Week1 intro
- 1. Week One INTRODUCTION WHY PROJECTS IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ?
- 2. Project Management Project Design Project Proposal Writing Project Analysis
- 3. Definitions of a “project” “a unique, non-repetitive and dynamic set of activities designed to achieve innovation, metamorphosis or the introduction of something new, or to resolve a problem.” Roberta Wilson-Murray (1997)
- 4. Definitions of “project” “A project is taken to be a discrete package of investments, policy measures and institutional and other actions designed to achieve a specific development objective (or a set of objectives) within a certain period.” Warren C Baum and Stokes M Tolbert Investing in Development: Lessons of World Bank Experience (Washington, D.C.: World Bank) p.8
- 5. Programs and Projects “Programs tend to be long-term and open ended they are made up of a number of short-term individual projects and activities, which are conceptually linked in some way and which support one another” Mike Crooke, Beyond the Horizon , ACFOA, Canberra, 2003 pp.
- 6. What are the strengths & weakness of the project in a development context? ‘… the project cycle represents a useful intellectual construct for classifying different elements of project work and organizing them into manageable, discrete elements, thus securing the efficiency gains associated with the division of labour. We might also argue that this is suggestive of a disadvantage in that this view of the project as being composed of discrete elements may lead to a loss of focus on the macro level, that of the project as a whole. The danger is that project personnel will focus on their own narrow tasks at the expense of overall project effectiveness.’ Anil Hira and Trevor Parfitt, The Project Approach to Development for a New Millennium , pp. 34-5
- 7. What are the strengths & weakness of the project in a development context? Other issues with project cycle “ a view of projects as a temporally finite phenomena” p35 - “sustainability is undervalued” Other issues mentioned in this text are agencies’ “attempt to impose their control over projects through complex design” p36 Project identification, bureaucratic control Alternative project approaches, ‘experimental approaches’ p.53
- 8. Alternatives to the project approach 1. Towards new aid modalities ‘ So far projects have been the principal mechanism through which aid donors provide development assistance to developing countries. Evaluations carried out during the 1980s and 1990s revealed a variety of problems with the traditional project support mechanism.’ Four of the most often recognised issues are: Need for harmonisation Ownership and partnership Internal accountability Coherence P 31 Mirjam van Reisen (2005) Accountability Upside Down: Gender equality in a partnership for poverty eradication , Eurostep & Social Watch
- 9. Other approaches to planning and aid delivery
- 10. Sector wide approaches to development co-operation involve donor support to the development of an entire sector in a given country. The sector wide approach is contrasted with a project-based approach in which individual donors each support a particular set of activities within the sector (for example, building schools or roads). Budget support, programme aid, sector investment programme are other terms that can be used to mean a sector wide approach. Ideally, sector wide approaches are developed by the government in consultation with all stakeholders and investors, including donor agencies. Under the leadership of the government, these parties work together to define: • An overall sector policy framework. • Priorities and objectives (i.e., strategy), and performance measures. • Expenditure programmes. • Institutional reform and capacity building needed for implementation. • Jointly agreed management, reporting and accounting arrangements Gender Equality in Sector Wide Approaches A reference Guide Development Assistance Committee OCED 2002 What is a Sector Wide Approach?
- 11. The project cycle Programming & Policy Framework (Strategic) Project Identification & Initial Assessment Project Formulation & Appraisal Implementation & Monitoring Financing & Mobilisation Adapted from AusGuide & European Commission – Project Cycle Management Evaluation
Editor's Notes
- #4: From Masters class: What is a Project? Decide, plan, control Timeline Designed to achieve a goal The ideal project: Planned activities to achieve specific outcomes Fulfil needs in a sustainable way Limited resource and timeframe Community driven Upskills and empowers its participants Holistic
- #12: This is an iterative process – should be coming back and checking consensus all the time. Some of the activities at each stage may include: Programming & Policy Framework – community vision, strategy, Project identification & Initial assessment – PRA Project Formulation & Appraisal – Community Action Planning, Proposal writing, Logframe development Financing & Mobilisation – seeking finance for the proposal, signing MOU/MOA, revisit workplans, Implementation & Monitoring -