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Discusses the application of project management as a mechanism for the strategic transformation of public institutions in South Africa, with the aim of facilitating community development projects.
Intended for those new to project management as well as professionals wanting to improve their skills, this invaluable resource introduces fundamental concepts, presents necessary organizational skills, and explores the use of technology in the field of project management. The life cycle of the project management process is clearly outlined, including sample stages, sub-processes, tasks, and jobs, supported by accessible definitions, examples, words of warning, and cases with context. The included CD offers additional charts, reading materials, and links to online resources.
Book & CD. In a developmental state like South Africa, municipalities have the specific responsibility of generating growth and development in their areas of jurisdiction. Through consultative processes, municipal goals and functioning are in the public domain. As co-creator of the future of local communities, municipalities must master the totality of local governance. To do this, current and prospective municipal managers need to understand, for example: the role and functions of municipalities in South Africa; the constitutional dispensation as it affects municipalities; the strategic orientation of municipalities within the global and national contexts; the capacities and resources available; best practices as far as management processes, procedures and methods are concerned. The book explores the multifaceted nature of municipal management in South Africa and focuses the readers attention on selected key strategic issues such as: local economic development; local democracy; disaster risk reduction.
'Fundamentals of Project Management' is a broad based introduction to the field of project management which explains all the special planning and control techniques needed to manage small projects successfully.
The voices of orphans and other vulnerable children and young people and of their carers and professional development workers are documented and analysed to both criticise the inadequacies of current social development work and to create a new, alternative theory and practice of project management in Zimbabwe and southern Africa. This is the first extensive and intensive empirical study of Zimbabwean orphans and other vulnerable children and young people. Chronically poor children and their carers can be corrupted or silenced by management systems which fail to recognise their basic human needs. Resilience in the face of such adversity is celebrated by the dominant project management ideology and practice but is a major barrier to achieve genuine sustainable improvements in the lives of vulnerable children. We propose a new person-centred project management approach aimed at delivering comprehensive services for orphans, which explicitly recognises the needs of orphans and other poor children to be fully socially, politically and economically included within their communities and which avoids the reinforcement of power based inequalities and their unacceptable consequences. The moral bankruptcy of much social development work in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Southern Africa is described and we delineate an alternative project management policy and practice.
Project management can be defined as a way of developing structure into a complex situation. Effective planning and control of projects requires a panoramic view and logical thinking. This text provides an overview of the subject.
