Tackling weaknesses in project preparation and implementation

Minister of Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Lennox Andrews has underscored the importance of project preparation for the development of the country.

The minister was speaking at the Official opening ceremony of the GOG/CDB Project Cycle Management Training on Tuesday.

Minister Lennox Andrews recalled his time in public service as a Planning Officer involved in reporting on project implementation, preparing and monitoring the capital budget implementation as well as putting together the Public Sector Investment Programme which would detail the major projects the government wants to implement normally within a 3-year period.

“I recall in my years as a public servant and the happiness I used to feel inside, the drive, motivation and enthusiasm I got from simply working on those projects,” he told participants.

According to Minister Andrews, development in Grenada takes place through project ideas that are then developed into full-blown implemented projects.

He said the faster that one can implement projects “the more we are contributing to the lives of our people.”

“You want to build a road is a project, a school, a hospital, is a project. So if you can master project implementation then we are in fact mastering the fact of developing our country,” he added.

Permanent Secretary with responsibility for the Department of Public Administration (DPA), Lyndonna Hillaire-Marshall spoke of the need for the island to attract more funding so that more can be done for the citizens of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique.

She was confident that the 48 participants who have gone through and passed the online training have gained quite a lot of information and now are moving forward to face-to-face training which she hopes will be successful.

“So I encourage all 48 of you who completed the online version of the course to take it very seriously and believe in yourself and the possibilities that you can contribute to this training for the next three weeks,” she said.

PS Hillaire-Marshall acknowledged the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for its partnership once again in the training in which she believes they see the possibility of reaching the impact that was visualised earlier.

Education Specialist at CDB, Dr. Martin Baptiste pointed out that the bank has been able to provide training to Ministries of Finance in borrowing countries as well as project implementation teams, and project support staff throughout the public service including statutory agencies.

Dr. Baptiste indicated that the demand for these courses was predicated on the existing significant implementation capacity deficits which exist in countries and remains a focus of the bank as it is for the governments across the region.

He noted that CDB’s member countries have adopted public sector modernisation priorities which include improving the rate of implementation of public sector investment programme initiatives by enhancing policy development, project planning, and management capacity throughout the public service.

“Indeed public investment programme is absolutely necessary for social and economic transformation so that citizens and residents can experience improved lives and livelihoods,” he said.

Baptiste noted that during the 2016-2019 period, CDB fully developed 8 Project Cycle Management (PCM) modules for face-to-face training and partnered with the University with the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus to convert 3 of 6 modules to online mode.

He explained that access to online training provides flexibility, reach, and cost-effectiveness in building the capacity of a public set of professionals as they plan, implement, manage, and deliver development solutions across the region.

According to Dr. Baptiste, the remaining 3 modules will be converted to online mode within the first half of 2024.

Dr. Martin Baptiste expressed that the CDB was happy to respond to the government’s needs by offering a blended approach delivering the online module to public servants during the period July to September this year and culminating what would be done over the next few weeks in face-to-face modules over the next 2 to 3 months.

He indicated that the participants of the training workshops facilitated by Dr. Lennise Baptiste have a unique advantage due to her position as regional assistant facilitator during the original face-to-face training as well as the subject matter specialist working with the UWI in the creation of the online content.

“It goes without saying that your principals (Minister of Economic Development and others) will be expecting to see improved planning and execution of programmes and projects and your stakeholders and clients will experience the transformation which is at the center of our developmental work together,” he said.

The senior bank employee stressed that CDB remains committed to supporting the Government of Grenada in pursuing its transformational agenda and continues to regard Grenada and the region as a place of choice to live, work and thrive together.

Consultant and facilitator Dr. Lennise Baptiste hopes that after this workshop, the participants will be able to apply the knowledge they have gained as they have worked in various roles in the public service.

The Congress government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has identified lack of project implementation as a major factor that affected the former New National Party (NNP) government of Keith Mitchell which had an implementation rate of just 37%.