ICT for development: Evolving the WhatsApp project management office in Shomolu

Abstract

This postgraduate-level teaching case explores the complexities of informal project governance in a digitally connected agricultural cooperative in Shomolu, Lagos, Nigeria. At the centre is Mrs. Doyin Adebajo, a seasoned poultry farmer and cooperative lead who coordinates a growing cluster of smallholder producers through WhatsApp. Without formal project management tools or institutional structures, the group relies on real-time messaging, interpersonal trust, and tacit routines to execute shared projects such as livestock health interventions and school feeding contracts. As the group expands across value chains and localities, the limitations of informal coordination become increasingly evident. A crisis involving a delayed veterinary response triggers reflection on the group’s accountability structures, timing failures, and governance capacity. Doyin must decide whether to formalise the WhatsApp PMO into a cooperative-led project structure with defined roles and escalation mechanisms and how, or to preserve its flexible and inclusive format despite growing inefficiencies.