The International Project Management Association (IPMA) is a federation of 68 member nations, who collaborate to promote the recognition of project management and engage stakeholders around the world in advancing the discipline.

IPMA’s Council of Delegates has discussed during its spring meeting in Lisbon the critical role of good governance for the successful implementation of an organisation´s strategy through projects. It´s the responsibility of the top management to establish principles, policies, appropriate frameworks and culture through which projects, programmes and portfolios help ensure an organisation will meet its business objectives. The governance frameworks should integrate across projects, programmes and portfolios within the respective organization and enable, rather than hinder, the people managing the initiatives.

Good governance of projects, programmes and portfolios should reflect the values and principles of that organisation, facilitate achieving the organisation’s strategic objectives, while complying with constraints set by its governance and taking into account contractual and legal requirements as well as cultural and ethical norms.  Good governance also requires the active stewardship of all of an organisation’s investments.

The achievement of project success and sustainable results therefore requires an active role of the top management. From Lisbon, the member nations of IPMA issue a call to action for leadership around the world to actively support projects, programmes and portfolios by establishing good governance and supporting the people involved in those projects, programmes and portfolios.

IPMA President Reinhard Wagner confirmed IPMA’s stance saying “IPMA itself is a project-oriented organisation and thus performs projects, programmes and portfolios in order to achieve its strategy. We established the role of a ”Chief Project Officer” in our Executive Board (ExBo), who is responsible for the governance of projects, programmes and portfolios. We encourage all leaders to follow this example and apply international standards such as ISO 21505 or IPMA OCB® in order to foster good governance and to be more successful.”

This communique has been released concurrently by all 68 member associations of IPMA.