ABSTRACT
Key players in the development game, both institutional and individual, try to achieve different and sometimes contradictory ends. When agendas differ, project success will rarely receive priority attention. Regional and local governments also want to choose project roles that expand their spheres of influence. Project implementation usually involves assistance from long-and short-term foreign technicians. The foreigners are supposed to work with host-country counterparts, either selected from a central line ministry or hired directly by the project. The pressure on donor agency staff to get projects through the review and approval process results in inadequate attention to implementation problems during project design. Development professionals with little or no management experience or training are often chosen to manage projects. One recommendation is that donors and host countries place more emphasis on the effective implementation of existing projects than on the design of new ones. More attention also should be given to the selection of project managers.
