silence?
Just what is project management all about?
Is it a significant subject to talk about in matters of national development? Is it just one of those academic subjects not to bother about? What is and what is not a project?
We always admire how the Fifa 2010 World Cup in South Africa was successfully organised inasmuch as the marvellous metro-infrastructure in Dubai or Malaysia. There is no magic to the order! It’s all about good project management.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti is grappling with options of which Public Sector Investment Projects (PSIP) to fund now or defer from his lean budget. There is no need to throw a dice on your table Minister Biti to make your options. Quick advice is, of course, to ensure that no dime from Treasury for PSIPs will be parcelled out without transparent project plans first, drawn by qualified project managers, who have been appointed by visionary sponsors who have obtained buy-in to the project from all stakeholders. Tell me all this has been happening in PSIPs?
Are NGOs imposing imported projects initiated by foreign sponsors without local stakeholder buy-in in our rural communities?
Project management is critical to the success of every organisation. Industry research indicates that 74 percent of all projects hit roadblocks, are overbudget or are late. Almost 28 percent of these projects fail altogether.
Project managers face constant pressure to cut costs, implement projects quickly and deliver high quality. Without thoughtful planning, execution and monitoring of efforts, organisations will lose business to those that effectively manage their projects. Project management isn’t just for construction engineers and military logistics experts anymore.
Today, in addition to the regular duties of your job, you are often expected to take on extra assignments – and to get that additional job done well, done under-budget, and done on time.
Proper training and accreditation can significantly reduce project failure risks because certified professionals have the knowledge to overcome obstacles and complete projects on time and under budget.
PMIZ and its entire membership subscribe to the values of the US-based leading body of project management – the Project Management Institute ( PMI®) – and the set Code of Ethics and is affiliated to the Association of Project Management (APM) in UK as well as Project Management South Africa (PMSA).
Today project management is one of the world’s most in-demand skills and is one of the fastest growing professional disciplines globally.
Large corporations, governments and smaller organisations to standardise and reduce the tasks necessary to complete a project in the most effective and efficient manner use project management.
Managers who master project management skills learn to lead improvement initiatives that result in measurable growth in return on investment, economic value added, sales growth, customer satisfaction and retention, market share, time to market, employee satisfaction and employee motivation.
PMIZ is ready to engage all public and private sectors in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique to lobby for the professional respect and recognition of project management in national and regional economic growth programmes in mining, agriculture, tourism and local government projects.
PMIZ is ready to freely mentor struggling local authorities such as the City of Harare in managing service delivery projects for the benefit of ratepayers.
PMIZ is already working with the Ministry of Higher Education via five polytechnics countrywide in training short-term competence-based project management courses since 2009.
PMIZ is also currently putting together submissions to Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara’s office for contribution to the anticipated country’s Public Private Partnerships Legislative Framework.
DPM Mutambara is heading Zimbabwe’s PPPs thrust, which is expected to heavily subscribe to project management ethics.
l Peter Banda is the secretary-general and chief executive of PMIZ. Send your views and comments via email; [email protected]. website link www.pmiz.org.zw