Following extensive deliberations, expert panel sessions, and stakeholder engagements at the National Project Management Conference, attended by professionals, policymakers, development partners, academics, and civil society, the following resolutions were adopted to shape the future of project delivery in Ghana:

10-POINT COMMUNIQUÉ ON TRANSFORMING GHANA THROUGH PROJECT MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE

1. Pass the Project Management Act: We urge the Government of Ghana and Parliament to consider the passage of the proposed Project Management Act. This Act will provide a legal backbone for the project continuity, ensuring that no viable national project is abandoned except by an independent technical audit.

2. Establish the National Project Delivery & Accountability Authority (NPDAA): We endorse the formation of an independent NPDAA to oversee the lifecycle of all public projects and manage a National Project Register accessible to the public. This will ensure transparency, reduce duplications, and improve citizen engagement.

3. Mandate Certified Project Managers for Public Projects: We recommend that all public projects be led by certified project management practitioners to safeguard quality, efficiency, and ethical execution across all sectors.

4. Create a National Project Completion Fund (NPCF) to Enforce a Finish-to-Start Policy: We advocate the creation of a dedicated and ring-fenced National Project Completion Fund to prioritise and finance stalled or abandoned national projects before new ones are initiated. This fund will anchor a Finish-to-Start policy, ensuring that existing projects are completed and deliver value before the initiation of new ones.

5. Adopt the Ghana Integrated Project Management Framework (GIPMF) as a National Standard: Developed by Ghana’s foremost project experts, the GIPMF should be adopted across all sectors as the gold standard for project governance, delivery, sustainability, and monitoring.

6. Institutionalise Earned Value Management (EVM) and Real-Time Public Dashboards: We call for mandatory implementation of Earned Value Management (EVM) and real-time public dashboards on all government projects to improve transparency, performance monitoring, and accountability.

7. Ensure Project Continuity Beyond Political Cycles: The culture of discarding or altering strategic projects with political transitions must end. National projects must be protected from partisanship to preserve Ghana’s development agenda.

8. Integrate GIPMF into Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs): We call for the full integration of the GIPMF into the operational systems of all MDAs and its alignment with the Public Financial Management Act to ensure budget discipline and eliminate cost overruns.

9. Promote Gender Inclusion through the Women in Project Management Framework: We call for the formal adoption and integration of the Women in Project Management Framework, developed in partnership with PMI Ghana, to ensure that at least 30% of project leadership roles in public sector projects are held by qualified and Certified women.

10. Declare Galamsey a National Development Risk and Make It a KPI for DCEs and Police Commanders: We urge government to formally recognise illegal mining (galamsey) as a critical threat to sustainable development, project integrity, and national infrastructure. To this end, we recommend that performance in combating galamsey be adopted as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for all District Chief Executives (DCEs) and Police Commanders in galamsey-prone regions. This strategic accountability measure will ensure that local authorities are directly responsible for preserving environmental assets, protecting public investments, and fostering a culture of enforcement, responsibility, and long-term national value.

We commit to transforming project management into a cornerstone of national development where every cedi spent delivers value, and every project completed becomes a symbol of national pride and trust in governance.

We, the participants of the National Project Management Conference, reaffirm our commitment to these resolutions and call on government, private sector, professional bodies, and development partners to collaborate in advancing a new era of project excellence, value-for-money, and national transformation.

Frank Owusu-Asamoah, PMP, MSc, AH-MC
President
Project Management Institute, Ghana
25th July 2025
Aqua Safari Resort, Big Ada