Built a bespoke PMO platform driving agricultural outcomes across 36 states in Africa's largest economy

Our client is a private-sector alliance formed to transform the maize sector in Africa's largest economy.

Maize is a staple food across much of the continent and a core ingredient in animal feed, so what happens to the crop is felt well beyond the farm gate. Changing a sector like that takes many organisations pulling in the same direction, across a large country.

The alliance runs that effort as one programme: a portfolio of initiatives, led by champions and delivered through workstreams that run in parallel, with a secretariat at the centre holding it together.

A programme of this size stands or falls on its governance: what each initiative has committed to, whether it is on track, and what evidence sits behind each step. The alliance needed one environment to run all of that from, and its static trackers could not hold it.

Static trackers, such as the spreadsheets most programmes start with, cope with a short list of tasks. They struggle when many initiatives move at once, when progress is measured against milestones rather than activity, and when the people with the facts are spread across 36 states instead of sitting at the centre.

Reporting raised the bar again. The programme had to report at three levels: the activity under way, how well initiatives were executing, and the outcomes they were producing. Each level builds on the one below, so a gap in the field data weakens every report above it.

To govern itself well, the programme needed:

• Many initiatives, champions and workstreams tracked side by side
• Progress measured against each initiative's milestones and roadmap
• Field-level data captured across 36 states, not just at the centre
• Reporting on activity, execution and outcomes from the same source

We designed and built the platform around how the programme actually governs itself, from initiative tracking at the centre through to data capture in the states.

At its core is a bespoke project management office (PMO) platform for portfolio governance. We configured it to track every initiative against its milestones and stage gates. A stage gate is a checkpoint: an initiative shows it is ready before it moves into its next phase.

On that base, we added:

• Evidence and approvals linked to each milestone and decision point
• Local data capture for state-level input
• Role-based dashboards for champions and the secretariat

Each one closes a gap the trackers left open. Linked evidence means progress is shown, not just reported: anyone reviewing a decision can see what it rests on and who approved it.

Local capture puts field data in the same system as the centre, instead of gathering it by hand for each report. The dashboards give each role the view it needs, from a single initiative up to the whole portfolio.

A platform only works if people use it. We supported onboarding and user enablement across the alliance, helping champions, the secretariat and state-level users learn to work in it.

The alliance now runs its programme from one environment, from milestones at the centre to data captured in the states.

The states, not just the centre

Tracking and data capture reach 36 states, so the programme sees progress where the work is done.

Every initiative milestone evidenced

All initiative milestones are tracked and evidenced in one place, with approvals attached at each decision point.

Less time on manual reporting

Manual programme status reporting is down by 20%, so less effort goes into assembling updates and more into the work they describe.

For an alliance setting out to transform a whole sector, governance is what turns many separate efforts into one programme. With a platform built around how it works, the alliance can see progress, prove it and report it at every level, from activity to outcomes.