Practices and Challenges of Public Project Management: The Case of Adea Berga Woreda, Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Project is a sequence of unique and dependent activities whose successful completion results in the delivery of the expected business value. This study examined public project management’s practices and its challenges at Adea Berga Woreda, West Showa Administration Zone, Oromia National Regional state, Ethiopia. The woreda has been facing the problems of completing development projects as intended goal. Then, the general objective of the study was to assess the practices and challenges of public project management in the study area. The study used descriptive research type and utilized both qualitative and quantitative research approach. The targeted population of the study was selected from four sectors that implemented capital budget for project tasks. The respondents were selected by census method from the selected sectors to collect primary data using questionnaire for quantitative data. The study also used FGD and key informants to conduct interview with the selected participants for qualitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The major findings of the study indicated that project management practices such as planning, implementation and evaluation phases of project life cycle were not effective as needed goal. The assessment also examined the extent of success of public project and it revealed that majority of the public projects’ failure exceeded its success at the study area. Thus, most of the public projects failed mostly to complete the desired activities at planned schedule at the study area. This study could identify major internal and external challenges of public projects. To address these problems, public project implementers need to train their staffs to equip with the necessary planning skills, concerned bodies need to participate the users at all stages, all sectors require to struggle to minimize the instability of their leaders at their positions, and executive government body needs to give focus for the success of public projects through capacity building for relevant experts, regulating clear rules and regulations and other mechanisms.