The Forests Source Book provides practical operations-oriented guidance for forest sector engagement toward the goals of poverty reduction, conservation and economic development. Intended to guide ...World Bank lending activities and projects, the Forests Source Book offers information useful to a broad audience of practitioners, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations. The Source Book was developed in partnership with members of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, including the Food and Agriculture Organization. The Source Book provides background on key issues, lessons learned, and recommendations for practitioners on a number of topics including private sector engagement, forest governance, sustainable plantation and commercial harvesting, and forest information management systems. Giving insight into the complex interplay between different realms of development work that effect or are affected by forests, the Forests Sourcebook is a valuable tool for any stakeholder involved in development or business projects that could have impact on forests.
•Creativity is the ability to produce new and original ideas and things.•Creativity is crucial in project management.•Creative project management is an important research stream.•Creativity ...management is an important research stream.•Management of creative projects is an important research stream.
Creativity is crucial in project management, contributing to the overall effectiveness of endeavors. Our study enables a better understanding of this important subject. We carried out a scoping review of the literature, addressing two questions: “Why is creativity important in project management?” and “What are the main research themes related to creativity in project management?” The findings show a body of knowledge around the main themes of “Creative project management,” “Creativity management,” and “Management of creative projects,” and open several new avenues for research.
Global projects affect and are affected by multiple stakeholders with differing interests and demands. Recently, there has been increased pressure for global projects to be more environmentally and ...socially responsible. A project creates a dynamic context for stakeholder management and stakeholder behavior because the project moves through different phases during its lifecycle. By adopting a lifecycle perspective on secondary stakeholders’ behavior, we develop a set of propositions that increase our understanding of the potential of secondary stakeholders to influence the project management's decision making during the different phases of the project lifecycle. Ultimately, a better understanding of secondary stakeholders’ influence behavior during the project lifecycle enables the use of more effective project stakeholder management approaches.
Sub-Saharan Africa is a critical development priority-it has some of the world's poorest countries and during the past two decades the number of poor in the Region has doubled, to 300 million-more ...than 40 percent of the Region's population. Africa remains behind on most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is unlikely to reach them by 2015. With some of the world's poorest countries, Africa is a development priority for the donor community. A major drag on Africa's development is the underperformance of the critical agriculture sector, which has been neglected both by donors and governments over the past two decades. The sector faces a variety of constraints that are particular to agriculture in Africa and make its development a complex challenge. Poor governance and conflict in several countries further complicate matters. IEG has assessed the development effectiveness of World Bank assistance in addressing constraints to agricultural development in Africa over the period of fiscal 1991-2006.
In an era of climate change, deforestation and massive habitat loss, we can no longer rely on parks and protected areas as isolated 'islands of wilderness' to conserve and protect vital biodiversity. ...Increasing connections are being considered and made between protected areas and 'connectivity' thinking has started to expand to the regional and even the continental scale to match the challenges of conserving biodiversity in the face of global environmental change. This groundbreaking book is the first guide to connectivity conservation management at local, regional and continental scales. Written by leading conservation and protected area management specialists under the auspices of the World Commission on Protected Areas of IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, this guide brings together a decade and a half of practice and covers all aspects of connectivity planning and management The book establishes a context for managing connectivity conservation and identifies large scale naturally interconnected areas as critical strategic and adaptive responses to climate change. The second section presents 25 rich and varied case studies from six of the eight biogeographic realms of Earth, including the Cape Floristic Region of Africa, the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains, the Australian Alps to Atherton Corridor, and the Sacred Himalayan Landscape connectivity area (featuring Mount Everest.) The remarkable 3200 kilometre long Yellowstone to Yukon corridor of Canada and the United States of America is described in detail. The third section introduces a model for managing connectivity areas, shaped by input from IUCN workshops held in 2006 and 2008 and additional research. The final chapter identifies broad guidelines that need to be considered in undertaking connectivity conservation management prior to reinforcing the importance and urgency of this work. This handbook is a must have for all professionals in protected area management, conservation, land m
Although some studies have been carried out on project management of "typical" construction projects, little work has been done on what makes Post-Disaster Reconstruction Projects (PDRPs) successful. ...This paper analyses the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for implementation of PDRPs in Angola. The paper adopted a survey and interviews. Data was collected from project participants within the ministry of planning, provincial government office of planning and local government in Angola. A questionnaire with closed questions was completed by 130 survey respondents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 7 practitioners selected through purposive sampling. The findings indicate that adequate funding, effective planning, competent project managers, good communication, the active involvement of stakeholders, good written contract, political stability, less bureaucracy in the reconstruction process, economic stability and sufficient resources are the CSFs. The findings further revealed that, there are no differences in the responses between the groups especially between managers and consultants and between contractors and consultants. The findings strongly suggest that CSFs are key resources and skills that determine the successful implementation of a project in terms of its direction and benefits and proposes that stakeholders and project managers should consider these factors for best practices when managing PDRPs. Since PDR is context specific, countries with the same economic status, environment and post-disaster event may benefit from the results. Hence, the study offers new insights to gain an understanding of the CSFs that contribute to best PDR practices.
A single case-study design approach was implemented in this qualitative study of 13 participants to identify critical success factors that influence project success in bespoke turnkey mechanical ...engineering projects within a project-based organisation. Using Nvivo and thematic analysis the study revealed important project success factors. The findings confirm the previous research and extend our understanding of turnkey projects by introducing additional factors such as avoidance of multitasking, availability of materials, and cost-effectiveness of work. A competent project manager with strong leadership skills was also found to be essential for setting clear goals, managing resources, avoiding multitasking, and ensuring a motivated team that cooperates and takes responsibility for results. Establishing realistic project plans, working cost-effectively, and implementing procurement and supply chain strategies were identified as critical elements in ensuring material availability to complete the project, resulting in the timely delivery of a quality product within budget. None of this would be possible without effective communication that ensures accurate information is communicated to the right project stakeholders.
Project-based learning units are often used for large scale work integrated learning (WIL) experiences in Liberal Studies Degrees as they offer scalability and sustainability of delivery to large ...cohorts. This systematic search and review evaluates the effectiveness of interdisciplinary project-based learning in Science Degree programs for developing discipline knowledge and employability skills. Education literature databases were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles that discussed undergraduate science-based degree programs with project- based learning units involving students from multiple disciplines. Data were analysed for evidence of a skill gain in 6 areas (Discipline knowledge, Communication, Teamwork, Interdisciplinary effectiveness, Critical thinking and problem solving, and Self-management). Projects were assigned to categories based on interdisciplinary breadth and depth. Data was analysed by cross-tabulations, Fisher's Exact test and by calculating odds ratios (OR), which indicate the effect size. Perception of a skill gain was significantly more likely to be reported than an objectively measured skill gain (p<0.001). Real discipline skill gains were 6.6 times more likely in projects narrow in discipline mix (OR 6.6), however perceived discipline skill gains were high irrespective of project type. Projects with wide interdisciplinarity were significantly associated with perceived gains in interdisciplinary effectiveness (OR 32, p<0.05) and more likely to have perceived gains in communication (OR 2.5) and teamwork (OR 3.4) skills. When projects have greater interdisciplinary breadth or depth, perceived student employability skill gains increase, perceived discipline skill gains are unaffected, however actual discipline skill gains are less reported. Further research and evidence that project-based learning is meeting the desired WIL learning objectives of the curriculum is needed. Author abstract
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