Gender responsive budgeting in Pakistan and Tanzania. (By Ronald Mbulawa)

One of the most exciting concepts to emerge from advocates of gender mainstreaming in general and women/girl-child empowerment in particular is the vital need for gender responsive budgeting (GRB) in national and local projects, resource provision and allocation. The causes of the emergence of this concept are no doubt varied, but have included both deliberate economic, political and social struggles by women and the sort of transformation in the global thinking on gender issues and changes in market production. There is no doubt that budgets influence, to a larger extent, provision and allocation of resources especially in developing economies. Broadly speaking, policy formulation and implementation rests in most cases with the manner in which budgets are structured and executed. Therefore any budget that turns a blind eye to the needs for gender configuration at both community and national budgeting levels is largely irrelevant and an act of distributional injustice. This paper seeks to explain the vitality of GRB drawing experiences from Pakistan and Tanzania and how their initiatives have impacted on the advancement of women and girls on one hand and men and boys on the other.

This paper will as a starting point attempt to define what entails gender responsive budgeting (GRB) in general, its strengths and challenges facing this initiative in Africa and Asia as areas of study. The author will proceed to narrow down to the two countries alluded to in the introduction. Perhaps it is important to make it clear that terms like ‘upliftment or empowerment’ have become current watchwords sometimes abused by a large number of highly-powered executives, business tycoons, personality developers and those involved in gender education. The gap that exists between rhetoric and implementation should be analysed in order to determine the benefits accrued so far from GRB in over 60 countries throughout the world. Moreover, the high prevalence of poverty levels and gender inequities in Africa and Asia indeed call for a comprehensive and well thought out process for engendering local and national budgets. Diane Elson (2002) identified that the focus on gender inequality can be structured so as to take account of other forms of inequality, such as class, race and region. The key question might be reformulated, for example, as: does this fiscal measure improve, worsen, or leave unchanged, the position of the most disadvantaged women? Hewitt and Mukhopadhyay (2011) argue that in order to ensure greater consistency between economic goals and such social commitments aforesaid, GRBs are no doubt fundamental. Indeed as Aasha K. Mehta (2007, 222) succinctly puts it:

If budgets are determined at the macro-level on the basis of what the micro-household priorities in the budget allocation, or if we build budget priorities at the macro-level from a gender and poverty sensitive lens, then they must include poverty reduction, opportunities for employment for all able-bodied, eradication of hunger, access to safe drinking water, access to quality and affordable health care, correcting the bias in the female-men ratio and safety nets for the old, who are poor, and for the poor who are disabled or (those who are generally marginalized in society: my own emphasis)    

Gender-responsive budgeting are budget processes that incorporate gender equality perspectives and initiatives into the budgeting procedures and the policies that underpin it in order to promote equality between women and men. There is consensus among gender writers that GRB does not involve creating separate budgets for women and girls, or simply increasing specific budget allocations directed to these groups. Instead, it involves collecting budget revenues and allocating expenditures that address persistent inequalities between women/girls and men/boys (Sharp 2003; Hofbauer 2003; Budlender et al 2002). There is no doubt that the level of political will, social and economic priorities, can be demonstrated and reflected in the government’s national budgets. In general, GRBs have initiatives that seek to raise awareness of the effects that budgets have on women/girls and men, hold governments accountable for their commitments to gender equality. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) contends that GRBs help to bridge persistent and consistent inequalities between women/girls and men/boys and facilitate development by integrating gender issues into macro-economic policies. Most countries that have attempted GRB initiatives have had varying degrees of successes and challenges. The analyses of Pakistan and Tanzania come against a chilling background by Budlender and Hewitt (2002) that at this point in time no country in the world has achieved a completely gender responsive budget. They also note that some countries are further along the road to reaching that goal than others, but none has reached it yet. This lies partly due to the fact that national budgets in most, if not all, countries are gender blind and sometimes mired in entrenched in political setups and distorted and vague state ideologies.

A comparative analysis of the impact of budgets on men and boys and on women and girls is the first step in the process towards GRB. This type of budgetary analysis helps to reveal the extent to which budgets and their underlying policies are reducing, worsening, or perpetuating inequalities between men and women. The Nordic Council of Ministers (2005) contends that gender-responsive budgeting requires knowledge of the budget as a whole, including its processes, the role of institutions, and the policy context in which it is framed. In addition to gender budget analysis, GRB also entails using certain tools such as data and indicators to identify budget priorities, allocating resources accordingly, and tracking the impact of policy and budgets on gender equality. Nonetheless, GRB initiatives are in line with the ILO approach to gender and development and with international gender equality commitments, such as the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Therefore there has been a clarion call for governments to make sure that budgets address the plight of women and girls who in most cases are marginalized. This is so because without money or budgets the government cannot implement any other policy successfully. Thus, for example, government can have a very good policy on reproductive health, gender-based violence (GBV), or HIV/AIDS, but if it does not allocate the necessary money to implement it, the policy is not worth any more than the paper it is written on.

The notion of using GRB initiatives to promote gender equality became widespread in 1995 with the Beijing Platform for Action when the United Nations called on governments to assess how public expenditures benefited women and to adjust budgets to contribute to gender equality (Sharp 2003). The United Nations (UN) made it clear on the issue of equality of access to employment and thus recommended that governments: 

“Analyse, advise on, coordinate and implement policies that integrate the needs and interests of employed, self-employed and entrepreneurial women into sector and inter-ministerial policies, programmes and budgets”. (United Nations 1995 cited by Ruiz 2003: 3)  

Whilst the UN makes its case on the issue of employment, it is equally true that also budgets need to accommodate some of the fundamental issues like poverty and ill-health which squeeze pressure into the already burdened women. Poverty and ill-health affect both men and women; however, the problems get compounded for women due to a number of reasons. Firstly, women’s lack of access to and control over resources and decision making lead their higher incidences of poverty and lower levels of access to health care services for them. CARE (2006) noted that, “While men have higher rates of disease morbidity for many major diseases, including tuberculosis and malaria, a larger percentage of women die due to the fact they are often brought in for diagnosis and treatment at severe stages of illness, when treatment is less effective.”

Secondly, when any member of the family falls ill, women routinely add the task of providing care to their other tasks, thereby adding to their unrecognized work burden, which leads to their higher levels of tiredness and morbidity (Aasha K. Mehta: 2007). Such hard reality which women found themselves in has resulted in gender inequalities which have necessitated calls for gender responsive budgeting in Africa, Asia and in the rest of the world. There is no doubt that gender inequality can constrain the outcomes of macro-economic policy. For example, economic reforms with decreased incentives can reduce women’s output, or restricted access to education or training can hamper women’s ability to develop their human resources (Haddal, et al, 1995; Cagatay, Elson, Grown, 1995; World Bank, 1995; Palmer, 1995). Elson (1995) goes further to explain that gender inequality is inefficient and not only costly to women, but also costly to children and many men. In addition, Elson expounds that gender inequality exacts costs through lower output, reduced development of people’s capacities, less leisure and diminished well-being. Therefore women’s empowerment through GRB remains key to the possibility for all countries to have some combination of increased productivity, improved human resources, less stress and better overall health.

The concept of GRB in Pakistan is a relatively new project which the government took as an initiative aimed at making women economically and politically stronger. Diane Elson (2002) makes it clear that GRB have an impact on macro-economic policy in shaping the women/girls’ living standards and their prospects for economic empowerment. Moreso, GRB initiatives have been taken in various countries with a clear mindset that such budgets can worsen or improve the living standards of different groups of women and contribute to narrowing or widening gender gaps in incomes, health, education, nutrition and other social areas. The government of Pakistan is therefore no exception, realized that there is efficiency gains behind GRB since gender analyses helped improve targeting and resulted in a more optimal use of limited public resources. Pakistan envisioned the principles of GRB from its gender budget statements, which have had a strong influence in its gender budgeting initiatives. Gender Budget Statements (GBS) are a useful tool as they attempt to scrutinize from a gender lens, budget documents that often are difficult to comprehend. However, depending on a host of factors, the formats being used and the level of details being provided differs drastically from one country to another.

There are inherent limitations in the methodologies and formats being used to produce Gender Budget Statements in several countries, there are some advantages as well. Pakistan and Indonesia’s GRB Statements, for instance are more quantitative and less qualitative (Mahbub and Budlender: 2007). However, it is important to emphasize that GBS cannot be singled out as a tool that countries can entirely depend on as an alternative to GRB. The reality and ultimate objective should be to make budgets and policies more gender responsive. It is true that merely interrogating public expenditure or incidence cannot substitute GRB. The Gender Responsive Budgeting in Pakistan Booklet (2008) argues that the process of GRB should intend to result eventually in gender responsive budgets—budgets that are planned, approved, executed, monitored and audited in a gender sensitive way. According to article 80 of the constitution of Pakistan, a budget is “a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the government for a financial year, referred to as the Annual Budget Statement.” The Pakistan mindset take cognizance of the fact that budgets play an important role in the empowerment of women and girls on one hand and men and boys on the other. A budget mirrors the priorities and values of a government and lays bare how money is allocated to the different sectors of an economy, that is, infrastructure, social services, health and education to cite a few examples. Indeed, no policy can be implemented without financial support and therefore the way the budget is used is imperative in steering a country’s economic, social and political future.

The government of Pakistan laid down clear GRB goals which the government argued will bring economic reforms. Pakistan’s economic reforms are mainly centred on six main areas namely gender equality, gender equity, good governance, economic efficiency, poverty alleviation as well as transparency and accountability. It is argued that equality and equity will bring equal access to opportunities and equal chance of achieving the desired outcome in the country’s budget initiatives. Furthermore, the country assert that good governance is symptomatic of the country‘s commitments to realizing the full potential of women in society.  The concept of good governance is however problematic due to its many-sided definitions. The most comprehensive is that of the World Bank which defines good governance as “epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy-making, a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society participating in public affairs.” (Quoted in the GRB in Pakistan Booklet, 2008). The country also believes that GRB is a tool for indentifying the gaps between international commitments and the amount of public spending on gender specific reforms tracking how money is allocated. This is how the government of Pakistan argues that this is how GRB increases transparency and accountability. Evidence available indicate that Pakistan’s GRB was undertaken as a pilot by the government at the federal and provincial levels in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Additionally, the recent introduction of a medium-term budget framework has provided the opportunity to integrate a gender perspective into the new budget system. The GRB pilot was undertaken for three public sectors – education, health and population welfare – using various GRB tools. For example, gender aware benefit analysis was applied to the education and health sectors. First, unit costs of the public services provisions were estimated using budget documents and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Annual Progress Report 2004-05. Next, the unit costs were imputed to users of the public services which were identified based on the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey 2004-05. Thirdly, aggregated figures of benefit incidence were estimated and categorised by household income levels and provinces. The analysis found a change in the beneficiary groups compared to results from a previous analysis (Mahbub and Budlender, 2007, 4-5.)

Tanzania is one of the African countries which initiated GRB. The concept of GRB in Tanzania began in 1997 as a civil society process, based on the recognition of the deteriorating economic situation in Tanzania, particularly in the areas of health, agriculture and education. This was due to a constraining macro-economic context, including globalisation, structural adjustment, liberalisation and the debt burden. As a result, the organisation began advocating for adoption by the government of a gender budgeting approach that stressed allocation and utilisation of government resources on the basis of gender needs of various social groups. Civil society pointed to the government’s commitments in various regional and international instruments to promote gender equality as a justification for such a process. Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) spearheaded the initiative of GRB initiative and used various strategies to achieve its objectives, including coalition building; building alliances with various actors, including government, Parliament and media; conducting participatory action-oriented research in various sectors; and building an advocacy strategy. Key opportunities were identified, such as willingness of key government actors and on-going reforms of the budget process and expanded role of the local governments. This process led to the adoption of gender budgeting by the Government of Tanzania in a programme coordinated by the Ministry of Finance. The organisation has continued to support the mainstreaming process within the government through building capacities in gender planning and budgeting, developing tools and manuals, and providing backstopping services to government planners and budget officers. This vigorous campaign by the civil society and action of the Tanzanian government was followed a clinic to buttress the holistic importance of introducing, implementing and monitoring GRB tasks.

A Regional Training Workshop on Gender-Sensitive National Planning and Budgeting for National Machineries for the Advancement of Women was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 4 to 7 December 2001. This workshop was organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The training targeted 5 Anglophone pilot countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Malawi, and Swaziland as well as Tanzania, as the host country. It is important to point out the reasons why such a workshop was fundamental to Tanzania. The workshop intended to develop and strengthen conceptual understanding and skills of key government officials in gender-sensitive planning and budgeting as well as identifying opportunities and challenges for effective gender-responsive planning and budgeting. This was important as way to make sure that the country was monitoring the advancement of women in line with its national and international commitments. In addition the workshop aimed at developing country-specific immediate action plans for engendering planning and budgeting processes as well as developing a sub-regional strategy for operationalising gender-sensitive national planning with particular reference to the role of national machineries and gender focal points. This underlines how much important GRB is in Africa and how it should be used to redress social, political and economic marginalisations which women/girls continue to face across the continent embedded in poverty and remnants of colonial and post colonial injustices.

The workshop included a field visit to the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme and its Gender Resource Centre in Dar es Salaam. This provided participants with the opportunity to learn more about the organisation’s programs in gender training, advocacy and information dissemination.  Of importance to realize from the seminar was that participants expressed their appreciation of the comprehensive nature of the organisation, which included a Gender Training Institute, a gender-specialised library, and an advocacy programme, which, among other activities, addressed the issue of gender budgeting. The visit sparked a discussion on the relation between NGOs and the national machinery. In particular, it highlighted the positive role that NGOs could play in gender-sensitive planning and budgeting processes, including capacity building and serving as a watchdog to monitor the implementation of government commitments (Regional Training Workshop on Gender-Sensitive National Planning for National Machineries for the Advancement of Women Report, 2001). The issue of understanding budgets remains crucial as the writer alluded in case of Pakistan in order to address rhetoric and action. Budlender (2005) notes that the Tanzanian government and TGNP, have probably gone furthest in stating their determination to move beyond the budget. However, even in Tanzania it has not yet gone much further than agreement that something should be done. At first glance one might think of advocating that “gender equality” is one of the national outcomes as indicated in the Pakistan case. Evidence available in the two areas of discussion has, however, almost certainly shown that the concept of gender equality is too broad, and definitely not sufficient on its own. At best, it might result in some special allocations for women. At worst, it could result in a feeling that gender can be ignored in all the other outcomes.

A somewhat more detailed approach was designed in Tanzania, where one or two indicators were developed for each of the articles of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). The plan was for these indicators to be reported in each year’s budget documents as a measure of whether the government as a whole was succeeding in promoting women’s equality. Unfortunately, the plan was not implemented as a result of hitches in the overall monitoring system. (Budlender, 2005).Tanzania, however, continued to demonstrate its wholesome desire for gendered budgets when the budget circular issued each year to all line ministries by the Planning and Privatisation Commission (previously simply the Planning Commission) includes several paragraphs instructing the line ministries to adopt a gender-sensitive approach when submitting their budget bids.

There are important lessons to be learnt about the GRB and its impact on gender from the experiences of the two cases under study. Government budgeting is typically thought of balancing the books: money in and money out, with consideration given to wide sectors of the community that will be affected by the budget, such as industry, families, education or health. However, very little consideration is given to the impact budgets have upon men and women respectively. Budget papers focus on financial aggregates of revenues, and expenditures and balances as either being in surplus or deficit. A link between government budgets and gender issues is usually not explicitly made, and gender issues are often addressed by social rather than economic policy. Consequently, government budgets are often perceived as gender-neutral. This gender-neutral assumption ignores the fact that budgetary impacts are often different and unequal between men and women (Budlender and Sharp, 1998). This is because men and women, on the whole, occupy different socio-economic positions, play different roles and undertake different responsibilities in the paid and unpaid economy. For example, women are more likely to earn lower incomes compared to men, hold less wealth, live in poverty with dependent children and undertake more of the share of unpaid work (Bittman, Bryson and Donath, 1993; Budlender, 1996; Aslaksen, Gravingsmyhr and Koren, 1996; UNIFEM, 2000.) Sharp (2003) provides a framework to countries to categorise GRB outcomes into three guiding goals namely, to raise awareness and the understanding of gender issues and the impacts of budgets and policies, to make governments accountable for their budgetary and policy commitments to gender equality; and to change and refine government budgets and policies to promote gender equality.

 Apart from equality Asian and African countries need to take stock of the reality that Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) is first and foremost a tool for increasing accountability and accelerating the implementation of commitments to gender equality and human rights. GRB can be used to enforce and monitor human rights. Budgetary allocations can change the way human rights are considered and respected. In a review of the relationship between budgets and human rights, Elson argues that “budget actors are mandated to situate people’s rights at the core of their policies” (Elson, 2006, 1). Vargas-Valente (2002) also argues that gender responsive budgets challenge the notion that governments should only be concerned about economic growth. They also need to be concerned about citizens’ rights, including those of women; promote democratic mechanisms that also respond to demands for democratic governance and state reform from a citizen’s perspective; and enlarge the arenas for consulting civil society, which is always affected by government decisions. For example, education is critical to poverty alleviation and is a fundamental human right.

 A distinguishing feature of Tanzania’s gender budgeting process was that it was externally driven by a non-governmental organisation (NGO): Tanzania Gender Networking Project led by a women,Ms. Gemma Akilimali. Subsequently, a strong coalition formed consisting of planners and budget officers from the Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, Health and Education and Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, academics and gender activists. The initiative emphasised policy development, planning and budgeting, decision-making processes and the horizontal allocation of budgetary resources among sectors. The coalition also lobbied for legislative reforms to close gender gaps. The Tanzanian initiative focused on building capacity for analysing gender budgets through developing checklists for the finance ministry to facilitate gender mainstreaming of budget processes and formulating guidelines to collect sex-disaggregated data for budgeting processes. Important lessons from Tanzania’s experience are that there is need for a broad involvement of many actors, including government, NGOs, academics, civil society and parliamentarians. It is also vital that the country empowers NGOs, academics, civil society and parliamentarians with skills to hold government accountable and capacity building to mainstream gender for successful gender budgeting. The extent of women’s existing participation in budget decision -making needs to be examined, as has been done by the government of Tanzania: ‘More than half of all Tanzanians are females. But only a small number of the people who make important decisions about the government budget are women. For example, only 3 of the 30 members of the Finance and Economic Committee of Parliament are women and only 45 of the 275 Members of Parliament are women. With so few women making the budget it is not surprising that it does not effectively meet women’s needs.’ (Government of Tanzania, 2000, 5). One important step is to get recognition that gender equality issues are present in the work of all Ministries, and in a very wide range of programmes, not just in those programme that are targeted to improving the position of women. An example from Tanzania illustrates: Gender as a cross-sectoral issue in Tanzania ‘The Rolling Plan and Forward Budget for Tanzania in the period of 1996/97 –1998/99 Vol.1 has indicated cross-sectoral issues as Environment, Cooperatives, Science and Technology, Rural and urban development, and Population. Gender has not been listed as a cross-sectoral issue…..As a result other sectors do not feel the obligation of taking aboard the responsibility of disaggregation and addressing gender gaps identified in the sectors.  The recommended step was to call for an immediate action can be taken up to include gender among the list of the cross-sectoral issues in the guidelines….’ (Tanzania Gender Networking Programme, 2000). Some initiatives have been taken to implement some of the recommendations resulting from studies on gender budgeting. These included the 1999/2000 Budget guidelines incorporated gender issues.

In conclusion, the aspect of GRB in both Asia and Africa has shown that the concept is still in its pilot stage and there is need to adopt it as a policy and issue policy guidelines. Therefore there is need to promote an active role of both government officials and members of the civil society through regular meeting, workshops and focus group discussions as well as conforming to national and international instruments. More so, there is need for capacity building measures on GRB so that it is a continuous process which should be carried out in a more sustainable manner with more frequent interaction with potential trainers, both local and outside. Although gender sensitive amendments have been incorporated in Tanzania and Pakistan, it is the first step towards achieving gender-disaggregated data which will feed into and reflect positive changes in government policies in the future to empower women and girls.

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Conflict transformation as a contributor to understanding peace processes. (Tariro Gwete)

It is clearly open that conflict transformation as a concept gives an understanding to the peace process through the stages they go through that compliments each other. Peace process also involves systemic transformation that is the process of increasing justice and equality in the social system as a whole. The principles of conflict transformation go further in helping define conflict transformation which helps in understanding the peace process. Many scholars are of the view that conflict should not be regarded as an isolated event that can be resolved or managed but as an integral part of society’s ongoing evolution and development. As well as that conflict should not be understood solely as an inherently negative and destructive occurrence, but rather as a potentially positive and productive force for change if harnessed constructively. To add more, conflict transformation goes beyond merely seeking to contain and manage conflict and also seeks to transform the root causes of a particular conflict and conflict transformation is a long-term, gradual and complex process requiring sustained engagement and interaction thus helping to understand also the peace process.

Conflict transformation is the process by which conflicts such as ethnic conflicts are transformed into peaceful outcomes addressing the root causes of a particular conflict over the long term.  Lederach (1998) It recognises that contemporary conflicts require more than the reframing of positions and the identification of win-win outcomes. The structure of parties and relationships may be embedded in a pattern of conflictual relationships that extend beyond the particular site of a conflict. Conflict transformation is therefore a process of engaging with and transforming the relationships that supports violence, interests, discourses and the constitution of society that supports the continuation of violent conflict to merely manage and contain the conflict. Miall (2004) It aims to transform negative destructive conflict into positive constructive conflict and deals with structural, behavioural and attitudinal aspects of conflict. The term refers to both the process and the completion of the process. As such, it incorporates the activities of processes such as conflict prevention and conflict resolution and goes further than conflict settlement or conflict management. Lederach (1998)

A number of conflict theorists and practitioners including Lederach (1998), advocate the pursuit of conflict transformation. Conflict transformation reflects a better understanding of the nature of conflict itself thereby it helps in understanding the peace process. Conflict transformation as described by Lederach (1998), does not suggest that eliminate or control conflict but rather recognize and work with its "dialectic nature." By this he means that social conflict is naturally created by humans who are involved in relationships, once it occurs it changes those events, people and relationships that created the initial conflict. Thus, the cause and effect relationship goes both ways from the people and the relationships to the conflict and back to the people and relationships. In this sense, "conflict transformation" is a term that describes a natural occurrence. Lederach (1998) Conflicts change relationships in predictable ways, altering communication and social organization patterns.

On the one hand, this phrase suggests that life gives us conflict, and that conflict is a natural part of human experience and relationships. Rather than viewing conflict as a threat, the transformative view sees conflict as a valuable opportunity to grow and increases our understanding of ourselves and others. Conflict helps us stop, assess and take notice. Without it, life would be a monotonous flat topography of sameness and our relationships would be woefully superficial. This phrase also suggests that conflict creates life and keeps everything moving. It can be understood as a motor of change that keeps relationships and social structures dynamically responsive to human needs. Kriesberg (1997)

Although the definition is relatively short, its various components lend it a degree of complexity. To better understand conflict transformation, an explanation of each component is needed. Together, these components attempt to capture the attitudes and orientations we bring to creative conflict transformation, the starting point of such an approach, and the various change processes involved in such an approach. A transformational approach begins with two pro-active foundations, a positive orientation toward conflict and a willingness to engage in the conflict in an effort to produce constructive change or growth. Lund (2001) While conflict often produces long-standing cycles of hurt and destruction, the key to transformation is the capacity to envision conflict as having the potential for constructive change. Response, on the other hand, suggests a bias toward direct involvement and an increased understanding that comes from real-life experience. Both "envision" and "respond" represent the ways we orient ourselves toward the presence of conflict in our lives, relationships and communities. Lederach (1995)

Conflict transformation begins with a central goal, to build constructive change out of the energy created by conflict. By focusing this energy on the underlying relationships and social structures, constructive changes can be brought about. The key here is to move conflict away from destructive processes and toward constructive ones. The primary task of conflict transformation is not to find quick solutions to immediate problems, but rather to generate creative platforms that can simultaneously address surface issues and change underlying social structures and relationship patterns.Miall (2004)

Conflict transformation views peace as centered and rooted in the quality of relationships. This includes both face-to-face interactions and the ways in which we structure our social, political, economic, and cultural relationships. In this sense, peace is a "process-structure," a phenomenon that is simultaneously dynamic, adaptive, and changing. In essence, rather than seeing peace as a static "end-state," conflict transformation views peace as a continuously evolving and developing quality of relationship. Lund (2001) It is defined by intentional efforts to address the natural rise of human conflict through nonviolent approaches that address issues and increase understanding, equality, and respect in relationships.

Conflict transformation is also a prescriptive concept it suggests that left alone conflict can have destructive consequences. However, the consequences can be modified or transformed so that self-images, relationships and social structures improve as a result of conflict instead of being harmed by it. Usually this involves transforming perceptions of issues, actions and other people or groups. Since conflict usually transforms perceptions by accentuating the differences between people and positions, effective conflict transformation can work to improve mutual understanding. Mayer (2000) Even when people's interests, values and needs are different even non- reconcilable, progress is made if each group gains a relatively accurate understanding of the other.

Conflict transformation also involves transforming the way conflict is expressed. It may be expressed competitively, aggressively, violently or it may be expressed through nonviolent advocacy, conciliation or attempted cooperation. Diamond (1994) Unlike many conflict theorists and activists, who perceive mediation and advocacy as being in opposition to each other, Lederach (1995) sees advocacy and mediation as being different stages of the conflict transformation process. Activism is important in early stages of a conflict to raise people's awareness of an issue. Thus activism uses nonviolent advocacy to escalate and confront the conflict which means people are involved in the transformation process in order to reach a consensus between two parties thus engaging in the peace process called mapping the relationship together. The central task is to engage two parties into exploring each party's interests, defining the context and scope of the relationship and understanding how specific problems and underlying interests can be dealt with for effective change.

Once awareness and concern is generated, then mediation can be used to transform the expression of conflict from "mutually destructive modes toward dialogue and itnerdependence." Lederach (1998) Such transformation, Lederach (1998), suggests that it must take place at both the personal and the systemic level. At the personal level, conflict transformation involves the pursuit of awareness, growth and commitment to change which may occur through the recognition of fear, anger, grief and bitterness. These emotions must be outwardly acknowledged and dealt with in order for effective conflict transformation to occur thus conflict transformation gives a light in that people are involved thereby understanding the peace process that dialogue is important between two parties to bring change and peace at large.

Peace process also involves systemic transformation that is the process of increasing justice and equality in the social system as a whole. This may involve the elimination of oppression, improved sharing of resources and the non-violent resolution of conflict between groups of people. Each of these actions reinforces the other in other words, transformation of personal relationships facilitates the transformation of social systems and systemic changes facilitate personal transformation. Key to both kinds of transformation are truth, justice, and mercy, as well as empowerment and interdependence. These concepts are frequently seen to be in opposition to each other however, they must come together for reconciliation or "peace" to occur, Lederach (1995) asserts.

Conflict transformation has been described in the context of a continuum, generally beginning with ‘conflict settlement,’ then ‘conflict management,’ to ‘conflict resolution,’ and ending with ‘conflict transformation’ Diamond (1994) Not everyone agrees that the term conflict transformation necessarily falls on a continuum. While some analysts see it as a significant departure from conflict resolution, others like Miall (1999) view conflict transformation as a further development of conflict resolution. For them the aim of conflict resolution is to transform conflict. Perhaps more importantly they also suggest that the transformation concept provides some utility regarding our understanding of peace processes in the sense that transformation denotes a sequence of necessary transitional steps. Such a transformation represents not only removing the sources and causes of the situation that brought about the conflict but also necessitates a psychic transformation in the attitudes and relationship between the parties. This underlying assumption that conflict transformation provides for a transformation of the parties and their relationships and structural changes that conflict resolution methodologies do not render is obviously a part of the semantic subtleties and maybe also operational differences of opinion with regards to these terms and their practical application. Miall (1999)

Consequently, conflict transformation processes are seen more in terms of nation building, national reconciliation and healing, change agentry, and social transformation. Chadwick (1988) The notion of conflict transformation is simply a further extension of conflict resolution seems to be in contrast with some of the strongest proponents of the term. In their view conflict transformation is a conceptual departure in theory and practice from conflict resolution. For these forerunners among the ‘transformers’ of conflict Curle (1990) and Kriesberg (1997) Rupesinghe (1994) and Lederach (1995) are of the view that the term conflict transformation emerged from a search for a more precise term to describe the overall peacemaking and peacebuilding venture. In this concept they believe to have found a more holistic approach and understanding of their work that extends beyond the management or resolution of conflict. Moreover, for Lederach (1995), conflict transformation offers more than the mere elimination or control of conflict as is promised by the resolution or management of conflict. It points to the inherent dialectical process, the ability to transform the dynamic of the conflict and the relationship between the parties indeed to transform the creators of the conflict.

Conflict transformation refers to the process of moving from conflict-habituated systems to peace systems.Vayrynen (1991) This process is distinguished from the more common term of conflict resolution because of its focus on systems of change. Lederach (1998) In referring to both micro and macro transformations, Väyrynen (1991) charts four ways in which transformations happen, firstly, actor transformation refers to the internal changes in major parties to the conflict or the appearance of new actors. Secondly, issue transformation alters the political agenda of the conflict, in essence, altering what the conflict is about. Thirdly, rule transformation redefines the norms that the actors follow in their interactions with each other and demarcates the boundaries of their relationship. Lastly, the structural transformation alludes to changes that may transpire in the system or structure within which the conflict occurs which is more than just the limited changes among actors, issues and roles.Väyrynen (1991) adds that while conflict transformation happens intentionally, it can also happen unintentionally. This unintended transformation process is normally a by product of the broader social and economic changes that the actors within a conflict neither planned nor could avoid, but to which they have to adjust.

In yet another version of the circumstances under which conflict transformation transpires, Chadwick (1988) claims that conflict transformation as opposed to conflict management or conflict resolution occurs when there is a metamorphosis or at least considerable change in one of three different elements. The process of transformation first transforms attitudes by changing and redirecting negative perceptions. Secondly, it transforms behavior and lastly transforms the conflict itself by seeking to discover, define and remove incompatibilities between the parties. Northrup (1989), in turn contends that the contrast between settlement and transformation is best explained through the proximity of change to core identity constructs. Transformation has a better prognosis of occurring when there are specific modifications in the identities of the parties, the nature of their relationship is redefined and changes in their core sense of self are possible. Such changes, as Northrup (1989) points out, take considerable time because of the rigid attitudes and behaviors among parties that set in over time in intractable conflicts.

Creating an infrastructure or method of approaching conflict transformation not only legitimizes the process but also integrates multiple levels of the population affected, both in terms of the input in the peace process as well as in its implementation. Lederach (1998) He also identifies three levels that need to be impacted within his ‘holistic’ approach to conflict transformation within the affected population, the top leadership, or the level at which negotiations to end conflict normally take place; national leaders such as professionals and intellectuals from sectors where problem solving workshops or training in conflict resolution would be appropriate and local leaders in indigenous non-government organizations  and grassroots organizations where the impact would be on local peace commissions and grassroots training.

Lederach (1998) has since greatly augmented his framework for transformation processes. In one of these works, Lederach (1998) advocates for a post-conflict phase where the peace-building system is not driven by a hierarchical (top down) focus, but by an organic political process, which “envisions peace-building as a web of interdependent activities and people.” In this vision of transformational peace-building, the inter-party or inter-group politics of the post-conflict phase occur within an open system that encourages participation from a broad base of participants from all levels of the affected societies and not only from a narrow group of leaders at the official bargaining table. To this end Lederach (1998) expounds on a nested paradigm of peace-building activities. This includes immediate actions such as “defining the agenda” of tasks that need to be addressed. These tasks may range from demobilization and disarmament to governance and employment activities and affect various people, structures and processes. The “transition” activity as part of this nested paradigm identifies taking agenda tasks to implementation for example, providing transport and relocation facilities for repatriating refugees. This transition phase is embedded in “transformative processes” that have to deal with more pertinent issues such as the role of the military in newly formed structure of governments. These peace-building activities are nested within a “search for relational reconciliation” in which issues are not merely resolved but relationships are restored. Lederach (1998)

One other model of conflict transformation that warrants mentioning is dialogue as forms of conflict transformation, as is evidenced by the work of Rothman (1998) Negotiations between disputing parties often take the form of polarized debates where neither side tries very hard to gain insight or understanding into the beliefs and concerns of the other side. Facilitated dialogues where third parties encourage the parties to deal with the concerns of the opposing party can create moments of transition or become vehicles for transformative insights and actions by the participants. Such endeavors have the potential of being catalysts for change by furnishing transitional moments that unlock or dissolve polarized positions. They are by their very nature forums that encourage parties to move beyond the status quo and as such dialogues are important in the transformational processes. Whether they occur in private or in public, the major goal of dialogue processes is to change conflictual relationships. Rothman (1998) As such one understands that to bring about peace there is need of a dialogue between two parties thus there is a nexus between the concept of conflict transformation and the peace process.

Moreso, systemic change according to transformationalists, is the most critical element that needs to be addressed for the transformation process to be completed. In providing “post-conflict reconstruction”, conflict transformation is often defined in terms of economic and social reconstruction projects that are crucial to the success of the peace process. Curle(1990) Economic and social transformation, according to Curle (1990), take months to plan, years to implement and requires a level of resources that most NGOs cannot provide. They point to the role of the World Bank to provide loans and credit lines in order to coordinate reconstruction aid. Conflict transformation theorists seemingly do not connect systemic change directly with the minutiae of economic and social transformation. Historically there has also been a reluctance from many ‘conflict resolution’ practitioners in the field not to want to connect too closely to governmental or international actors who perform such roles in order not to compromise their own independence and neutrality in the eyes of conflictants.

Relationships are at the heart of conflict transformation. Yarn (1999) Rather than concentrating exclusively on the content and substance of the dispute, the transformational approach suggests that the key to understanding conflict and developing creative change processes lies in seeing the less visible aspects of relationship. Yarn (1999) While the issues over which people fight are important and require creative response, relationships represent a web of connections that form the broader context of the conflict. It is out of this relationship context that particular issues arise and either become volatile or get quickly resolved. In other words, a conflict-transformation platform must be short-term responsive and long-term strategic. The defining characteristic of such a platform is the capacity to generate and re-generate change processes responsive to both immediate episodes and the relational context. It is in this way an adaptive process-structure one that can produce creative solutions to a variety of problems. To conclude, conflict transformation as a concept gives an understanding to the peace process through the stages they go through that compliments each other. Peace process also involves systemic transformation that is the process of increasing justice and equality in the social system as a whole. The principles of conflict transformation go further in helping define conflict transformation which helps in understanding the peace process. Conflict transformation go through various stages that is making two parties resolve their relationships, engaging into dialogues and encouraging affected people to participate in the transition process thus giving a light on how conflicts are transformed for a change thereby making it easier for one to understand the peace process as well.

Evaluating the role of projects in the management of projects. ( Tariro Gwete)

There is no single role or process that makes management of projects successful rather it is the careful orchestration of a number of different elements. Projects assist in the management of projects as a package of investment designed to remove or alleviate non development constraints or taking advantage of a perceived development opportunity. Akroyd (2003) It also principally works as an introduction and management change. Lokyer and Gordon (1996) Projects also play a pivotal role in the management of project by providing quick fix solutions, acting as an economic way of allocating resources, a cutting edge to development, way of mobilising funds, lowest level of policy making, it is also an instrument through which plans and programs are implimented.

There is no universally accepted definition of the term project. However, the host of definitions contain the same subject matter but expressed differently. A project is “an investment activity in which financial resources are expanded in order to create capital assets that produce benefits over a period of time.” Gittinger (1982) It can also be defined as “a discreet package of investment, policies, institutional and other actions designed to achieve a specific goal. Baum and Tolbert (1988) A project is a co-ordinated series of activities undertaken by individuals or organisations with definite starting and finishing points to meet specific objectives within a scheduled period, costs and defined parameters. Arizona (2000)

In contemporary business and science a project is also defined as a collaborative enterprise, involving research or design which is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can further be defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems or work systems that are constituted by teams within or across organizations to accomplish particular tasks under time constraints. Hamilton (1997) A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget. Conyers and Hill (1984) A project is a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result with a defined beginning and end in time, scope and resources designed to accomplish a singular goal.

Project management is the planning and organization of an organization's resources in order to move a specific task, event or duty toward completion. Project management is a methodical approach to planning and guiding project processes from start to finish. Alkin (1969) Project management typically involves a one-time project rather than an ongoing activity and resources managed include both human and financial capital. Project management is often closely associated with engineering projects, which typically have a complex set of components that have to be completed and assembled in a set fashion in order to create a functioning product. Hamilton (1997) Project management is one of the critical processes of any project and it is the core process that connects all other project activities and processes together. Project management, then is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently to achieve the project objectives. Kerzner (2006) It is a strategic competency for organizations, enabling them to tie project results to business goals thus better compete in their markets. Project management processes fall into five groups that is, initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing.

Project management has achieved almost universal recognition as the most effective way to ensure the success of large, complex and multidisciplinary tasks. The success of project management is based on the simple concept that planning, resource allocation, and the direction and control of a single time and budget is done by sole authority. This single point authority and responsibility constitutes the greatest strengths as well as weaknesses of project management. The pressures for the completion of an often almost impossible task must of necessity be focused on how effectively the project manager carries out his or her job. http://www.project-management-software.org/

Projects are separate to business-as-usual activities, requiring people to come together temporarily to focus on specific project objectives. As a result, effective teamwork is central to successful projects. Project management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work to achieve objectives. The way the work is managed depends upon a wide variety of factors. A good distinguishing factor is often to look at the nature of the objectives.Objectives may be expressed in terms of outputs, outcomes, benefits or strategic objectives. Investment in effective project management will have a number of benefits to both the host organisation and the people involved in delivering the project. It will provide a greater likelihood of achieving the desired result; ensure efficient and best value use of resources and satisfy the differing needs of the project’s stakeholders.

A project is an instrument through which plans and programs are implimented. Relating to project management it gives the project manager to work with the project sponsor, stakeholders and beneficiaries thus it gives a leeway to plan and impliment projects for the benefit of the community. The project manager lists all activities or tasks, how the tasks are related, how long each task will take and how each tasks is tied to a specific deadline. At this phase on project management it also gives a scope to the project manager to list of project deliverables and the outcome of a specific set of activities. A project is also of paramount importance in that it helps in the management of projects by project activities which will be used by the project managers in the management process. So the role of a project is to provide the activities thus it then allows the project manager to define relationships between tasks as well so that, for example, if one task is x number of days late, the project tasks related to it will also reflect a comparable delay. Likewise, the project manager can set milestones dates by which important aspects of the project need to be met.

Moreso, a project provides with a budget this helps the project manager to identify how many people often referred to as resources and how much expense or cost is involved in the project, as well as any other requirements that are necessary for completing the project. The project manager will also need to manage assumptions and risks related to the project. The project manager will also want to identify project constraints. Constraints typically relate to schedule, resources, budget, and scope. A change in one constraint will typically affect the other constraints. For example, a budget constraint may affect the number of people who can work on the project, thereby imposing a resource constraint. Rossi (1998) Likewise, if additional features are added as part of project scope that could affect scheduling, resources, and budget.

Gittinger (1982) argues that projects are the cutting edge of development. To many scholars of development as well as practitioners, this means that development is primarily achieved through the execution of projects and programmes. In trying to achieve development at their specific levels, communities, organizations, regions and nations undertake projects and programmes of various kinds and scale. In defining ‘development’ Todaro (2003), states that the process of development “should be perceived as a multi-dimensional process involving the reorganization and reorientation of entire economic and social systems”. It is therefore not just about economic growth but also more importantly about people’s lives. Therefore, projects pave a way for development and this helps in the management of projects to plan and organise resouces for the project and to ensure that it is people driven and also benefits a community at large.

Projects also get into existence when there is need to compliment other investments such as providing rail and port links to a mining project. Kezner (2006) Project ideas also emanate from abroad as a result of investment proposals by multinational firms.The influence of investment strategies adopted by other developing countries. Projects also create opportunities created by international agreements to improve the welfare of people or even the infrastructure thereby alleviating poverty through the initiation of project which will be eventually be supervised and guided by project managers thus enabling them to manage the projects.

Projects are also an economic way of allocating resources. This helps in the management projects on how to allocate resources and how much budget he or she has to work with for the project. The project manager then assigns those resources and allocates budget to various tasks in the project. Now the work of the project begins and this is called the execution of projects in the management of projects. The rationale of any management system is to achieve results in the most effective manner in terms of efficient use of material, financial and human resources.  The assumption here is that the key considerations in project planning and execution are effective, economic and efficient.  This is illustrated in process of project management in that it involves taking responsibility in decision making, controlling and supervising personnel and other resources. Project management ensures systematic co-ordination and integration of tasks and procedures for better control and productivity. Arizona (2000) It then defines specific output in terms of quality, quantity and time frame and involves management techniques and tools including work breakdown structures and scheduling.

Projects assist in the project management processes in that it gives or provides project requirements such as scope, budget and timelines. Details of a project are generally unknown at the beginning, so part of project management is estimating what activities and tasks are needed in order to execute the project. The scope is made up of these various activities and tasks and ultimately produces the actual item that you will deliver. The project scope will also help in determining the time and budget needed to finish the project. A good way to begin building a project scope is to simply start writing down what you think is needed to complete the task. Consultation with others to gain a comprehensive view of all activities to include is needed. Depending on the budget and the schedule, the resources are then allocated to the project. This phase is the most important phase when it comes to project cost and effort. Project management is a responsible process and connects all other project activities together and creates the harmony in the project.

Once an initial scope is established, assigning time to each activity and task will begin. During this time there is also need to look at the projects bigger picture. Can some activities happen at the same time or will each activity or task have to happen sequentially.  Also, paying close attention to how many people will need to review the project activities as this can affect the time it will take to complete a step. After calculating the time it will take to complete the cumulative activities and tasks, you can create a project schedule for the project team to follow.

Much like calculating time for a project, you will often have to consult others, including department leads to generate an accurate budget. The budget will be comprised of multiple considerations including, people and materials that are affected by what activities or tasks they are performing (scope) and how long they will be needed (time) to complete them.This involves the planning, organising, directing, co-ordinating and controlling of resources in order to achieve specific goals and objectives. (Kerzner, 1983) It is also the application of the systems approach to the management of complex project activities whose objectives are explicitly stated in terms of time, cost and performance parameters (Cleland and King 1983).The term project management mean “getting things done with and through people.”Charvat (2003) So for this to be fulfilled it is the role of the project provides the scope for things to be done through people and latter it will be supervised by project managers thus the management of projects. 

In conclusion, projects play a pivotal role in the management of projects by providing with activities, mobilising funds, acting as a development aspect and way of allocating resource to people. While Project management, by itself is a discipline that can apply to any project intended to deliver solutions for any purpose, it is often tailored to accommodate the specific and repeatable needs of different and highly specialized industries. For each type of project management, project managers develop and utilize repeatable templates that are specific to the industry they're dealing with. This allows project plans to become very thorough and highly repeatable, with the specific intent to increase quality, lower delivery costs, and lower time to deliver project results. As a resullt this makes the roles of project very important in the management of project by the project managers.

Types of project management organizational designs. (By Tariro Gwete and Tapiwa M Gudza)

There are three primary project management organizational designs that have become the foundation for how an organization is run which are the functional, matrix, and pure project. Each structure has disadvantages and advantages, if used correctly in the right environment, the type of a particular design can further the completion of projects. An organizational structure can help or hinder project success and some organizational structures can impair the ability to deliver projects. Some organizational structures may also impede the ability to share resources and impair the workers ability to deliver projects. However, these project designs can still work well if the project managers understand them correctly and when good communication exists. Choosing the correct organizational structure for each project is imperative for the success of that project. Organizations must compare and contrast all choices to pick the best one suited for their particular project.

Functional type

A functional organizational design is a structure that consists of activities such as coordination, supervision and task allocation. Tait (2010) The organizational structure determines how the organization performs or operates. The term organizational structure refers to how the people in an organization are grouped and to whom they report. One traditional way of organizing people is by function, the functional organizational structure groups people by typical broad business activities based on role such as marketing, finance, human resources and production then further subdivides as necessary which results in a vertical, hierarchical structure. The project teams are formed within functional units and nobody is responsible for the entire project. Leadership also occurs within functional units and it belongs to technical experts. Burke (2000) The functional structure offers a number of potential advantages as well as disadvantages.

Advantages

A functional structure has several commonly-recognized advantages for the company and its managers.  Firstly, the natural division of labor associated with the formation and maintenance of functional groups allows the members of each group to become more specialized and productive and creates opportunities for them to continuously learn and improve through their interactions with other group members.  Secondly, since the members of each functional group are brought together and linked by their common skills, education and training, it is easier for them to supervise one another and control the activities and behavior of all of the members of the group. Thirdly, the consistent interaction and collaboration among group members ultimately leads to a team orientation that makes the group more effective in tackling and completing the projects assigned by the senior managers overseeing all of the functional groups. Bobera (2008) There is also high efficiency and productivity since a worker who is an expert in his functional area can perform tasks with a high level of speed thus enhancing efficiency and productivity. The career paths within the functional unit are clear, the employees may be highly motivated to advance their careers which may also make them more productive. Finally, the functional structure facilitates segregation of company assets and resources into the areas that are most important for the company’s success and thus makes it easier for senior management to identify, manage and control resource deployment during a time when the company is growing rapidly and adding new resources quickly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_management

Disadvantages

While specialized units within the functional structure often perform with a high level of efficiency, they may have difficulty working well with other units thus lack of team work. If a project calls for several units to work together, units may become territorial and unwilling to cooperate with each other. In essence, each unit may act in what it perceives to be its own best interests instead of those of the organization as a whole. Infighting may cause projects to fall behind schedule. Bobera (2008) Another potential disadvantage of the functional organization structure is that it can pose a challenge for top management to maintain control as the organization expands. As organizations get larger and top management needs to delegate more decision-making responsibilities to each functional area, the degree of autonomy may also increase, making coordination of activities more difficult. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_management If the company expands into new geographic areas, maintaining control of and managing the separate functions can be even more of a challenge.

The functional structure does ultimately lead to several serious potential problems. As the company creates more functional groups, and each of those groups expands and develops it own unique hierarchy and system of interaction among members of the group, the chances of communication problems between groups increases substantially. Kezner (2006) Not surprisingly, each functional group begins to develop its own orientation toward how the activities of the entire company should be prioritized and these will often conflict with the views of other departments that depend on the group for cooperation and resources. Also as the company grows and creates new functional groups and adds new products and services it becomes more difficult for senior management to identify and measure the contribution that each employee and functional group is making to the necessary activities of the company and the pursuit of the strategic goals and objectives set by the company leadership. These measurement problems ultimately lead to poor decisions about the portfolio of company products and services unless steps are taken to collect and properly evaluate all the information necessary to determine how and where the company’s limited resources can be effectively deployed. The expansion of the functional-based structure ultimately becomes a burdensome distraction on senior management that diverts their attention from important strategic issues that impact the entire company. Tait (2010)

Also specialization leads to operational efficiencies where employees become specialists within their own realm of expertise. The most typical problem with a functional organizational structure is however that communication within the company can be rather rigid, making the organization slow and inflexible. Therefore, lateral communications between functions become very important, so that information is disseminated, not only vertically, but also horizontally within the organization. Burke (2000) Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks and this leads to operational efficiencies within that group. However, it could also lead to a lack of communication between the functional groups within an organization, making the organization slow and inflexible.

Communication in organizations with functional organizational structures can be rigid because of the standardized ways of operation and the high degree of formalization. Bobera (2008) This can further make the decision-making process slow and inflexible. Even though functional units often perform with a high level of efficiency, their level of cooperation with each other is sometimes compromised. Such groups may have difficulty working well with each other as they may be territorial and unwilling to cooperate. The occurrence of infighting among units may cause delays, reduced commitment due to competing interests, and wasted time, making projects fall behind schedule. This ultimately can bring down production levels overall, and the company-wide employee commitment toward meeting organizational goals.

Pure project

A pure project organization is a model of a business where project managers have total control over the project they oversee. Galbraith (2012) In addition to that Galbraith (2012) is of the view that pure project organization might also be termed a task force. In the case of a "pure project," the leader of this task force would have to be given total authority for a limited period to solve a particular problem. The project-based model of organizing is widespread in traditional manufacturing industry but also employed in other industries by both public and private organizations such as consultancy firms, marketing and film industry. It is especially suitable for complex, innovative high-technology and high-value new-product development and business-to-business projects in rapidly changing environments. In pure project organization approach the structures, strategies, resources and capabilities are organized around the needs of the project often cutting across conventional industries and firm boundaries. The project, therefore, is the primary business mechanism for coordination integrating the key business functions such as manufacturing and marketing. In the pure project-based organization no other types of organizing exists. Hobday (2000)

Advantages

In pure project organization approach project managers are usually very high in the hierarchy having direct control over business functions, personnel and project resources. For larger projects this way of organizing is effective and efficient, but for smaller projects it is often expensive to operate. This is because there is a varying need for specific resources throughout the project and with smaller projects this variation, for example a work-load of an individual, is harder to even out. In addition the input of human resources or accounting department may be needed for a shorter period or part-time only. Employing persons full-time to accomplish these tasks would be waste of resources. Hobday (2000) and Mantel (2001)

The project manager is fully responsible and authorized for the project. Although he has to report senior management of the home organization about the advancement of project realization, the complete labor is allocated to the project. As the authority is centralized, the possibility of fast decision-making is increased. In this way, the organization is enabled to react fast on the demands of clients or top management.The pure project organization is structurally simple and flexible; it enables its relatively simple application and understanding.  The project manager has full authority over the project and team members report to one boss. Lines of communication are therefore shortened thus decisions are made quickly and team pride, motivation and commitment are high. http://www.scribd.com/doc/27605941/Pure-Project-Organization

Disadvantages

A problem in project-based organizing is that it may lead to limited technological depth of the project. This is a result of few employed specialists who may lack a certain expertise or specific knowledge which would be needed to complete a task. In situations like this it may be necessary to hire a consultant outside the project. Another drawback is the so called “projectities”, the typical project related challenges, which appear especially in long-lasting projects. People assigned to a specific project tend to get strongly attached to it, fear the day the project is ending, and thus may slow down the pace of working. Eventually "projectities" may lead to a situation where the control is lost, systems vary from project to another, and the project begins to take on a life of its own. Hobday (2000) and Mantel (2001)

This type of the organizational structure has a tendency to support the holistic approach to the project. Mantel (2001) The tendency of focusing and optimization of project segments, relating to the whole project, can often result in technical errors in the project. Intial operating costs may be high considerable time before projects completed. Also a sense of competition develops between various project teams and project team members may not have long term commitment. This type of project design might also lead to duplication of resources and organizational goals and policies are ignored.  This type of design may lack new technology transfer due to weakened functional divisions.Hobday (2000)

Matrix type

The matrix project attempts to blend properties of functional and pure project structure. The matrix project design superimposes a horizontal set of divisions and reporting relationships onto a hierarchical functional structure. Field and Keller (1998) Matrix project organization was formed in attempt to capture the advantages and tackle the disadvantages related to the approaches of pure project and functionally organized project. It is a combination of these two approaches, where pure project is superimposed to a functionally organized system. Project manager reports to program manager who is responsible for coordinating the activities of specific or all projects, as well as balancing time, cost and performance between a bunch of projects run simultaneously within the parent organization. Mantel (2001) In this type of organizing two distinct levels of responsibility exists. The vertical functional hierarchy consisting of departments such as manufacturing and finance exists alongside with the horizontal structures formed by the projects that overlay the functional departments. These projects have some access to functional departments’ resources. Project manager controls when and what the team members do while the head of the functional group controls who is assigned to the project and which technology is the most appropriate to be used. Mantel (2001)

Advantages

The matrix structure also has significant advantages that make it valuable for companies to use. The matrix structure improves upon the “silo” critique of functional management in that it diminishes the vertical structure of functional and creates a more horizontal structure which allows the spread of information across task boundaries to happen much quicker. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matrix Moreover matrix structure allows for specialization that can increase depth of knowledge and allows individuals to be chosen according to project needs. This correlation between individuals and project needs is what produces the concept of maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

The main advantage of the matrix based organization is the efficient allocation of all resources, especially scarce specialty skills that cannot be fully utilized by only one project. For instance, monitoring and evaluation specialists may not be utilized full-time on a project but can be fully leveraged by working on multiple projects. The matrix based organization is also the most flexible when dealing with changing programmatic needs and priorities. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matrixAdditional advantages to matrix management are: it allows team members to share information more readily across the unit boundaries, allows for specialization that can increase depth of knowledge and allow professional development and career progression to be managed. It is easier for a program unit manager to loan an employee to another manager without making the change permanent. It is therefore easier to accomplish work objectives in an environment when task loads are shifting rapidly between programmatic units. Field and Keller (1998)

A matrix organization handles number of projects simultaneously. As the approach is project oriented, details of the resources required are calculated accurately. Resources are transferable from one project to another. The matrix design helps self development and growth since it exposes the employees to job rotation and to complex situation and challenges.  In a matrix organizational structure, the project team can accommodate project changes rapidly and with excellent integration into the overall work. If the changes require revisions in design or in completed work, the project manager can make the appropriate decisions with his team based on his proximity to the work and their advice. If the changes include revised manpower, the matrix organization lets the project manager send people who are no longer required back to their home departments while adding to the team new people with corresponding expertise or capabilities matching the changes. This matrix organization flexibility helps produce excellent project outcomes. Barlett and Ghoshal (2010)

Disadvantages

For the most part, matrix organization structure tends to avoid the disadvantages of pure project and functional project, but there are unique problems related to the project matrix organization mainly arising from the split authority and the tension arising at the interfaces of the two competing ways of organizing. Individual specialists have two superiors, often leading to a situation where project manager decides on the tasks undertaken by the specialist, but the reporting is done for the functional manager who evaluates the performance, promotion and salary of the specialist. Consequently, project workers often face conflicting orders and demands on time and activities. Adding to the conflict is the difficulty that the project manager is in charge of the project and its administration, but the functional manager is often higher in organizational hierarchy controlling the technological decisions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_structure

Although the matrix project organization allows flexibility through coordination of all projects, balancing the resources between various projects is a tough work often resulting in political infighting among project managers who instead of viewing the overall benefits of the parent company focus on the benefits of their individual projects. In addition conflicts within the project teams seem to be more common in matrix project organizations. They are mainly caused by the split authority and lack of the clear single point of responsibility, but also appear to be inherent in the transdisciplinary teams. Sherperd (2007) Team members often work part-time for the project, have different functional homes, and other commitments therefore being more commitment to the functional home than to the project. Mantel (2001) 

The matrix structure is difficult to manage and internal operations are complicated. This is due to horizontal and vertical lines of authority. The rule and procedures are not followed uniformly in all departments therefore it becomes difficult to manage. It also creates communication gap, there is communication gap between project manager and functional manager as a result this may lead to confusion. The matrix design also has some complexities in the internal operation and too much shifting of staff from one project to another creates more complications.The problem with this structure is the negative effects of dual authority similar to that of project organisation. The functional managers may lose some of their authority because product managers are given the budgets to purchase internal resources. In a matrix organisation, the product or business group managers and functional managers have somewhat equal power and this causes a very high possibility of conflict and frustration. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matrix

Once an organization finds its organization structure, it will help put them on the road to success. There are three primary project management organizational structures to choose from, which include: functional, matrix, and pure project. Every organizational structure has advantages as well as disadvantages, but choosing the correct structure can help implement a successful project. This is why it is so important to compare and contrast these organizational structures and choosing the correct one to meet all your company’s needs and wants, because choosing the wrong one could end in failure of the project. The functional organization structure is the most common type of project management organizational structure. It works best in small organizations where all the sections are geographically close together and provide a small number of goods and services.The matrix structure is for “project-driven” companies such as construction. It is a combination of both functional and pure projects structures and each team member has two bosses the project manager and functional manager. An organization that has a fewer number of projects but they have a longer duration of time, that is when the pure project is used. After these project management organization structures are compared and a company figures out which structure would be the best method to manage a project team.

Key factors affecting agricultural intensification in Africa.( By Tariro Gwete)

Introduction

During the past four decades, the contribution of agriculture in Africa to production has been declining. Agricultural production grew at slower rate than that of population. This decline in agricultural production has been attributed to severe droughts, low farm prices, labour and capital flow into cities, cheap imports of food and neglected agricultural research. With per capita food production declining, higher commercial food imports and food aid have become necessary.

Hunger has become more wide spread, life expectancy has been declining, food security and access to proper diets have been deteriorating and growing open unemployment has been increasing. Environmental degradation has posed a serious threat to food production and rural livelihoods. There is poor physical condition of institutions, breakdown of judicial systems in a number of countries, poor state of roads and railways, corruption, oppression, tribalism and nepotism are increasingly evident. This is made worse by high transportation costs, inadequate market infrastructure, weak institutions and support services, and inadequate diversification and limited vertical integration,harsh environmental factors, poor infrastructure, insufficient or lack of use of modern inputs and poor crop and animal husbandry,high population pressure, ecological potential and economic factors,low labour intensity,low stocking rates,low land,low application of manure or fertiliser and poor policies to enhance market access,level technological,inputs and skills of the agricultural producers are generally considered as major factors retarding agricultural intensification. (Delgado1998)

Definition of agricultural intensification

Traditionally agricultural intensification has been defined in three ways,increasing yields per hectatre,increasing cropping intensity with two or more crops per unit of land or other inputs such as water and changing land use from low-value crops or commodities tothose that receive higher market prices (Godfrey et.al,2010)

Some have defined it as the cultivation of land where there are very high inputs of labour, fertilisers, pestcides, herbicides, fungicides to obtain the maximum output.

Lack of resource mobilisation

Poor agricultural performance has also been retarded by the lack of potential for resource mobilization and enhancing productivity through use of modern packages. Sustainable options for unraveling this potential lie in a well-concocted African green revolution (AGR). However, farmers will only utilize the modern packages if they know them and if the necessary inputs are available when needed (Elz, 1987).

Lack of markerts

Markets have a role to play in providing input supplies and providing signals about products and crops in which to specialize. Considering the fact that between 50 and 90 percent of the total production comes from small-scale farmers, the performance of smallholder producers is vital. Kenya like other SSA countries, displays the hallmarks of a developing economy. Agriculture still dominates the national economy with most of the output coming from small-scale producers (Odhiambo, 1998). Growth of the sector has deteriorated and this has been attributed partly to an increasing shortage of land suitable for agriculture and cultivation of marginal areas.

Poor agriculture policies

Agricultural policies adopted by a particular country in order to promote agricultural development plays a central role in agricultural change through extension services, development of technologies, subsidies, credit, and access to market (Lele & Stone, 1989).However,in African countries there has been a series of poor policies if not at all that support agricultural intensification.

Lack of research and extension services

Moreover, institutional involvement which equally plays an influential role in facilitating particular paths of agricultural intensification has been lacking  (Carswell, 2000). A s well as extension services that may be provided through formal and informal institutions, and are a key factor in making farmers aware of and enabling them to promote new agricultural technologies has also been lacking hence with holding the development of agriculture in Africa (Thapa & Rattanasuteerakul, 2010; Paudel & Thapa, 2004).  Arex mass employing and training extension workers for two months and deploying them soon after the Fast Track Land Reform

Commercialisation

 Lack of key factors that facilitate agricultural diversity and commercialization has also retarded the agricultural intensification across Africa.There should be a  rapid development of technologies; changes in agricultural production practices, such as improved seeds, chemical fertilizer use, technologies to control weeds and harvesting; improved rural infrastructure; and diversification in food demand patterns that will enhance the productivity of agriculture. (Pingali & Rosegrant, 1995).

Lack of credit and financial systems

Access to credit may enable farmers to adopt more capital intensive methods of production (Hazarika &Alwang, 2003). The development of agriculture may be increased if appropriate institutional systems for marketing farm products, agricultural inputs, credit systems and professional advice are provided (Weitz et al.,1976).Thus, sustainable agricultural intensification can be achieved by improving extension programs (inputs, new technology), credit provision, infrastructural services and the promotion of irrigation facilities. Lack of

effective credit systems has adversely affected agricultural development in this village. Farmers require credit for farm investment, production and for marketing.

References

Boserup, E. (1965). The conditions of agricultural growth: The economics of agrarian change under population pressure. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.

Carswell, G. (2000). Agricultural intensification in Ethiopia and Mali. IDS Report 48. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.

Elz, F. (1989). Peasant Economics. (2nd ed.) (Chapter 5). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

Hazarika, H., & Alwang, J. (2003). Access to Credit, Plot Size and Cost Inefficiency Among Smallholder Tobacco Cultivators in Malawi. Agricultural Economics. 29 (1), 99-109. doi:

Johnson, E. A. J. (1970). The organization of space in developing countries. Harvard University Press.

Lele, U., & Stone, S. W. (1989). Population pressure, the environment and agricultural intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa; variations on the Boserup Hypothesis. Managing Agricultural Development in Africa (MADIA) Study. Washington: World Bank.

Nepal, R., & Thapa, G. B. (2009). Determinants of Agricultural Commercialization and Mechanization in the Hinterland of a City in Nepal. Applied Geography

Pingali. P., Bigot, Y., & Binswanger, H. (1987). Agricultural mechanization and the evolution of farming system

in Sub-Saharan Africa. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Pingali, P. L., & Rosegrant, M. W. (1995). Agricultural Commercialization and Diversification: Processes and Policies. Food Policy.

Thapa, G. B., & Niroula, G. S. (2008). Alternative Options of Land Consolidation in the Mountains of Nepal: An Analysis Based on Stakeholders’ Opinions. Land Use Policy. 25,

Weitz, R., David, P., & Levia, A. (1976). New settlements and employment. Rehovet: Settlement Study Center.