Furthering the use and scope of the Project Implementation Profile (PIP): Critical success factors for small scale livestock production foreign aid projects

Success factors have been extensively studied in the field of project management. The PIP (Project Implementation Profile), designed by Pinto & Slevin, is often used as an assessment method enabling project managers to identify critical success factors either at the beginning or at the end of projects. The PIP has been used mainly in the fields of construction and hi-tech development. Recently, adaptations of the PIP have been tested in other fields including foreign aid projects. The aim of this paper is to study the applicability of the PIP in the case of a small scale livestock production project conducted in a rural area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A case study approach was used to assess the relative importance of each of the criteria outlined by Pinto & Slevin and to identify dimensions specific to the field of foreign aid projects which were not considered in the PIP. Results indicated that the PIP by itself does not take into account all the factors which are critical to achieve success in this field. Two essential dimensions must be added to encompass all the critical success factors: 1) the benevolent nature of many foreign aid projects which precludes in part formalization within a strict contractual approach; 2) the added risk factors which must be controlled when dealing with livestock production and human well-being as outputs. An adapted version of the PIP is proposed with the aim of generalizing its use both as an assessment tool and as a foreign aid project design framework.