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The purpose of this paper is to understand and identify the nature of evaluation criteria, levels and associations among levels of project success in development projects by NGOs in Sri Lanka.

The setting for this study is Sri Lanka, a country currently recovering from civil war and natural disasters and host to a large number of national and international NGOs involved in development projects. Data collection was conducted using a quantitative survey which obtained 447 responses. Multivariate analysis of data was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The study confirmed that overall project success in NGOs could be assessed in three levels: project management (PM) success, project success and NGO success. The results conclude that there are strong associations among the three levels of project success; moreover, PM success and project success are indispensable for achieving NGO success.

This study extends existing research to confirm the presence of the three levels of project success and the interconnections among them. These findings can support subsequent research on development projects and also support the design of holistic evaluation tools to support project practices in NGOs.

The aim of this study is to examine the configuration of project resources in organizations operating in a post-conflict country environment using a Resource-Based View (RBV) perspective.

Data collection was undertaken using a quantitative survey study of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in development projects in Sri Lanka, which obtained 445 responses. An Exploratory Factor Analysis and subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed to identify and confirm the Project Management (PM) resource profile composition of these organizations.

The study identified resource profiles incorporated items at the team, organizational and collaborative social resource levels and did not differ significantly by organization type. This suggests that the current focus of PM RBV research that implicitly uses a competitive advantage derived framework may need to be adapted for contexts such as post-conflict environments.

For organizations seeking to deliver projects in developing countries, the findings indicate that relational capacity in the form of a collaborative social resource may be required to adapt team and organizational resources to post-conflict environments.

The lessons learnt from NGOs can be of value to other organisations seeking to operate in post-conflict environments. The findings from this research reveal that organizations in Sri Lanka establish resource profiles that meet domestic and external requirements. For the management of these organizations, recognition of the inherent contradictions of this strategy can enable the optimization of resource profiles, improving organizational efficiencies.

The study has used insights from NGOs involved in international and local development projects to extend current knowledge of PM resources. While NGOs are distinctive, the critical PM resources identified here may be of value to private and public organizations seeking to develop project resource profiles adapted to emerging markets.