Despite the vast energy resources available in the ECOWAS region, almost 180 million people have problems of access to electricity, that is, about 60% of the population. The Project Technical Assistance (TA) to ECOWAS for the implementation of the 11th EDF Energy Governance Programme in West Africa (AGoSE-AO), implemented by NTU from 2018 to 2022 (with NTU consultancy contract totalling EUR 8,369,330), aims at providing support to the regional institutions (ECOWAS, UEMOA, ECREEE WAPP, ERERA) in the implementation of activities of AGoSE-AO Programme. The TA has the complex task to coordinate and support regional stakeholders’ activities in this large, multi-country and multi-lingual programme. The partner countries comprise 15 ECOWAS Member States, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
How we are doing it
For NTU to ensure the success of the project, it was important that both the internal project management and the quality control mechanism were installed as early as possible in the project lifetime. In line with the NTU’s ISO 9001 certified Quality Management System, at the Inception Phase of the project, we prepared an integrated Project Management Plan that contained the following:
- Project Organisation Structure: Roles and Responsibilities
- Communication Protocol, including internal and external communication lines
- Work Plan including detailed activity and output schedules
- Staffing Plan including resource utilisation schedules
- Reporting Guidelines
- Project Performance Monitoring Framework
- Quality Plan including Quality Control Procedures
- Risk Management Plan
- Health and Safety Plan
Impact
The Project Management Plan defined in details all administrative systems and processes necessary for the management of programme activities (including mangement of such budget lines as meetings, regional-level events, study tours, awareness raising etc.). This solid project management plan works now as a basis for the effective implementation of all project activities – programme management, technical advice, event management etc.
NTU keeps close control over project scope, timeline, budget utilisation, quality, outcomes and impacts. Being focused on impact, we constantly look for opportunities for increasing the sustainability of the programme’s activities and processes, transferring knowledge to the stakeholders and improving regional coordination in the field of energy governance.
