PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT (GE 346)

Topic 1: Development and development projects

What is a project?

 A project is a series of activities aimed at bringing about clearly specified objectives within a defined time/period and with a defined budget.

 Development projects are a way of clearly defining and managing investments and change processes.

 Features of development projects

o   They should have a clear start and end.

o   It should be a temporal institution or organization.

o   Compared to a programme it can be an individual objective management unit.

o   It comprises of complex tasks which always require a multidisciplinary team.

o   Within a project some features are given more priority than others due to limited resources.

o   They are always affected by time and costs

o   They should have clear objectives 

o   Clearly identified stakeholders, including the primary target group and the final beneficiaries

o   Clearly defined coordination, management and financing arrangements

o   A monitoring and evaluation system (to support performance management); and

o   An appropriate level of financial and economic analysis, which indicates that the project’s benefits will exceed its costs

 Why do we need the project approach

o   The presence of many professionals in project planning and management.

o   The problems today are becoming more complex hence the need for a multidisciplinary approach in development intervention.

o   There are so many uncertainties in the road to development

o   Today we have more specialists than fewer generalists

o   It has been recognised that different regions have different problems and potentials; therefore there need to establish projects in different localities.

 The relationship between policies, programmes and Projects

PLAN

NATIONAL OR SECTOR POLICIES

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES

PROJECTS

 Differences between projects and programmes

o   Programmes are long lasting while projects are short time organizations or institutions

o   A programme has many repetitive tasks while a project has a one time task

o   Programmes are large scale, they cover big geographical regions while projects are location specific

o   Most of the programmes use the top down approach while projects are dynamic and strategic in approach.

 Similarities between programmes and projects

o   They are both goal oriented, at the end of the day they intend to achieve certain goals

o   They are formulated within the government policy framework at national and global level. They both aim at implementing the national policy.

 Advantages of project approach in development intervention

o   Projects are goal focused and goal oriented, they can therefore lead to the achievement of policy goals

o   They are more specific and efficient organisations.

o   They are more flexible compared to programmes. They can accept some changes.

o   They are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in nature

 Disadvantages of the projects

o   They are normally affected by financial problems since they require large funds for effective implementation

o   Most of them depend on external funds.

o   They are donor dependent. They are therefore affected by the interests of the outsiders. The funds are provided with conditions.

o   Inadequate local ownership of projects, with negative implications for sustainability of benefits;

o   Corruption to most of projects.

 The project hierarchy

Effects: These are tangible outputs, they can easily be seen.

Impacts: Come after a long time and are not tangible not easily seen.

 Types of projects:

o   Development projects can vary significantly in their objectives, scope and scale. Smaller projects might involve modest financial resources and last only a few months, whereas a large project might involve many millions of Euro and last for many years.

o   In terms of objectives and design we have. Blue print or close projects and Adaptive projects.

§  Blue print projects

·        These are normally designed in advance. Most of them involve engineering projects. These can be designed without any modification during the implementation. Examples include Road construction projects, and house construction projects

·        They are concerned with what was designed before in the office. No any change that can be done in the field.

·        With these projects people are just receptors of the projects. The planners are not interested with the project beneficiaries. There is little or no local community participation in the planning of these projects.

·        Planners give less priority to the acceptability of the projects to the project beneficiaries. They are less interested in whether the project will be accepted or not.

Adaptive projects (People based)

·        Different from blue print projects they are more people centred and involve a slow process in their planning and implementation.

·        They are concerned with changing people adaptation, solving the local communities’ problems. Sometimes they are called social projects.

·        Before starting the project you need to undertake a baseline survey so as to the social economic opportunities and constraints of the local community.

THE INDICATORS OF A GOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

·        The technical description of the project: Look at the project proposal. An expert should be able to tell whether that project is good or not. There is need to have a good technical description of the project.

·        It should be able to fit exactly in the content of the implementing organization.

·        It should be clearly linked to the country’s policy frontiers and development plans.

·        A good project should ensure active participation and influence of the Stakeholders in planning and implementation

·        It should have a design that is based on an holistic analysis of the needs and rights of the project beneficiaries or proponents.

·        The logical framework for the project should explain how a particular project will contribute to ultimate impacts on the livelihood of the target population.

·        It should set significant yet achievable and measurable final goals.

·        It should be technically, environmentally, economically, politically and socially appropriate or viable.

·        It has to be appraised to the Environmental Impact Assessment tool.

·        It has to be cost effective

·        It has to be developed, implemented and evaluated by the logical framework (L.F.A)

·        A good development project should be flexible since the society and the economic situations are changing.

WHY DO PROJECTS FAIL?

o   At the designing stage:

-  Poor design more especially if the planning of the goals and objectives is done poorly.

-  This may be a result of the failure to identify the target population for a particular population.

- At this stage timing of the project implementation is also a factor for project failure

-  Over ambition: You want to achieve many things than the available resources

-  Poor approaches in project design. No base line survey, lack of local community participation.

o   At the implementation stage:

-  High implementation costs in relation to the available resources including both human and financial resources.

- The presence of ineffective project management unit. An organisation through which the project is being implemented should be efficient

-  Externalities: These are the problems beyond the control of the project proponents. 

Topic 2: Project framework and project environment

We can better understand the project framework and environment by looking at the project cycle

The project cycle

IDENTIFICATION: To identify what a project will focus on, we need to find out who should benefit and what their needs are. A ‘needs assessment’ will give an overview of community problems. A ‘capacity assessment’ will help identify which problem the project should address.

DESIGN: Once it is decided to go ahead with the project, we can start to think about the detail. This involves carrying out further research into the people affected by a problem and how they are affected by it. We also need to consider the risks to the project and how we will measure the project’s performance.

IMPLEMENTATION: During the implementation of the project it is important to monitor and review the progress of the project and any outside changes that affect it. The project plans should be adjusted where necessary.

EVALUATION: Evaluation should be carried out at or after project completion. Evaluation could be carried out a few months or years after the project has finished in order to assess its long-term impact and sustainability.

LESSON LEARNING: While the project cycle is a useful way of outlining the stages of a project, it has one drawback: it makes it look as though one tool follows another. In fact, many of the planning tools can be used at any stage of the project. They should be repeated throughout the project’s life to ensure that any changes that might affect project success are accounted for. Findings should also be used for organisational learning and to improve other projects.

1.     PROJECT IDENTIFICATION

- The first step in the project cycle is to identify an issue that a project could address. This usually involves a ‘needs assessment’ which finds out what community needs are and whom they affect.

- Only when we know what people really want can we develop an effective project. The needs assessment is followed by a ‘capacity assessment’ to see what strengths the community has which it can use to address its problems.

- The project should seek to make stronger any weaknesses. Some people prefer to use ‘appreciative enquiry’ instead of needs assessment and capacity assessment. This, in effect, starts with a capacity assessment by asking community members to identify the resources they have and then asks them how they want to use them in the future.

o   NEEDS ASSESSMENT

-We might already have a good idea of local needs. They might be quite obvious, or we might have become aware of them during a past project. On the other hand, we might have no idea what a community’s needs are. It is important to carry out a needs assessment before planning development work, whether we think we know what the needs are or not.

o   Why needs Assessment?

- By talking to different people, we will be able to understand how problems affect people differently. For example, poor access to clean water may affect women more than men because women have to walk a long way to fetch water.

- Circumstances change: There may be new people in the community. There may be new needs. Old needs might have been addressed. Problems might be affecting people differently.

- Needs assessment gives people an opportunity to prioritise their needs, which leads to a more sustainable development project.