Category: Development Sector

This is the second in a series of articles looking at the effects of Covid-19 on project management in the development and humanitarian sectors. For the first article in the series, visit:

https://www.pmdpro.plus/a-post-covid-19-world-and-alternative-development-with-project-dpro/

How will our experience of coronavirus affect our approach to managing the time element of projects in future?

When we finally emerge from the current health crisis, it will be to a World indelibly marked by the events of 2020. 

The extent of human and economic loss exacted by coronavirus is not yet clear. What we do know is that life will go on and dedicated professionals will continue their work in the humanitarian sectors. But even before current events unfolded, calls for radical change were becoming ever louder as irreversible climate change becomes more imminent. 

I expect this trend to be magnified by the Covid-19 crisis. More people will consider alternatives to mainstream development that focus on culture and wellbeing rather than production based on economic growth. Concepts such as Buen Vivir, Ubuntu, and Degrowth may well become more popular.       

What does this mean for the Project DPro practitioner? Alternative development projects are people-centered and participatory, working on social and cultural issues at grassroots level. Inevitably then, for alternative development projects local knowledge and needs analysis will be more in-depth and complex.