Introduction
The surface area of the Democratic Republic of Congo is comparable to that of Western Europe, and it is the most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country has a large population, and, unfortunately, the primary population consists of poor people and people from the lower class (The World Bank). The Democratic Republic of Congo has a high poverty rate, which is predicted to rise as diseases and pandemics such as the Corona Virus Disease 2019 spread (COVID-19). About 73% (60 million) of this African country live below $1.90 a day (Sitton-Kent, Humphreys and Miller, 2018, 120).
The statistics presented above imply that one out of six people in DRC lives in extreme poverty. The country is endowed with natural resources, including hydropower potential, significant arable land, and immense diversity. The country is also rich in copper, gold, diamond, petroleum, tantalum, and cobalt. DRC has the second-largest rainforest in the world, and due to its size, natural resources, and geopolitical importance, the country is increasingly contributing to African economic growth. The country is moving into boosting its economy, which may give a space for this project to succeed.
Development in DRC has been greatly affected by the political challenges and other social influenced factors such as corruption and weak institutions returning its economic development and growth. International corporations, such as United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have been in partnership with the government since 1960 to help improve the lives of Congolese citizens. The corporation was interested in the attainment of peace in the country. Corruption under its political leaders like the time of Mobutu Sese Seko has affected the country’s conditions, and by 2005, it was among the poorest countries in the world (Danfulani, 2015, p. 19).
The International Monetary Fund has also promoted life in DRC by funding the government activities with the international community coming in to restore peace in the country. These international corporations’ inspiration to push for peace is to prepare a nice ground for economic growth in the future, which is being witnessed today. The challenges of handing over power were a history for a long period, with the autocratic rule being the most common way of ruling. The rule was followed with protests, attracting army conflict (Danfulani, 2015, p. 20). If these challenges arise again, the project will experience difficulties implementing. The conflicts, to some extent, bore fruit as the country adopted a constitution suggesting a decentralized government. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) helped with its first-ever democratic general elections in 2006.
These political changes positively impacted the citizens’ lives and the country’s general economic state. The country started achieving growth rates on an economic scale. This country’s current state attracted more investors, which helped the county get more development projects from both the private sector and the government for the country’s good.
The state of health in DRC is on its verge of failing as the country has the highest maternal death rate globally. Congo has increased maternal death, and out of all deaths associated with women, 35% of them are those that are related to maternal causes (Brunner 2018, p.28). The health conditions in DRC have not improved even after independence. The rate at which they are improving is pretty low, and the net effect is not visible. The major diseases affecting the country include malaria, diarrhea, tuberculosis, preterm birth conditions, protein-energy malnutrition, HIV, and lower respiratory tract infections. In DRC, the health sector is organized into three levels. The implementation level has 516 districts in which the district management takes charge of these health centers (Dandage, Rane, and Mantha, 2021). The population covered by the district-level hospitals is from 100,000 to 200,000 (Lukianov, Mazhei, and Gogunskii, 2019).
The other level is the intermediate level, whose primary role is to offer logistics and technical support. This level is managed by the health departments in the provinces and has a number not exceeding 26, and this number has since been expected to rise. The third level in the health system is the central level, where there are no special roles but normal operations. Donors have greatly helped salvage the country’s health in collaboration with economically objective corporations. Humanitarian assistance became the operating economic sector, and with the rate of employment opportunities, the profession of health workers became more attractive (Ntembwa and Lerberghe 2015, p.8). The country has a low life expectancy, with the government expenditure on health per capita has always at its lowest point since there has not been a significant improvement. The supply of drugs in the country is inadequate, especially emergency medicines. The rates of HIV infections are relatively high, providing a valid reason as to why the project will succeed. The increase in the number of deaths in Africa calls for African countries to manufacture pharmaceuticals locally. Consequently, the increase in population demands safe, effective, and affordable health commodities. Kinshasa will be the location for installing the drugs project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Political Context
The political challenges from the central government made it difficult for the country to make progress in its economic growth or any other improvements as expected. Wars engineered by political leaders made the fight towards independence become quite difficult. Changes have been witnessed after the 2006 democratic participation in the elections. Further, the constitution prided for the provinces to have their parliaments and governments was introduced (Yahaya and Bello 2019, p.6). This form of government is more favorable as there is a resemblance of a division of power between the national government and the provinces. The provinces are, in this case, recognized and acknowledged by being given the power and mandate to rule or execute administration tasks. The most recent elections are an indicator of the growth witnessed in the political space of the Democratic Republic of Congo. No chaos was witnessed during the transition of power in 2018, which led to a new political union later named Sacred Union.
Environmental Context
The drugs being distributed in Congo, especially in Kinshasa, the capital city, are not of high quality. Many private pharmaceutical suppliers of children’s medicines do not meet the required standards, posing public health problems (Schiavetti et al. 2018, p.894). The drug market is flooded with poor-quality medicines that contribute to complicated health issues therapeutic inefficacy. Children in low and middle-income countries are the most affected by poor medicines. Anti-malarial drugs represent the best example of the poor-quality drugs distributed in this area as there are increased deaths associated with malaria among children below the age of 5 years (Schiavetti et al. 2018, p.894). Wholesalers in DRC only sell their drugs to health facilities, dispensaries, and private pharmacies.
Social Context
DRC has battled with Ebola Virus for a long time, and on February 7, 2021, another outbreak was reported in Butembo, in North Kivu Province. Note that the region was declared Ebola-free in this province in June 2020. Deaths have followed the epidemic and the debut of COVID-19 poses more challenges in the fight against diseases, including HIV. The reduced supply of ARVs to Africa, especially in 2020, leads to increased deaths of HIV-infected individuals. Approximately 43% of the Congolese children are malnourished and do not receive an adequate education, with only an average of 9.1 years of schooling. The state of the nation requires a drug center to be set up to help supply these drugs to improve the health conditions of the citizens, not only in Kinshasa but also in the whole country.
Technological Context
Technology is an elemental tool in the pharmaceutical industry to deliver drugs in good time and improve the manufacturing process’s consistency, reliability, and capacity. Technology has been incorporated in the healthcare sector, and this has been witnessed in the diagnosis of Ebola to increase the services to the high number of infections in the country. Many developments are ongoing in the country to achieve digital health provision goals. The state of the technology in some cities such as Goma is not so often neglected, demanding the Ministry of Telecommunications and New Technology to take action. Liquid technology is increasingly being used, and together with Facebook, it is to connect DRC to east Africa and the Indian Ocean.
Legal Context
The Congolese Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority is responsible for regulating the clinical trials and controls the drugs being moved into and out of the country. The G-EthicalEval reviews the scientific validity and the ethical acceptability of the research proposals regarding the life of man. The regulatory bodies are put in place to ensure that safety is achieved and that the lives of the citizens are protected. Additionally, the Congolese law allows private citizens to own pharmaceutical companies. The private health providers are working to improve their governance and performance by strengthening its visibility (Brunner 2018, p. 9). It creates a good environment for private investors to invest in this space.
Economic Context
The country registered an economic growth of 4.4% in 2019, but there was a drop in the COVID-stricken year 2020, which saw the country drop in its economic growth to 0.8%. Many sectors also reduced their figures, including the non-mining sectors, from 5.7 to 1.6%. There was reduced by 1%, and the government investment also fell greatly by 10.2%. There have been so many pressures with a revenue decline following the country leading to a worsening GDP of 1.9%. The domestic and external debts were on the rise. The country needs to work on its domestic ways to help fund its activities and improve the GDP. The country has initiated plans to strengthen governance in managing natural resources and improve the business climate (Brunner 2018, p. 9). The mixed economic system in DRC gives the project a chance to execute its plans successfully.
Cultural and Communication Challenges
Communication is very important when carrying out any given project. Communication serves many purposes, including requests for information, sending information, asking questions, giving instructions, and building teams (Zulch, 2014, p.1002). There are, however, challenges that come in the communication process. There are diverse cultures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and their differences may cause problems among themselves. The country has had cultural conflicts majorly witnessed through the militia groups, creating a big refugee community inside and outside the country. Different people have different customs that may contradict or bring about conflicts among the communities. Community clashes in Tanganyika province were accompanied by the looting of houses and burning of the villages (Zulch, 2014, p.1002).
The trauma from the clashes is still tormenting the community members affected by the clashes. Fear is among these people affected by the clashes, and the primary cause of these problems is the failure to acknowledge that they are one people even with their diversity. There are no good relations due to the communication strategies employed by the warring communities.
Under governance and organization, despite the instability of the country, there are many instances of proper governance in some business institutions. Over the years, there has been a radical movement to transform the corporate governance styles in DRC(Weigel, 2017). The institutional framework characterized with keen follow up in both the executive and the legislation trails has made it easy to track the individual proper organization management aspects. These aspects are quite fundamental to the success of the project.
In project management, the corporate governance in DRC has made it possible for both public and private investors to invest under a reduced tax environment. However, it only applies to certain areas in a specific period, and the project to be undertaken should be worth $200000 and above (World Tax Summaries 2021). The main aim is to encourage investment in these areas. With the uniform corporate act, institutions that opt to operate commercially have to adhere to the rules and regulations prostrated by the act. The international project is highly recommended, and there have been several instances of relaxed policies for the international bodies.
The aspect of stakeholder management is well structured to ensure smooth running in international projects. Over the years, the corporate bodies that oversee the international projects in DRC have tried to lay down protocols that manage stakeholders’ shares(Weigel, 2017). However, there has been minimal interference in the internal affairs of the management of the share. Either way, the uniform act that governs international projects in DRC has shifted away from addressing the internal structure of the international projects. However, they have come up with indirect policies that initiate understanding in shares management.
Critical Success Factors
While understanding the sustainability of the project, it is important to analyze the crucial factors that are in place to ensure the success of the project. The actual understanding of the whole project can be well articulated and related to the inner understanding of the project manager (Cooke-Davies 2020). He ensures that the employees and the stakeholders are aware of the associated risks and strategies in place to prevent these risks from occurring. He also ensures the chain of command is strictly followed to discourage vital information from landing on unauthorized personnel (Cooke-Davies 2020). Employees should always be motivated, and the project manager should strive to logically handle organization setbacks and ensure interpersonal understanding due to the diverse culture of the workplace personnel. Most importantly, the project manager should frequently communicate the goals of the project, and he should ensure each stakeholder act in a row to the success of the project.
Summary
The health status of the Democratic Republic of Congo is not entirely independent but has a close connection with the economic, social, and political sectors. These sectors work in harmony to achieve the success of the country. The health sector needs finances to run its activities. When we have healthy citizens, there will be economic growth in the country as there will be energetic, healthy people working to develop their nation. There have been political upheavals affecting the economic growth in the country, but the reforms to change the state of the economy are commendable.
Conclusion
The proposal of Thomas Pharmaceutical International Developments (TPID) to start the production of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs is likely to succeed due to the favorable fundamental aspects that effectively outrank the down breaks that are likely to emerge. The whole process will be facilitated by the well laid both managerial and logistic aspects. The drugs production center will work well in Congo since many HIV-infected individuals depend on these drugs, and there is a reduced supply of these drugs in the country.
Challenges Faced During Governance and Management of Complex Construction Projects
Introduction
A project can be defined as a temporary undertaking by an individual, organization, or collaboratively by a team to achieve a particular aim. Projects are normally employed when a product or a service needs to be developed or created (Gomes and Romão, 2018, p. 80). On the other hand, project management is defined as the collective processes involved during the process of leading the team behind the projects to achieve the desired goal. A project manager or management team must ensure that all the goals and targets are achieved while managing the available resources and considering the project’s life cycle (Gomes and Romão, 2018, p. 80).
Today, more than ever in non-developed nations, project management and governance are gaining more relevance and importance in these countries’ public administration. Construction projects within these nations are transforming into some of the most vital components and crucial building blocks during their development processes as they help them achieve their social and economic growths. However, the lack of capital to fund these projects forces many nations to seek help from foreign multinational groups. This paper will discuss some of the main challenges expected to arise during the governance and management of complex construction projects in non-developed countries using multinational sponsors and project teams.
During the process of governing and managing construction projects undertaken and sponsored by multinational groups, numerous social development and infrastructure problems are likely to arise. Most of these problems that arise are associated with institutional issues more than technical issues. Some of the main challenges that may arise during such projects include:
Local Political and Legal Systems and Instability
The local political systems refer to all the official governmental processes within a country. On the other hand, local legal systems refer to all the rules, regulations, and institutions that define how all local endeavor is to be handled within a country. Today, more than ten different political systems use different legal systems within their countries (Starr and Collier, pp. 1-28). Some political systems like the democratic system are open and drive there through the public and are more likely to allow foreign involvement that drives growth within their nations. Within the democratic system, there are several smaller systems that a countryman identifies themselves with, all having variant opinions about international involvement. On the other end, political systems like authoritarianism are less likely to allow multinational projects and international involvement. Even though some nations with similar political systems allow such projects, most of them have laws that could be considered harsh towards multinational organizations’ activities.
Aside from the political and legal system, political instability poses a huge threat during the governance of complex projects involving multinational teams and sponsorships. Political instability is normally associated with violence within the nation, political upheaval, and issues regarding regime change (Oetzel and Miklian, 2017). It could also be a result of uncertainty in government policies like human rights, regulatory, property, and tax. Even the slightest changes or political shifts that are likely to trigger any instability normally raise concerns for multinational sponsors and teams working on any projects. Complex construction projects mainly involve building infrastructures like roads, bridges, or buildings.
Financial Approval Delays
Regardless of their causes, all project delays normally affect the speed at which a project will be completed. In some extreme cases, longer delays could lead to complete shutdowns of projects. While there are numerous causes of delays, one of the main causes may include financial approval from the sponsors (Durdyev and Hosseini, 2019). Delaying finances during any stage of the project life cycle has a huge impact on the quality of the project and the project managers. Funds drive all projects. With enough capital, and approvals based on-time approvals, project managers will be able to conduct their activities at ease with minimal interferences. Either way, the project manager is entitled to oversee the financial distribution along with each department. Some financial institutions may require several legal documents. They may take a huge amount of time to acquire, and in this process, the financing process for the different departments may be delayed ending up delaying the whole project. The fundamental aspect in the success of the whole project is the suppliers. Being a critical part of logistics, suppliers and distributors need to be paid on time. Delayed payment may affect the suppliers in the timely delivery of raw materials.
Aside from lengthening the time taken working on the project, several other problems arise as a result of financial delays. In complex construction, project governance and management constitute numerous activities dependent on finances, and any delays could result in additional costs. Before any project begins, project managers are required to pre-order materials with set deadlines to make payments (Poveda et al., 2018). Delayed financial approvals result in delayed disbursement, resulting in missed payments. In most financial delays, suppliers tend to raise prices as compensation. Besides that, projects normally have pre determines periods to completion. Since project managers are responsible for ensuring that these projects are completed with the set period, they are normally penalized for falling behind schedule. With complex construction projects requiring full attention, most project managers are tied to one project and are required to complete it before moving on to the next project. Therefore, any delays caused by financial approval would make them miss other incoming projects. Finally, delays tend to impact the morale and motivation of employees. Having low motivated employees at the workplace would be challenging for the project managers.
Crosscultural differences when managing a multicultural team
One of the main challenges that may arise when working with a multinational team is the cultural difference between the team members and the project management members. Even though global international working teams have been associated with positive results, this can only be achieved if there is an excellent sense of understanding between the members within all levels of the project, from the sponsors, management, and the workers. Failure to understand and respect the cultural differences within these groups is more likely to cause a lot of conflict during the project (Adler and Aycan, pp. 307-333). While understanding the difference between these groups can be maximized to yield better results, failure to understand reduces the overall morale and motivation of the team.
The chances of creating a workplace with a negative vibe or feeling are high as when native project managers are overseeing the processes undertaken by multinational teams with multinational individuals (Gordon and Pollack, 2018, 19). Multinational project teams with managers from different nations with different cultural backgrounds could also face challenges managing native individuals. Being an international strategy, the project manager has to understand and embrace the diverse nature of the workforce. The workforce may differ in terms of culture, religion, way of life, and how individuals should address each other when keeping age in mind. These barriers to a multicultural environment are likely to be experienced. Many international companies fail to manage these cultural differences effectively, and the result affects even the general performance of the project
Cultural differences and other similar barriers like language and religious differences has the potential to cripple such projects undertaken in non-developed nations. While multinational project teams from some European nations and America find it easy to work with developing nations due to some similarities in their cultures, Multinational corporations from countries like China face a lot of difficulty working in several developing nations (Ado, 2020. pg, 131-151).
Time Zones
Another crucial factor that is normally overlooked is the difference in time zones. This factor can increase the project manager’s workload and affect the relationship between sponsors and the project management team. Multinational organizations conduct their activities from different parts of the world. Having to work from different locations could result in massive time differences that could have an impact on meeting scheduling and attendance (Jimenez et al., 2017, pp. 343). Project managers are required to send in reports in a timely manner, and in some cases, over video conferencing or calls. Besides the additional workload of planning these meetings, failure to send reports could weaken the relationship between the project managers and the sponsors. Other similar problems like poor communication networks and equipment in some of the least developed nations could also affect communication (Nago and Ongolo, 2021, 525). All these issues could result in fatal problems. Therefore, multinational organizations sponsoring these projects, project management teams, and project teams must find a solution or means to avoid these issues.
Unclear role of Sponsor and Project Managers
Within any project, some different groups or teams have different roles during the project, and some of the vital teams are the sponsors and project managers. These two groups involved in projects play crucial roles in ensuring that a project becomes successful. Even though these two groups contribute towards a common goal, they each have different goals (Zidane and Andersen, 2018). Working together could ensure that a project becomes extremely successful by achieving all its targets. However, conflicts could arise if the roles of each group are not determined. For example, conflicts between to level administration teams could be catastrophic to the entire project.
Every project requires a sponsor. While planning of a project could be undertaken, it would be impossible to begin implementing the plan without a stable source of finances. Generally, sponsors can be considered owners of the project, and they provide all the resources needed, guidance, program, and support needed during the project. Sponsors champion projects from a business point of view, ensuring that any obstacle arising is eliminated. They are considered one of the top senior management and have the greatest influence and level of authority but from an entirely different perspective from the project manager. They make investment decisions and define all the major constraints, the time budget, and scope.
Other roles include financial approval, maintaining good relationships with the stakeholder, providing feedback on the project, and maintaining the significance of the project. On the other hand, project managers are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the entire project until its completion (Weigel, 2017). While overseeing such complex projects, they can make changes in the process of delivering the projects to make sure that the changes would help minimize the duration taken to complete the project, cost incurred, or improve the overall quality. However, project managers work under the leadership of sponsors; they oversee daily activities and resort to the sponsors. Furthermore, they have to receive the sponsor’s approval before implementing their ideas. The exact powers or role played by the project manager would be determined by the type of work and contract.
While these two groups play different roles and the fact that project managers have to report to the sponsors, any uncertainty between the roles played by each party could result in a lot of conflicts. These conflicts may result in a variety of complications; therefore, they must be avoided. To achieve it, sponsors should allow the project manager to perform their duties without interference. They should only intervene in case they fail to deliver. There should also be a well-defined communication channel between the two teams to ensure they are working to achieve common targets at the same pace.
Conclusion
Construction projects in developing nations with multinational sponsors and teams often involve managing complexes and dealing with diverse individuals. During such activities, program management plays a crucial role in organizing the different groups of people and closely monitoring these activities. Despite the success achieved by program management teams, there are some problems that they are most likely to face. The main challenges they may face are the opposition of local political and legal systems and instability, cross-cultural differences, delays, political and legal instabilities, unclear roles, and differences in time zones. Even though most complex construction projects are undertaken in non-development countries sponsored by multinational organizations normally succeed, teams that govern and manage them are likely to encounter these challenges. Encountering challenges during projects is inevitable; however, project management teams should be well prepared to find ways to eradicate or solve them.
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