project management

Nadim Matta

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Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
2
Critical Tasks
Interviewers
Jennifer Widner
Name
Nadim Matta
Interviewee's Position
President
Interviewee's Organization
Rapid Results Institute
Language
English
Town/City
Washington, DC
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

In this interview, Nadim Matta explains the philosophy and logistics of the Rapid Results Initiatives (RRIs). He describes how these highly choreographed 100-day projects, once introduced into large-scale programs, forge ownership and accountability for results at the local level. Furthermore, he discusses the creation of the RRIs and his projects with the World Bank. He talks about instances of RRI implementation in Nicaragua, Madagascar and Eritrea, describing the different forms of project management, leadership support and civil service rules. Finally, he notes contexts in which RRIs are more likely to succeed and potential roadblocks to results. 

Case Studies:  Building Capacity, Changing Norms: Rapid Results in Madagascar, 2005-2009Enhancing Capacity, Changing Behaviors: Rapid Results in Gashaki, Rwanda, 2008, and Building A Culture Of Results: Institutionalizing Rapid Results Initiatives In Kenya, 2005-2009

Profile

At the time of this interview, Nadim Matta was the President and founding board member of the Rapid Results Institute. Born and raised in Lebanon, he received a degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the American University of Beirut and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He worked at the U.S. Agency of International Development in Beirut where he oversaw relief and rehabilitations programs during the Lebanese civil war. He also worked for Save the Children Federation where he led the implementation of food assistance programs for displaced families in Lebanon. In 1990, he joined Schaffer Consulting and became a managing partner of the firm in 2009. In 2012 he was named as one of the top 100 Global Thinkers by the Foreign Policy Magazine and was selected as a Yale School of Management Donaldson Fellow for 2012 and 2013. 

Turning on the Lights in Freetown, Sierra Leone: Completing the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Plant, 2008-2009

Author
Jonathan (Yoni) Friedman
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract
In 2008, Freetown faced one of the worst energy crises among the world’s major cities, as two aging generators met less than 5% of the Sierra Leone capital’s needs. Residents had electricity for only two or three hours every few days, and businesses struggled with the high cost of maintaining private generators. To make matters worse, efforts toward a solution were creeping at a snail’s pace. Construction of a massive hydroelectric plant at Bumbuna, about 200 kilometers from Freetown, was far behind schedule because of mismanagement and political obstacles. President Ernest Bai Koroma assigned a top adviser, Victor Strasser-King, to get the project back on track by breaking through bottlenecks, facilitating coordination between ministries, and regaining the trust and confidence of the donor community to renew their support for the project. By closely monitoring progress through a system of performance tracking and personal inspection and verification of tasks, Strasser-King steered the project to completion in November 2009.
 
Jonathan Friedman drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in March 2011. Case published September 2011.

Increasing Transparency and Improving Project Management: South Africa's National Roads Agency, 1998-2011

Author
Richard Bennet
Country of Reform
Abstract
Following the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa experimented with ways to improve ministry effectiveness by separating policy-making functions from operations. The Department of Transport introduced principles of New Public Management and public-private partnerships to improve service delivery. The South African National Roads Agency Ltd. (SANRAL), led by Nazir Alli, reconfigured the procurement process and financing models for planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of the country’s national road network. Increasing transparency in the tendering of contracts led to greater accountability on the part of project managers and contractors. This case study chronicles the steps that Alli and his staff took to build the agency and to deliver results on a large scale, culminating with the upgrade of the freeway connecting the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria during the final months before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 
 
Richard Bennet drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa, in March 2011. Case published July 2011.
 
Associated Interview(s):  Jeremy Cronin

Delivering on a Presidential Agenda: Sierra Leone's Strategy and Policy Unit, 2010-2011

Author
Michael Scharff
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2010, President Ernest Bai Koroma struggled to implement his development agenda for Sierra Leone, unable to count on consistent follow-through by his own ministries. He had won election in 2007, five years after an 11-year civil war had decimated the civil service and destroyed much of the West African country’s infrastructure. Early in his presidency, Koroma had established an advisory group called the Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) in a bid to monitor ministries’ progress on major projects and to hold ministry staff accountable. During 2008–09, the SPU had made a few notable gains, particularly in formulating performance contracts with ministers and steering completion of the giant Bumbuna hydroelectric dam. But by 2010, major elements of Koroma’s development agenda had faltered, and the president knew he had to improve coordination and accountability at the center of government in order to address Sierra Leone’s daunting challenges. He hired a chief of staff, Kaifala Marah, and charged him with overhauling the SPU. Marah hired expert support staff and sharpened the unit’s focus. Victor Strasser-King, a retired geology professor who oversawthe successful completion of the long-delayed Bumbuna project while working as an SPU adviser, became director of the unit. Rather than spreading its efforts across all of the president’s priorities, the unit under Strasser-King targeted a handful of flagship projects. The revamped SPU held regular coordination meetings of the president and ministry officials that strengthened monitoring and accountability and identified logjams and bottlenecks that required presidential intervention. By late 2011, with support from the Africa Governance Initiative, the United Nations Development Programme and other partners, the SPU had increased interministerial coordination and significantly improved progress on priority programs. This case study describes the reforms in the president’s office at the center of government. 

Michael Scharff drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in October 2011. Case published February 2012. For more examples of how Sierra Leone strengthened its center of government, see related cases, “Turning on the Lights in Freetown, Sierra Leone: Completing the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Plant, 2008–2009” and “A Promise Kept: How Sierra Leone’s President Introduced Free Health Care in One of the Poorest Nations on Earth, 2009–2010.”

A Promise Kept: How Sierra Leone's President Introduced Free Health Care in One of the Poorest Nations on Earth, 2009-2010

Author
Michael Scharff
Country of Reform
Abstract

When Ernest Bai Koroma assumed the presidency of Sierra Leone in 2007, he promised to run his government as efficiently as a private business. A few years earlier, a brutal 11-year civil war had ended, leaving an estimated 50,000 dead and an additional two million displaced. The effects of the war gutted the government’s capacity to deliver basic services. Koroma launched an ambitious agenda that targeted key areas for improvement including energy, agriculture, infrastructure and health. In 2009, he scored a win with the completion of the Bumbuna hydroelectric dam that brought power to the capital, Freetown. At the same time, the president faced mounting pressure to reduce maternal and child death rates, which were the highest in the world. In November, he announced an initiative to provide free health care for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five years of age, and set the launch date for April 2010, only six months away. Working with the country’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kisito Daoh, he shuffled key staff at the health ministry, created committees that brought ministries, donors and non-governmental organizations together to move actions forward, and developed systems for monitoring progress. Strong support from the center of government proved critical to enabling the project to launch on schedule. Initial data showed an increase in utilization rates at health centers and a decline in child death rates. 

Michael Scharff drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Freetown, Sierra Leone and London, U.K., in September and October 2011. Case published February 2012. See related cases, “Turning on the Lights in Freetown, Sierra Leone: Completing the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Plant, 2008-2009” and “Delivering on a Presidential Agenda: Sierra Leone’s Strategy and Policy Unit, 2010-2011.”