for Value-Driven Project Success in Africa
ADVISORY ARTICLE
By Dr Colin Darrington Prince
Johannesburg, South Africa
Abstract
Projects, when executed successfully, have been shown to create value and impact on people, communities, organisations, society and nations. Projects have been the vehicle of choice to execute corporate and national strategic transformation in order to achieve competitive advantage. However, the reality on the ground over past decades, has been that many projects still have not been performing as well as they should be, despite many resources, costs and efforts, being expended on project work. This time it is not an issue of not having competent project management or execution capabilities, but rather in more cases than not a lack of effective project governance, weak sponsorship and in some cases, a total absence of proper executive accountability and stakeholder engagement, with many project sponsors not perceiving themselves as a “governor” of the project as much as only an enabler of the Project Management process.
As project success is now increasingly being viewed from a value-perspective, the traditional control, focus and metric of project management is also changing from project delivery, to new ways of perceiving projects as investments, in terms of project portfolio management and value governance. This then also changes the metrics of how we measure project success and performance towards the value being perceived by the stakeholders.
The main focus of this article is around Project Sponsorship and Governance – with a specific focus on the African Project Management context in line with Project Management South Africa’s Theme “Evolving Project Management for Value, Governance, and Impact in Africa”. One of the main objectives of this article would be to raise awareness of the need and basis of governance excellence, as a standard of project performance and executive engagement, just as important as project management methodology excellence, as the best way of ensuring project success in Africa. The professionalisation in project work, thus also being argued as, not only applies to project managers, but to governance / strategic executive managers (sponsors) as well. This tie in with the global trends of client-perceived success as the main measure of projects, that are now being increasingly looked at as business value investments (as against the traditional project management disciplines that has been mostly viewed as operational work and not linked to strategic and transformational value performance).
Keywords: Executive Accountability, Project Sponsorship, Value Governance; Governance Maturity, Benefits Realisation, Professionalisation, Portfolio Governance, Ethical Leadership, Strategic Project Governance
- Introduction – Where Governance and Executive Accountability Meet
There is no shortage of observations and research that projects have not, as a whole, been as successful as they should or could have been, despite decades of research and investment in developing project management capabilities. As per the evidence shared by PMI in their annual performance and insight reports, one of the major contributing factors has been the lack of effective governance and executive involvement.
Research also shows that one of the major project success factors, is that of having an effective Executive Sponsor (PMI’s Pulse of the Profession report 2021). Similarly, Müller and Turner (2010) also shows the Sponsor’s Leadership Competence as the key differentiator in project performance…
More…
To read entire article, click here
How to cite this article: Prince, C. C. (2026). How to Improve Sponsor & Executive Accountability for Value-Driven Project Success in Africa, advisory article, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pmwj166-Jul2026-Prince-Project-Governance-and-Executive-Accountability.pdf
About the Author
Dr Colin Darrington Prince
Johannesburg, South Africa
Dr Colin Darrington Prince is a business and IT executive with more than 35 years of cross-sector experience. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Project Management South Africa (PMSA) and formerly served as COO/CFO of the BLOODSA Foundation NPC, advancing haematology care and research across Africa. As Managing Director of Living Water Business Strategies, he provides strategic leadership and business coaching to SMEs. Dr Prince holds a Master of Commerce in Project Management and a Doctor of Technology in Information Technology, combining academic insight with practical expertise in leadership, governance, and organisational transformation. He can be contacted at ceo@projectmanagement.org.za
