The strength of a project lies in its human relationships

Philip Goodwin, CEO at international development organisation VSO, argues that the success of complex social change projects relies on putting people first.

In international development, planning for complex risks is par for the course, and so building resilience into projects is essential. Our goal is to deliver profound social change and to improve the lives of people living in poverty. This brings project management challenges: accounting for the complex reality of people’s lives, engaging a tangled web of stakeholders and mitigating disruptions from drought to conflict. The lesson I’d like to share is this: the resilience of a project lies in the relationships of its people.

One of our recent projects aims to transform the quality of teaching in Rwanda’s 4,000 schools. Engaging nearly 42,000 teachers and more than four million children, Building Learning Foundations, funded by the UK government, is a partnership between the Rwandan education authorities and three delivery NGOs, including VSO.

As well as rolling out improved learning materials for pupils and building the competency of teachers, we’ve focused on overhauling school leadership and strengthening management systems. This is a programme entailing significant cultural change, as well as a massive logistical operation.

Relationships of trust and confidence are critical at all levels, from those on the front line through to high-level relationships with our funders. This has meant a significant investment in the large networks of people delivering the project, promoting excellent communication between them and a ‘people first’ approach to project management.

What does this mean in practice? To give one example, rather than relying on ‘cascade’ training models to deliver quick fixes at scale, we deploy a network of around 250 expert volunteers who visit each school monthly to ensure continual review and adaptation of the project, with additional technical support from a central team. We work very deliberately to instil values such as reflection, collaboration, accountability and a willingness to learn. It’s an approach to project management that emphasises the relationships that deliver change above all else.

This way of working also builds buy-in and pride at all levels. People feel valued, listened to and personally committed. You may think such engagement and motivation come naturally in the charity sector. It’s true that charities attract passionate people, but translating that into a highly effective project management team delivering complex social change is another matter. Fostering a people-centred approach is what, in my experience, leads to sustainable, resilient success.

In Rwanda, putting relationships first has paid dividends. Our data shows significant jumps in teaching quality and confidence in school management. The proportion of English teachers meeting our standards has jumped from 12 per cent to 63 percent, while in mathematics it has grown from 22per cent to 89 per cent. These are changes that will tackle Rwanda’s high drop-out rate between primary and secondary education. The project has overcome significant challenges, such as supporting teachers through a switch to English-language teaching (from French).

To return to resilience, it’s the personal relationships at all levels of the project that have allowed us to rapidly adapt in the face of school shutdowns. As we’ve all learnt through the COVID-19 pandemic, effective remote working relies on human rapport; in this case, the project would have been significantly held up had those relationships not been strong going into the crisis. More significantly, our volunteer network is used to working with teachers and school leaders to innovate, test, review and learn, and our funders have the confidence to let us do that. We’ve now pivoted to support remote and home learning – a real achievement in Rwanda.

When delivering any complex change, leaders should remember that successful, sustainable and resilient projects are those that put strong relationships at their heart.

Learn more about volunteering with VSO at vsointernational.org/volunteering/professional