ID: 1480
Presenting Author: Lincoln Nwani
Session: 749 - Engaging Indigenous Nations for Inclusive Impact Assessments and Misinformation Response
Status: pending
Developing a robust Framework for moderating the adverse influence of Vested Interest is certainly a pathway for propelling the success of community-based projects and development in Africa.
Vested Interest (VI) remains one of the leading factors hindering the success of community-based projects (CBP) in Africa (Lester 2021). While some stakeholders have a genuine interest in developing the community, others' goals, such as political power, resource control, or wealth accumulation, continues to trigger conflict, corruption, and failure of projects to achieve the desired needs of the community. Using a mix approaches of desk research (i.e, analysis of the literature and collection of secondary data), and interview of 100 key stakeholders (i.e, community leaders government officials, CSOs, community members, and project sponsors) on projects executed in Nigeria covering the last five years of 2020 – 2024, this Paper provided new insights on the anatomy of "vested interest" and developed a framework for Moderating it’s influence on Community Based Projects. Apart from creating the VI Moderating Framework, the study provides empirical understanding on the torch points where VI manifests within CBP ecosystem, and outlined an initial blueprint for codifying the suggested measures for minimizing the negative impacts of vested interests on community-based projects. The measures include prioritizing inclusive stakeholder engagement and transparent decision-making by identifying all potential stakeholders; facilitating open communication, and ensuring their diverse needs are considered; foster community ownership through participation; establishing strong governance and accountability mechanisms; and incorporating local customs.
Lincoln Nwani is a strategic Business Manager with over 15 years consulting experience in driving business growth across industries, improving operational efficiency, and stakeholder management.