**5. Discussion**

The objective of this research was not to identify different categories of competencies; previous research has already documented these topics extensively. Rather, it was to empirically examine which of a traditional pool of competencies presented in the literature are correlated with the success of official development assistance projects.

Thus, a first wave of results based on respondents' perception and experience shows that engagement (mean=4.53; SD=0.661), result orientation (mean=4.40; SD=0.618) and conscientiousness (mean=4.36; SD=0.773) are the most important competencies. It is not surprising that "Engagement" comes first. Alvarenga et al. [13] show that "Engagement" was identified by project managers as the second most important competence after "Communication". This is because the lack of engagement of the project team, project coordinators and stakeholders in the project

#### *Project Coordinator Competence and the Success of International Development (ID) Projects… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110058*

(insufficient engagement of the different actors) is one of the reasons why ID projects fail [61]. In addition, "Result orientation" was ranked as the second most important competence; it combines both effectiveness and efficiency, which implies that project coordinators and project team members should constantly strive to achieve project results. Its importance has also been demonstrated in the literature [13, 21, 56]. The other eight competencies in the top ten list are: Conscientiousness, Ability to deal with ambiguity and change, integrity and honesty, Ability to work in a team, Project requirements and objectives, Project knowledge, Leadership and Ability to deal with stress. Most of them relate to the ability of project coordinators to establish personal or social relationships and to act in accordance with their own values, moral and ethical principles. All these competencies, which can be described as "soft" [14, 47], challenge a traditional view that for a long time defended the predominance of socalled "hard", i.e. technical competencies.

Furthermore, the results of the correlational analyses indicate that there is a significant gap between the importance of competencies as perceived by project coordinators and their empirical effects on project success. In contrast to the facts presented earlier, the results show that contextual competencies such as human resource management (Corr=0.611), cultural awareness (Corr=0.568) and competence in the area in which project is implemented (Corr=0.527) most strongly correlate with the success of project. This is because, given the characteristics of ID projects, success factors are highly dependent on the specific environment and cultural diversity of the various actors. Moreover, a project cannot exist without a symbiosis between the project leaders and the host communities [62]. Similarly, strict adherence to the requirements of human resource management aspects including recruitment, selection, training, performance assessment and motivation is unequivocally essential to the success of development projects. However, our results contrast with those of Nahod and Radujković [63] who found that behavioral competencies are the most important, followed by technical competencies and finally contextual competencies. In addition, ambition (Corr=0.520), the ability to mobilize the mental and emotional energy of his project team members (Corr=0.518), openness (Corr=0.517), the ability to work in a team (Corr=0.477), conscientiousness (Corr=0.468), the ability to motivate project team members (Corr=0.467), and integrity and honesty (Corr=0.464), round out the list of the top ten competencies that have a strong correlation with the success of international aid projects. These are actually interpersonal, human and social competencies [14, 21, 64]. The predominance of these competencies in the context of international development projects is justified by the complexity and uncertainty of the environment, characterized by the complex relationships between a multitude of stakeholders, difficult working conditions and difficulties related to participation and exchanges with local populations. However, so-called "hard" competencies, also known as technical competencies [47], are on the list of competencies correlated with successful development projects. Despite the current focus on soft competencies [65], given the highly transactional and codified nature of international project management, project coordinators are still expected to have technical competencies and demonstrate strong technical expertise [66]. They need to be technically and socially competent and creative to achieve their goals in changing environments [46]. Finally, "leadership (Corr=0,294)" is the last of the 33 competencies positively and significantly correlated with the success of international projects. Moreover, of the 46 competencies identified in this study, thirteen (13) has no correlation with the success of international development projects. These are: Political sensitivity (Corr=0,286), Ability to negotiate (Corr=0,283), Delegating Authority (Corr=0,283), Creativity

(Corr=0,267), Project orientation (Corr=0,259), Information and documentation (Corr=0,257), self-image (Corr=0,247), Having successfully managed projects in the past (Corr=0,245), Result orientation (Corr=0,194), Ability to deal with stress (Corr=0,164), Planning and organizing (Corr=0,156), Ability to deal with ambiguity and change (Corr=0,087), and Engagement (Corr=0,051). Within this set, behavioral, technical and contextual competencies are included.

Furthermore, it is surprising to find that "Engagement (mean=4.53; SD=0.661)", which occupies the first place of the competences considered important by the respondents, is neither correlated (Corr=0.051) with the success of the projects (aggregated form) nor with its dimensions (management, impact, visibility). The same applies to Project orientation, Planning and Organizing, Ability to deal with ambiguity and change and Ability to deal with stress. Yet, the importance of these competencies has been confirmed in several studies [13, 63]. These findings show that there is a gap between the actors' perception of the importance of competencies and their actual effects on the success of projects.
