Risk Management in Community Development Projects: An Analysis of Non-Governmental Organizations in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

Abstract

This article presents a case study on risk management in community development projects implemented by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the province of Cabo Delgado. The overall objective is to analyze the risk-management practices adopted by NGOs operating in the region, identify the main existing gaps, systematize good practices, and propose a risk-management model adapted to the local context, capable of strengthening the effectiveness, resilience, and sustainability of humanitarian and development interventions. The study follows a qualitative, exploratory research design based on documentary analysis of secondary sources peer-reviewed literature, institutional reports, and humanitarian situation updates published mainly between 2017 and 2025 examined through the theoretical lens of the Project Management Institute (PMI), specifically the five PMBOK process groups, used as an analytical matrix to systematize risk-management activities across the project life cycle. As a desk-based documentary study, the sample corresponds to a purposive corpus of secondary sources meeting explicit inclusion criteria, and the data-collection instrument was a structured documentary-review protocol operationalized as a deductive coding matrix aligned to the five PMI process groups, used to extract and classify risk-related activities reported across the corpus. Expected results include a situational diagnosis of the operational and financial vulnerabilities of NGOs, the development of context-adapted tools, the strengthening of local technical capacities, the elaboration of a replicable risk-management model, and the dissemination of good practices among stakeholders. The study concludes that risk management must be incorporated as a central, rather than peripheral, element of decision-making for NGOs operating in environments of high complexity.