Liberia: International Aid Equals Project Failures, And Corruption

Liberia is not the only country on earth nor in Africa where projects have failed. There are countless theories and testimonies about project failures worldwide. However, the number of project failures in Liberia and the reasons why these projects failed are excruciatingly astonishing. Moreover, it is increasingly heartbreaking to see how monies, gathered in western nations from rich, poor and working class people alike, are wasted in a country that has vast natural resources but great human needs.

From 2008 to 2011, a company known as Buchanan Renewables crafted a plan to convert swaths of rubber trees into biomass chips that would power the self-induced impoverished Liberian nation and fuel their own profits. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. government agency 4,700 miles away, backed the venture with $217 million in loan approvals. To date, the company disappeared and the funds disappeared too, leaving social and environmental problems on poor Liberians. According to the Associated Press (AP), the company “paid its non-African employees handsomely. But it left behind fields of depleted rubber farms and a trail of allegations of sexual abuse and workplace hazards.”

Like Buchanan Renewables, there are myriad other social and economic development projects that have failed in Liberia over the past two decades, especially since 2007 when corruption took center stage and ate the heart and soul of the country. From mismanaging simple humanitarian resources like the Ebola relief funds allocated by several international sources to misappropriating resources and disbanding efforts aimed at agricultural expansion, we have seen unimaginable failures throughout the country. Even national projects to eliminate widespread corruption, ensure transparency and accountability have and continue to fail. The project to reconcile and unite the country also failed. Innumerable other projects to improve infrastructure development­–power, roads, healthcare facilities, schools and institutions of higher learning as well as the economy – all have and continue to fail.

The most upsetting failure has been the project to eliminate corruption, especially after then newly elected president, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, declared corruption as “public enemy number one” when she took office in 2006 after winning the country’s first “true” democratic election following a decade of civil strife.

Without shame nor guilt, the president glaringly declared in her final state of the nation address on a Tuesday in 2017 that corruption had been too firmly entrenched in Liberian society for her Unity Party-led administration to eliminate it. Really?

But what the president failed to indicate is the fact that she has and continues to face persistent allegations of nepotism related to the appointments of cronies, loyalists and in particular her sons, to key government posts, including to the chairmanship of the failed and corruption-raided national oil company.

Considering what we have seen and learned over the past twelve years of project failures in Liberia, there are things that we can do as Liberians (and that other Africans could learn from us) to avoid future project failures in our country. To do these things, we must first understand what a project is.

Projects are generally the medium or process to implement specific activities in nonprofit, or for profit development. For example, a project could be the construction of a building or the establishment of an agricultural farm. Every project, whether it is for-profit or nonprofit activity, should have an objective.

In addition, there are acceptable features for the best implementation of projects. These features are: project management, project planning, project work-plan, project management procedures, managing project scope, and managing project risks.

In project management, emphasis should be placed on planning, monitoring and controlling the project work. These are broadly the right mix that can make the difference in completing most projects on time, on budget, and indeed with high quality results. The lack of prioritizing the use of these elements has and may lead to a high rate of project failure despite the fact that most organizations or institutions or individuals expect their projects to be completed faster, cheaper, and better.

In my experience and in a more conventional manner, it is advisable for projects to have a planning stage. That means project managers should have or develop plans or project work by utilizing a project definition document to the letter.

A project definition document guides project implementation and project managers’ vision and strategy. Some projects fail because project managers failed to be guided by these factors. For example, there is a tendency for IT infrastructure projects to shortchange the planning process, with an emphasis on jumping right in and beginning the work. This is a mistake that causes waste.

Moreover, experience has shown that the time spent properly planning a project may result in reduced cost and the duration, and increased quality over the life of the project. A project definition is the primary deliverable from the planning process and describes all aspects of a project at a high level. Once this aspect is approved by the customer and relevant stakeholders, it becomes the basis for the work to be performed. In Liberia, our projects have no customers or stakeholders. What we have are the project managers: The donors and their agents on one side and our corrupt officials in the Liberian government on the other side.

Another central aspect of any project is the development of a project work plan. This involves creating a planning horizon. What this means is that after a project manager and the project customer agree to the project definition, a work-plan should be developed. The work plan will provide a step-by-step instructions for constructing project deliverables as well as in managing the project overall.

It is frequently advisable for project managers and customers to agree on utilizing prior work plan from similar projects as a model and if that does not exit, to create one through the old-fashioned way by using a work-breakdown structure and a network diagram that is detailed and assigned resources as well as estimates the work to be done as far out as they feel comfortable. This is or would be referred to as the planning horizon.

After the completion of the planning horizon, the project managers and the customers should lay out the project at a higher level, reflecting the increased level of uncertainty. The planning horizon should move forward as the project progresses. High-level activities within the project implementation that were or are initially vague will need to be defined in more detail as their timeframe gets closer.

The next stage in any project implementation is a project management procedure. Project managers should define project management procedures upfront. Reasons being that with project management procedures, the project managers will outline the resources that will be used to manage the project. This may include sections on how the project team will manage issues, scope change, risk, quality, communication, and so on.

It is crucial for project managers to be able to manage projects rigorously and proactively and to ensure that project teams and all stakeholders have a common understanding of how the projects will be implemented and managed. It also includes managing the work plan and monitoring the project schedule and budget.

An effective project implementation may also include ensuring that the sponsor approves scope-change requests. This is known as managing the project scope. In short, it means after the basics of managing a project schedule, managing the project scope is the most important activity required by project managers in order to control a project.

Many project failures are not caused by problems with estimating, or team skill sets but by the project team working on major and minor deliverables that were not or are not part of the original project definition or business requirements. Even in instances where project managers and customers have good scope-management procedures in place, there are still two major areas of scope-change management that must be understood to be successful: understanding who the customer is and the project scope creep.

Finally, in the implementation of any project, the project managers and customers should be able and ready to identify risks up front through a process known as managing the project risk. It means when a project planning work is going on, the project managers and customers should identify all known risks.

For each risk, they should also determine the probability that a risk event will occur and the potential impact on the project. The events identified as high-risk should have specific plans put in place to mitigate them so that they do not, in fact, occur. Medium risks should be evaluated to see whether they need to be proactively managed.

Other risks associated with project implementation may include not having the right level of expertise, unfamiliarity with the technology, and problems integrating smoothly with existing products or equipment. Understanding all of these nuances help in making a project successful and not knowing or understanding them are likely potentials to make a project to fail.

In conclusion, the intent for every project, no matter its nature, scope or purpose, is to see the project succeed. No one sets out to undertake a project and anticipate failure. For projects to succeed, as we have learned from theory and as our experience has confirmed in Liberia and elsewhere, they should have an objective and the following features: project management, project planning, project work plan, project management procedures, managing project scope, and managing project risks. While these features are not in themselves absolute, they serve as proven fundamentals in the realization of successful projects worldwide.

Clearly, most recently implemented projects in Liberia, from the way they are planned and implemented, do not seem to have an objective nor adhere to the features mentioned herein. This is precisely why we see failure after failure. If the reasons and/or objectives for projects in Liberia are to better Liberian communities and improve the living standards of our people, there is no reason for them to fail, particularly after the allocation and delivery of much international aid.

Instead, what we have seen over the years is that much of the international aid given to our nation has, in fact, equals project failures and widespread corruption. Don’t take it from me, ask what happened to the Japanese funds given to the Liberian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Credible and verifiable news reports maintain that it was pocketed by high level officials in the ministry who walk scout free just like those who ruined the coffers of the national oil company.