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Procurement, installation, service, maintenance and use of scientific equipment (PRISM)

Country:

Multi-national, Sub-Saharan Africa  Show on interactive map

Active from:

Nov 2007 to Dec 2011

Implementing organisation(s):

International Foundation for Science, IFS Sweden

Donor(s):

MacArthur Foundation, Educational Trust Fund (ETF) in Nigeria

Contact persons:

Ziad Moussa, Cecilia Öman

Website:

PRISM

Summary:

OM was used at the planning, monitoring and evaluation approach for this project implemented by the International Foundation for Science, Sweden.

Objectives of the intervention:

To provide access to well functioning scientific equipment at scientific institutions in Low Income Countries

Why was OM chosen?

OM was chosen to help to realise a demand driven project with national and local ownership and equal partnership. OM was expected to be an approach to PME that would support project management by helping to identify success stories and promote the redesign of the project from lessons learnt.

How was OM used?

Intentional design, monitoring and evaluation

What was the experience of using OM?

Boundary Partner (technicians, researchers, universities and suppliers) meetings are unique opportunities for these disparate groups to discuss the project, review progress and take decisions. OM provided a platform for capturing capabilities of BPs in a structured way and building a shared understanding. Changes to behaviour included suppliers: they opened offices locally to support the project and typically came to the BP meetings prepared with very useful presentations and questions that could then be addressed in the detail necessary. Without their participation as BPs, they would most probably have remained unaware of issues and unresponsive.

PMs can be interpreted differently by different groups and session leaders. Wording has to be very precise / carefully considered. Guidance needs to be given to the person collecting the PM data. We found that local committees were useful for guiding the use of PMs. As a result, PMs have been very useful for comparing across sites. And the differing views of BPs are also informative: BP score their and other's PMs. Self-scores may be higher than that of others. Example: suppliers and technicians had differing views on the work of suppliers. Why? Technicians found that equipment always arrived with parts missing. But suppliers could demonstrate that all parts were sent, hence they scored themselves highly. The reasons parts were going missing could then be explored and addressed at the BP meeting.

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