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Contingency Planning and Project Reserve Management

Contingency is one of the most argued over and least understood parts of a project budget, and in African projects it is often either raided early or hoarded needlessly. This course explains how to size, allocate and govern both contingency and management reserves. Delegates learn to base reserves on real risk exposure rather than a round percentage.

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What you will be able to do

  • Distinguish contingency reserve from management reserve and use each correctly.
  • Size contingency from the assessed risk exposure rather than a flat percentage.
  • Apply quantitative techniques to estimate reserve levels for time and cost.
  • Set governance rules for who can draw down reserves and on what basis.
  • Track reserve consumption against risk retirement over the project life.
  • Report reserve status honestly so sponsors trust the numbers.

Course outline

  1. 01Reserves, contingency and risk exposure
  2. 02Sizing contingency from risk
  3. 03Quantitative reserve estimation
  4. 04Governance and drawdown rules
  5. 05Tracking reserve consumption
  6. 06Reporting reserve status to sponsors

Who should attend

Project managers, cost engineers, project controls staff, sponsors and finance partners involved in project budgeting.

Dates, venues and fees

DatesVenueDaysFeeCalendarRegister
29 to 30 Sep 2026Johannesburg2R10,000Register
30 Sep to 1 Oct 2026Cape Town2R10,000Register
1 to 2 Oct 2026Durban2R10,000Register
5 to 6 Oct 2026Pretoria2R10,000Register
6 to 7 Oct 2026Windhoek2US$1,100Register
7 to 8 Oct 2026Gaborone2US$1,100Register
8 to 9 Oct 2026Maseru2US$1,100Register
12 to 13 Oct 2026Mbabane2US$1,100Register
13 to 14 Oct 2026Lusaka2US$1,100Register
14 to 15 Oct 2026Harare2US$1,100Register
15 to 16 Oct 2026Lilongwe2US$1,100Register
19 to 20 Oct 2026Blantyre2US$1,100Register
20 to 21 Oct 2026Mozambique2US$1,100Register
21 to 22 Oct 2026Nairobi2US$1,100Register
22 to 23 Oct 2026Dar es Salaam2US$1,100Register
26 to 27 Oct 2026Kigali2US$1,100Register
27 to 28 Oct 2026Kampala2US$1,100Register
28 to 29 Oct 2026Accra2US$1,100Register
29 to 30 Oct 2026Lagos2US$1,100Register
2 to 3 Nov 2026Cairo2US$1,100Register
3 to 4 Nov 2026Mauritius2US$1,100Register
4 to 5 Nov 2026Dubai2US$1,100Register
5 to 6 Nov 2026Online2US$900Register

Fees are per delegate. South African venues are priced in rand; other locations and online in US dollars. Fees exclude 15% VAT where applicable. Group bookings of three or more delegates from the same organisation qualify for a reduced rate; contact us for a quotation.

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Next session
19 to 21 Oct 2026
Venue
Johannesburg
3 day programme
FromR13,000
See all Project Management courses