PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT NOTES

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This Course builds on the premise that development programmes: Public and Private, become a
success when handled as Projects.
The course therefore excavates into Project Planning and Management perspectives and enables
the student to see how different organizations design their projects.
Using case studies, illustrations and discussions, the student participant is exposed to the
concepts of project planning and management, through control; appraisal, selection and analysis;
implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and review, and cost and financial
management.
More especially, the objectives of the course are:-

1. To develop an understanding of the concepts of projects planning and management, its

relevance and importance within a broader scope of organizational planning and decision
making
2. To enable students/ participants analyze organizational project needs so as to be able to
integrate them in strategy formulation
3. To enable students/participants develop conceptual skills that will help them to analyze
situations, identify problems, formulate solutions (Projects), implement, monitor and
evaluate them under changing environmental conditions
Delivery Methods:
1. Lecturing and/or in class guided discussion
2. Case studies
Course Content
1. Introduction to Project Planning and Management.
2. Project Planning and Control
3. Project Appraisal, Selection and Analysis.
4. Project Stakeholder analysis and Communication
5. Project implementation, Operations and Management.
6. Project Monitoring and Evaluation.
 7. Project Documentation, Reporting and Review
8. Project Proposal writing
9. Project Cost and Financial Management

Module 1: PROJECT PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

Defining a Project
A project is a one –shot set of activities with definite beginning and ending point.
It is an endeavor in which human, material and financial resources are organized in a particular
way to undertake a single scope of work, of a given specification, with commitment of cost and
time, so as to achieve beneficial change, defined by qualitative and quantitative objective.

A project is a unique set of coordinated activities with definite activity start and ending points
undertaken by an individual / organization to meet specific performance objectives with defined
schedule, cost and performance parameters.

Project Vs Programme:
A Programme is diverse set of activities which progress over along period of time in order to
fulfill a variety of development needs e.g. the Aids Control Programme, UPE with projects like
TDMS, Scholastic materials provision, Classroom construction, etc.

A Project is hence a subset of a programme with a short time frame, specific resources and out
put, designed to solve a specific problem.

Project Planning and Management

Project planning is a special case of general planning which includes all those activities that
result in developing a course of action.
It involves setting goals, definition and forecast of resources to be committed, establishment of
start and completion times, and assignment of responsibilities.
Project management is an integral part of planning which refers the process of application of
knowledge, skills, techniques and tools in project execution.
Components of Project management Process

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- Identification of needs (needs assessment)
- Project design / formulation
- Appraisal – leads to approval or rejection
- Monitoring and Control
- Evaluation of project outcomes.
Project Characteristics
- Uniqueness
- Finite undertaking
- Use multiple resources
- Dynamisms
- Discrete end objectives. Projects are undertaken to meet identified objectives / constraints
specified in terms of scope, time, and cost requirements.

The project management Triangle:

- Explains the three principal dimensions of the project
- The three dimension form the Triple constraints concept in project management
- The dimension include: Scope, Cost and Time

Scope (Details of activity / work)

QUALITY
Cost Time
(Resources) (Duration)

PROJECT SCOPING:
Defining the scope
Scoping refers to the process of defining and setting project /programme boundaries-what is to
be included or not.
Successful scoping answers the following questions.
 What is the project/programme responsible for delivering and what is it not to deliver?
 What are the main objectives? Why are we undertaking the project?
 What needs to be done or changed in order to achieve these objectives?

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  What effect will these changes have and what will stay the same?
 Which stakeholder is most likely to be affected and who will benefit? How?

Project Management life cycle

Project
Initiation

Project Project
Review Definition

Planning
Project
Closure
Project

Monitoring Detailed
Control planning

Project
Execution

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Components of project management Process

Identification of needs (Needs assessment)

Assessment of environment to identify need/ problem

Initiation

 Develop a project
 Undertake a feasibility study
 Appoint the project team
 Set up a project office
 Perform phase review

Planning

 Create a project plan

 Create a resource plan
 Create a financial plan
 Create a quality plan
 Create a risk mgt plan
 Create a communication plan
 Create a procurement plan
 Contact the suppliers
 Issue a statement of work
 Phase review
 Execution
 Build deliverables

Monitor and control to ensure that the project operates in set boundaries/standards of;

 Time
 Cost
 Quality and

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  Up to project scope

MODULE 2: PROJECT PLANNING AND CONTROL

Projects as tasks involving creation of outcomes with predetermined objectives (qualitative and
quantitative) involve use of resources.
These resources are: Human, material, Financial and Time resources.
Achievement and realization of set objectives will depend on clear management and control of
these resources.
Project control: The processes which are required to ensure that projects are completed with in
the approved limits /boundary.
-Involves budgeting (cost control), proper timing and human resource (performance control)
The Project Planning and Control flow Chart

Project planning Project Scheduling Control

 Set objectives  Avail resources  Prevails
 Team organization  Direction of performance
 Project Definition operation  Evaluate operations
 Set time / schedule  Management  Problem
 Cost Estimation technique identification
 Performance  Gantt Chart  Decision making
specification  PERT  Corrective Action
 CPA  Performance
specification

Issues
Planning
Performance Criteria

Project Planning, Scheduling and Control Techniques

These include:
-The Gantt chart
- PERT / CPA
- The Logical Framework.

1) The Gantt chart

Mainly used in Project scheduling.
Gantt Charts are useful at low levels of complexity, however many projects have higher degrees
of sophistication and methodology which needs complex analysis methods.

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Example: A project has activities as shown below
Activity Depends on prior Duration
completion of (Months)
A - 3
B - 5
C B 3
D A,C 4
E D 8
F C 2
G F 4
H F 2
I B 5
J G,H,I 3

Activity/Months 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

2) Activity Network and Critical Path Analysis (CPA)

This is a technique developed to help management in project planning and control. This
technique shows the interrelationship of the various tasks of the project.
-Helps to provide planning and control information on time, cost and resource aspects of project.
Networks are important where projects are:
a) Complex ie contain many interrelated; and interdependent activities; and/ or
b) Large, ie where many types of facilities, high capital investments, many personnel are
involved; and/or
c) Where instructions exist ie where projects have to be completed within stipulated time or
cost limits, or where some or all of the resources (material, labour) are limited.

Terminology
 Activity: Task/job of work which takes time and resources e.g digging foundation,
carrying building materials, building walls
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  Event: Point in time which indicates the start or finish time of activity (ies) .
The Critical path:
This denotes the shortest time possible in which the whole project can be completed. It
shows the chain of activities with the biggest duration.
Critical path is established by the following.
 Earliest start time (EST): The earliest possible time at which a succeeding activity can
start.
 Latest start time (LST): The latest possible time at which a preceding activity can finish
without increasing the project duration.
 Slack time: The spare time associated with activities which are not on critical path.
 Predecessor Activity: One that must be completed before another in started
Example:
A project consists of a series of activities as shown below
(a) Draw the project network and Find the critical path.
Activity Immediate predecessor Activity duration (Mths)
A - 7
B - 7
C A 2
D A 3
E B 5
F B 1
G C 4
H D,E 5
I F 5
Solution:
(a): 7/11 C 9/13
A
7 2 4 G
2
D 4
1 3 17/17
B H
7 7/7 E 5
5 7
5 F 8/12 I
3

6 5
1

The critical path is one with biggest duration.

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A-C-G: 7+2+4 =13 months.
A-D-H: 7+3+5 =15 months.
B-E-H: 7+5+5 =17 months.
B-F-I : 7+1+5 =13 months.
The critical path is B-E-H (17 months)

3) The Logical Frame work Approach

The Log frame Matrix is a participatory Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (and control) tool
whose power depends on the degree to which it incorporates the full range of views of intended
beneficiaries and others who have a stake in the programme design. It is a tool for summarizing
the key features of a programme and is best used to help programme designers and stakeholders
realize achievement of intended objectives.
The main concept underlying the Logical Framework is means and end. The better the means
and end linkages between each level of aims, the better the programme design.
By definition, each programme has a “if-then” or “means-and-end” logic embedded in it. If we
produce certain results under certain conditions, then we can expect to achieve

Log frame matrix serves the following functions

• A tool for planning a logical set of interventions
• A tool for appraising a Programme document
• A concise summary of the Programme
• A tool for monitoring progress made with regard to delivery of outputs and activities
• A tool for evaluating impact of Programme outputs, e.g. progress in achieving purpose
and goal.

Narrative Verifiable Means of Important

Summary Indicators Verification Assumptions
(OVI) (MOV)

GOAL

PURPOSE

OUTPUTS

ACTIVITIES Inputs

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Framework Components
Rows:
• Goal The higher level objective towards which the project is expected to contribute
(mention target groups)
• Purpose The effect which is expected to be achieved as the result of the project.
• Outputs The results that the project management should be able to guarantee (mention
target groups)
• Activities The activities that have to be undertaken by the project in order to produce
outputs.

Columns
a) Objectively Verifiable Indicators (Ovi)
The quantitative, qualitative, and time-bound measures that constitute evidence of the extent
to which the aims have been met at the four levels of the hierarchy.
- Indicate how to recognize success at each level of aim
-Assist to refine and clarify aims
-Facilitate monitoring and take remedial actions if required
-Facilitate end of programme evaluation to determine delivery of outputs and progress made
in achieving goal and purpose.

• Indicators help to verify to what extant the results are achieved.

• Specify how the achievement of an objective can be verified or demonstrated
• Provide a basis for Monitoring and Evaluation
• 3 Dimensions of Indicators
– Quantity
– Quality
– Time

The process of defining indicators forces us to clarify our objectives. A good indicator is,
a. Plausible measuring what is important in the project
b. Attributable to changes caused by the project
c. Cost-effective involving data that may be collected and analyzed inexpensively
d. Independent not inherent to the project
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e. Targeted to how much.., what kind of.., by when
f. Verifiable to reach agreement

b) Means of verification
The specific sources from which the status of each of the indicators can be ascertained

c) Assumptions and risks

Assumptions and risks are external conditions that are outside the control of the programme.
The achievement of aims depends on whether or not assumptions hold true and the risks do not
materialize.
If cause and effect is the core concept of good programme design, necessary and sufficient
conditions are the corollary. The sufficient conditions between the levels in the hierarchy of
aims are the Assumptions. This is the external logic of the programme.

When working on a programme, we make assumptions about the degree of uncertainty between
different levels of aims. The lower the uncertainty that certain assumptions will hold true, the
stronger the programme design. Any experienced manager will agree that the assumptions - the
failing assumptions - can derail a programme as often as poorly executed outputs.

Logframe demands that all hypotheses, assumptions and risks relevant to a programme are made
explicit.
By implication, this then further demands that the appropriate action is considered (and if
necessary taken) before problems materialise.
– How important are the assumptions
– How big are the risks
– Should the programme be redesigned?
– Should elements of the proposed programme be abandoned?

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MODULE 3: PROJECT APPRAISAL, SELECTION & ANALYSIS.

Project evaluation helps to undertaken authorized future projects.

Investment in projects (covering short and long periods) involves capital expenditure /capital
investment.
Project evaluation and Analysis involves.

- Forecasting capital (Financial) requirements

- Identifying suitable feasible projects
- Appraising potential projects /assessing costs and benefits of the project over its life.
- Selecting and approving the best alternative
- Making a capital expenditure.
- Comparing actual and planned spending investigating deviations and monitoring project
benefits.

Evaluation also involves other aspects ie the social and economic viability e.g. if the project’s
implementation leads to socio-economic development, it may be undertaken even if it is
financially unviable.
The process of appraising potential projects requires the planning (as stated in the proposal).
- Detailed statement of cash flow and inflows
- Assessment of tax impact.
- The discount rate to account for the time value of money.

Project evaluation Techniques include:

a) Those that don’t consider time value of money (Non-discounted cash flow methods).
b) Those that consider time value of money (Discounted cash flow methods).

A) Non Discounted cash flow methods:

1) Pay back method (Pay back period).
This is the period that a project takes to pay back /return the money spent on it from the net cash
flows (net operating income after taxes and deprecation)
Decision rule:
Only projects that pay back within the specific time period are viable and should be undertaken.
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i) Projects with constant annual cash flows:
When future project cash flows are expected to be constant overtime, pay back is given by:
Initial investment cost
Annual cash flow

Example:
An initial project expenditure of $2 million is expected to generate net cash flow of $500,000 for
the next 7 years. What is the pay back period for the project?

PBP = Initial investment

Annual cash flow
= 2,000,000
500,000
= 4 years.

ii) Projects with uneven annual cash flows

It is rare for project cash flows to be necessarily constant. Where cash flows are not constant, pay
back is calculated by working out the cumulative cash flow over the life of the project.
Example:
A project is expected to generate the following cash flow

Year Cash flow ($000)

0 (1900)
1 300
2 500
3 600
4 800
5 500

The pay back period is given by:

Year Cash flow ($000) Cumulative cash flow
1 300 300
2 500 800
3 600 1400
4 800 2200
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 5 500 2700

PBP = 3 years + 500

800
= 3 + (0.625) = 0.625 x 12 months
= 8 months.
PBP = 3 years, 8 months
Advantages of PBP method:
 It is a simple technique, easy to calculate and useful in rapidly
changing technologies.
 It puts emphasis on quick returns, so that they may be put in other use.
 It uses cash flows, not profits.
Disadvantages:
 It ignores returns after the pay back period (Post –pay back cash flows)
 It ignores timing of cash flows (time value of money).
 Doesn’t explicitly consider risk.
 Ignores project profitability.
 Doesn’t give good investment decision since there is no strict pay back time for all
projects.

2. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) /Accounting Rate of Return (ARR).

This is a non-discounting project approach model.
Accounting Rate of Return (ROCE /ARR) = Average Annual profit after depreciation
Initial cost.

ARR = O-D
I
O= Average annual incremental cash flow from operations
D= Incremental average annual deprecation
I =Initial investment.
But Depreciation = Original investment – Scrap value
Useful life
Decision rule:
If the expected ROCE/ARR for the project is greater than the target/hurdle rate, the project is
accepted.

Example:

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A project involves the purchase of machinery costing $110,000. This project is expected to
generate annual cash flows of $ 24400 for 5 years. The machine would have a scrap value of $
10,000 at the end of 5 years. Find its ARR /ROCE.

ROCE /ARR = Average Annual profit after depreciation

Initial cost.

Depreciation =Original investment – Srap value

Useful life

= 110,000 – 10,000
5 years. = 100,000
5
= $ 20,000

Average Annual profit = Annual cash flows - Annual depreciation

= 24400-20,000
= $ 4,400
AAR = 4,400 x 100
110,000

= 4%

Advantages of using ARR

 It is simple to calculate
 Each year is involved in calculating the profitability of the project.
 It is expressed as a %age making it easy to understand.

Disadvantages
 It ignores the timing of cash flows (Time value of money)
 Has different methods of calculation giving different figures
 There is no investment signal. Decision to invest remains subjective

B) Discounted Cash flow Methods

It is the method of evaluating projects that recognizes that a dollar received immediately is
preferable to a dollar received at future time.
In this method, the cash flows are discounted to their present values using relevant discount rate
or required rate of returns on investment

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It includes:
1) Net Present Value method (NPV)
2) Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
3) Profitability Index (PI)
Note: For purposes of this course, only the first and third will be considered.

1). Net present value method

Net Present Value refers to the difference between the present value of the projects cash inflows
and the PV of its cash outflows.
It represents the surplus funds that are earned on the project after funding the investment.

Formula:
n
NPV= ∑ Ai - Io , where
i=1 (1+r)i

Ai = Net cash flow in period i

r = Required rate of return /Cost of capital
Io = Initial investment cost.
n = Number of months/years/time period
Decision Rule:
 If NPV is positive, the project is financially viable.
 If negative, the project is unviable
 If the investment has two or more mutually exclusive projects, the one with highest NPV
is chosen
Example:
An organization is considering on investment in a new project. The estimated cash flows are as
below:
Year Cash flow ($000)
0 (240)
1 80
2 120
3 70
4 40
5 20
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The organization’s cost of capital is 9% per annum.
Calculate its NPV and advise on whether its is viable.
Solution:
Year Cash flow Discount factor (9%) PV
0 (240,000) 1.00 (240,000)
1 80,000 0.917 73360
2 120,000 0.841 101040
3 70,000 0.772 54040
4 40,000 0.708 28320
5 20,000 0.650 13000
NPV 29760

Advantages of NPV
a. It considers time value of money.
b. It is based on cash flow, not profit
c. It considers the whole life of the project.
Disadvantages
- It is difficult to explain NPV values to managers.
- It may be hard to fore-cost or estimate future cash flows for project investment since the
future is always uncertain.
- Solutions figures not in percentage, hard to compare.

2. Profitability index (PI)

This is sometimes called the Benefit –cost ratio or the PV index.
It is reached by computing the ratio /value of cash inflows and present value of cash out flows.
Decision Rule:
Accept a project with the profitability index (P1) greater than one.
P1 = Net Present value of cash inflows
Initial cost
In using P1 it is assumed that the reforms from the project are generated in exact proportion as
amount invested i.e P1 gives returns in the present terms per unit invested.
Hence, projects will be ranked from one with highest PI to one with lowest, and projects are
selected in order of ranking up to the point where the budget is exhausted.

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NB: PI method is simple
However, it cannot be used except where there are multiple constraints, not only capital.
It looks at projects individually, doesn’t take into account the overall portfolio where correlation
of project’s return is important.

Review questions
1. What do you understand by Discounted and Non discounted project evaluation techniques?
2. What is project payback period? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the payback
period method?

Capital Rationing:
Share holders/project and company wealth is maximized where a company has undertaken all
positive NPV investment capital rationing.
This is done by specifying a limit on the total budget capital spending on projects especially
where there are insufficient funds.

Capital rationing is undertaken where an organization/company has move amounts of capital

projects to invest in with positive NPV than it has money to invest in them. Hence some projects
that should have been accepted are excluded.
This is called ‘Artificial constraint’ because the company management may decide the amount to
be invested.

Types of rationing
a) Hard capital rationing: Where the limit on the amount of finance is imposed by lending
institutions.
Reasons
 Industrial factors on limiting funds i.e if a project is within an industry that is taken to be
highly risk.
 Company specific factors such as poor historical record on company’s performance.

b) Soft capital rationing

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This is where management internally composes limits on investment expenditure.
It is however against the rational view of share holder profit maximization, which requires share
holders to invest in all viable projects.
Reasons
 Human resource/management skill limitation ie lack of strong middle management to
handle bigger projects.
 Desire to maximize returns of a limited range of investments.
 Divisional constraints: upper management allocates fixed amount for each division as
corporate strategy.
 Debt constraints: Earlier debt issues which prohibit increase in the firm’s debt beyond
certain level.

Rationing and Divisible project

As noted earlier, divisible projects are ranked using profitability index (PI), where:

PI = Net Present Value

Initial investment out lay

Procedure for Rationing Divisible Projects.

 Calculate the PI for cash project.
 Rank the project according to PI magnitude
 Allocate funds according to the ranking until all available funds are used up and make a
selection of projects

Example:
A company has $ 100,000 available for investment and has identified the following 5 divisible
projects.

Project Initial cost ($) NPV

C 40,000 20,000

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 D 100,000 35,000
E 50,000 24,000
F 60,000 18,000
G 50,000 (10,000)
Determine the project that should be undertaken
Solution:
NB: Project G is not viable because has negative NPV

Computation of PI
Projects NPV/IC PI Ranking
C 20,000/40,000 = 0.5 1ST
D 35,000/100,000 = 0.35 3RD
E 24,000/50,000 =0.48 2ND
F 18,000/60,000 =0.3. 4TH

Rationing
Available funds ($) Project selected NPV earned ($)
100,000 C 20,000
(40,000)
60,000 E 24,000
(50,000)
10,000 10,000 of D 10% of 35,000
(10,000) (10% of D) = 3500
Project selection
C, E, and 10% of D. NPV=20,000 + 24,000 + 3500 $ 47500.

Rationing Indivisible Projects

In this case, projects can’t be divided. It is either wholy undertaken or not.
Example:
Mwijika Ltd, a Telecom Company has $ 150,000 available for investment in 5 projects.
Preliminary evaluation indicates the following.

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 Project Initial cost ($) NPV ($)
C 40,000 20,000
D 100,000 35,000
E 50,000 24,000
F 60,000 18,000
G 50,000 (1,800)

Determine the optimal project selection

Solution:
Alternative investment Initial cost required NPV
mix
C&F 40,000 + 60,000 = 100,000 20,000 + 18,000 =
36,000
D 100,000 35,000
C&E 40,000 + 50,000 = 90,000 20,000 + 24000 =
44000

C & E is the best investment mix because it has the highest NPV.
NB. The unused funds 10,000 (100,000-90,000) will earn a return equivalent to the cost of
capital and will not affect NPV. Ie their NPV is zero.

Rationing Mutually Exclusive Projects

Projects are said to be mutually exclusive if investment in one would mean that another cant be
undertaken. This may be because the two require the some type of resources.

Example
A company has identified four divisible Projects as below:

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 Project Initial cost NPV
A 50,000 100,000
B 10,000 (50,000)
C 10,000 84,000
D 15000 45,000

The firm has only $ 50,000 for investment and projects C & D are mutually exclusive.
Determine the optimal project selection.
Solution:
Computation of PI
PI = NPV
Initial cost

Project
A 100,000/50,000 = 2.0 3RD
C 84,000/10,000 = 8.4 1ST
D 4,5000/15,000 =3 2ND

Rationing
Investment Alternative Initial cost NPV
C & 40,000/50,000 of A 10,000 +4/5 of A 84,000 + 80,000 =
16400
D & 3500/50,000 of A 15000 + 70% of A 45000 + 70,000 =
115,000

Therefore, the best alternative is C & 80% of A,

NPV = 84,000 + 80,000 = 164,000.

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MODULE 4: PROJECT STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION
Stakeholder analysis in Project Management is the process of identifying the individuals or
groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according to
their impact on the action and the impact the action will have on them. This information is used
to assess how the interests of those stakeholders should be addressed in a project plan, policy,
program, or other action. Stakeholder analysis is a key part of stakeholder management.

A stakeholder is any person or organization, who can be positively or negatively impacted by, or
cause an impact on the actions of a project or organization.

They are the entities (individuals, institutions and organizations) within or outside the
organization project who/ which sponsor a project or support it or that are actively involved in it,
or whose interests may be affected as a result of project execution and /or completion

Types of stakeholders are:

 Primary stakeholders are those ultimately affected, either positively or negatively by a

project organization's actions.
 Secondary stakeholders are the ‘intermediaries’, that is, persons or organizations who are
indirectly affected by an organization's actions.

They may include:

a) Civil Society organization projects: Donors/ sponsors/ funders, management,

beneficiaries, Government, etc.
b) Private/ profit oriented projects: Shareholders, management, customers, creditors and
debtors, etc.

Summarily

Civil society projects Private projects

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  -Donors/ funders  Share holders
 Project management  Management
 Beneficiaries  Staff/ project team
 Direct members
 Indirect  Customers
 Government  Suppliers
 Partner Organisations  Government
 Family members
 Finance providers
 General public
 Trade Associations
 Partners
 Competitors

Stakeholder management involves two major issues, viz

 Stakeholder analysis and planning

 Stakeholder mapping.

Stakeholder planning is, like any other form of planning, an activity which involves efforts to
analyse, identify and prioritise the needs/ objectives of the different interest groups and
laying strategies to meet them.

Note: Like it is hard to plan a project problem that is not known, it is equally difficult to plan/
prioritise needs of stakeholders which we are not certain of and how they can support or
affect our projects. Hence, it is vital for project management to adopt a ‘stakeholder-based
approach’ and have it integrated with other planning strategies if success is to take its route.

Benefits of a Stakeholder- based approach

 Helps understand the project’s major influencing bodies and plan for them. The opinions
of the most powerful stakeholders are used to shape the project at an early stage.
 Gaining support of the powerful stakeholders can help to win more resources- makes it
more likely that the project will succeed..
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 Communicating with your stakeholders early will make them know what one intends to
achieve- the project benefits.
 Helps anticipate what people’s reactions to your project may be, and build into your plan
the actions that will win their future support.

Steps in Stakeholder Analysis include:

 Identifying your stakeholders- Involves brainstorming and thinking of all the

individuals, groups, institutions that may be affected by or can affect your work;
have influence or power over it, or have interest in its successful or unsuccessful
completion. It is important to take a lot of care because identification of a wrong
stakeholder may have a number of consequences like wastage of resources
planning for a wrong holder, and disclosure of confidential information in
attempting to communicate to them which may affect project operations.
 Prioritizing- Having a list of people and institutions that may affect your project
and putting them in order of influence basing on their power either to advance or
block the project.
 Understanding the key stakeholders- Having identified and prioritized the
project’s key stakeholders, it is vital to carry out a further analysis and know more
about them. Attempts should be made to know how they are likely to feel about
and react to your project. You need to know how best to engage them in your
project and how best to communicate to them. Some of them, one should note,
may be against the project’s success and their hidden attempts need to be known,
while others will be so much interested with a lot of power and interest hence
their priorities will need to be put first.

The key questions one may use to understand stakeholders may include:

 Who are the major parties with interest and influence on the project? Is
their interest genuine
 What motivates their interest most towards the project?
 What do they need from the project in terms of information and other
tangible deliverables?

25
  How do they want to receive the information? What is the best way of
communicating to them?
 What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good
information generated by yourself?
 Who influences their opinion generally, and who influences their opinion
of you? If influencers are external, do some of them form part of your
stakeholder influential body in their own right?
 If they do, what will you do to win them around to support your project?
 If you don’t think you can win them around, how will you manage the
project with their opposition?
 Who else might be influenced by their opinions? Do these people become
stakeholders in their own right?

Avery good way of answering the above questions is to talk directly to these parties, having
carried out a separate assessment/ analysis. People are often quite open about their views, needs
and opinions hence asking, dialoguing and discussing with them is often the better step in
building successful relationship with them.

Stakeholders need to be very well known and the appropriate way of analyzing and
understanding their needs is ‘Stakeholder mapping’ what does it mean?!

During a Stakeholder analysis process, it is often useful to categorize the various stakeholders by
drawing further pictures of what the stakeholder groups are, which interests they represent, the
amount of power they possess, whether they represent inhibiting or supporting factors to the
project’s objective achievement, and methods in which they should be dealt with.

Stakeholder mapping is the process of creating such pictures to clarify the position of the
project’s major influencing parties.

A number of models can be developed and used for this purpose. A more recent one is the
Power, Legitimacy and Urgency model developed by Mitchell, Agle and Wood (1997, 1999).
This model involves mapping of stakeholder behaviour into 7 types, depending on the
combination of three characterictics:

26
  POWER of the stakeholder to influence the project
 LEGITIMACY of the relationship and actions of the stakeholders with the project in
terms of desirability, properness, or appropriateness.
 URGENCY of the requirements being set for the project/ organization by the stakeholder
in terms of criticality and time-sensitivity for the stakeholder.

The stakeholders who show only one of the three characteristics ( 1, 2, and 3 in the diagram) are
defined as Latent stakeholders. They are sub classified further as Dormant, Discretionary or
Demanding stakeholders.

The stakeholders who show two of the three characteristics (4, 5, and 6 in the diagram) are
defined as Expectant Stakeholders. They are sub-Classified as Dominant, Dangerous or
Dependent staholders.

The stakeholders who show all 3 characteristics are called Definitive Stakeholders.

The project management has a task of assessing the position of each stakeholder. It is the
subjective perception of management that will ultimately decide the way in which the project/
organization will act towards each stakeholder.

27
Another model/ method that can be used to analyze the project / organization stakeholders is the
Power/ Interest matrix. Stakeholders are classified in relation to the power they hold and extent
to which they are likely to show interest in the strategies of the project and its continued
existence. This map can help to indicate what type of relationship the project/ organization
should / will have with each of its stakeholder groups.

Levels of Interest
LOW HIGH

Power LOW A.Minimal Effort B. Keep Informed

Possessed

HIGH C. Keep Satisfied D. Key players

 The stakeholders in group A require only minimal effort and monitoring.

 The stakeholders in group B should be kept informed. They can inflict influence to the
more powerful stakeholders.
 Stakeholders in group C are powerful, but their level of interest is in the project
objectives, strategies and activities is low. They are generally relatively passive, but may
suddenly emerge as a result of certain events, moving to group D. They should be kept
satisfied.
 The stakeholders in group D are both powerful and highly interested in the project
objectives, strategies and activities. The acceptability of the project’s goal, objectives and
strategies to these key stakeholders should be made an important consideration
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29
MODULE 5: PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION, OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT.
Projects, as earlier noted are formulated as solutions to problems/needs and must be
implemented, than keep plans on paper. Implementation is a multidimensional stage/phase with a
number of challenges mostly presented by changes in the environment. Therefore, care needs to
be taken to monitor the operational procedures. This is what we refer to as ‘operations
management’.

Project Implementation and operation needs clear understanding of the implementation

cycle which involves:
Preparation of activities ie establishing
 Recruitment or staffing procedures
 Financial management system
 Work plans development
 Reporting system
Preparatory Activities
 Collection and study of project documents e.g contracts, plans, budgets, work plans.
 Assembling a supervision team
 Developing supervision framework
 Development supervision instrument and arrangement for logical support
Project implementation activities such as
 Site management
 Communication /
 Reporting
 Stores and supplies management

Project Supervision Cycle

The cycle covers;
 Start –up activities for supervision
 Activity implementation supervision
 Completion activities

Supervision of activities
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  Supervision for time, quality and cost
 Discussion of findings and recommendations
 Remedial actions suggested or taken
 Supervision for cross-cutting issues
 Production and dissemination of supervision reports.
Project completion such as
 Completion reports by project managers
 Commissioning of projects
 Operation and Maintenance arrangements for sustainability.

Cross cutting issues in supervision of project implementation

These include
 Gender
 HIV/AIDS
 Safety and Welfare consideration (mostly for workers)
 Environmental protection
The integration of cross-cutting issues enhances total value for money by paying attention to:
 Gender concepts and mainstreaming
 Ratio of women to project personnel
 Generating and use of gender disaggregated data in project implementation.
Project Operations Management
Operations management, according to Chandan (2000) is the management of activities
specifically related either directly or indirectly to the organization project’s production of goods
and services .
It involves the performance of activities of selecting, designing, operating/implementing and
controlling, and updating project production systems.
In brief, O.M is an efficient tool for managing the transformation of inputs- people’s efforts,
material, financial resources and tools to valuable output which can satisfy human needs/ solve a
given problem.
Steps in Operations Management

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The planning and management of operations must be integrated with the entire project/
organization and must be in line with its objectives. The major phases of operations management
include:

-Selecting: Involves making choice of specific processes by which selected activities are to be
carried out/ implemented to realize set goals. Includes choice of technology, resources (human),
sequence of activities, and how work is to be routed/ organized

Designing: Arrangement of tasks as well as facilities that will use the technology and processes
selected. Tasks/ jobs should be designed in such a way that they are challenging and self
satisfying. Routine and monotonous tasks hamper morale and achievement. This can be
evidenced by excessive absenteeism, high labour turn over, low quality work, and general
dissatisfaction and discontent. In designing work, it is vital to pay attention to facility lay out.
Well planned and laid facility helps to:
-Reduce resource wastage and costs.
- Increase worker safety
- Increase quality of output since resources are better utilized.
- Reduce work delays and stoppages
- Increase services to beneficiaries
-Operating: Project operation planning, selection and designing are estimation techniques which
involve forecasting. The operation phase is a special one involving scheduling work operations
and allocating workers in such a way that they will perform up to standard( long and short term
fore casts/ bench marks).This phase is the hardest since plans are put to the ground (into
practice). Success of implementation depends on proper planning.

-Controlling: Control mechanisms are developed during planning and designing phases-the two
must be integrated if they are to yield. Major areas of control include: material utilization, quality
and price of purchases, inventory levels (materials and finished goods), number and quality of
workers, time, quality and quantity of output. Bench marks for each of these is predetermined,
operation carefully watched, and immediate action taken to avoid deviations.

-Updating: Continuous revision of operations in line with political, economic, social and
technological changes (external) and making necessary internal adjustments mainly to:
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 - work in line with the problem/ community needs/ requirements
- Retain the expert workers. Employees tend to move from projects/
organizations which are not able to meet their expectations in terms of creating
good working conditions and providing ground for advancement.

Materials Management:
Materials/ inventory refer to the goods /services that a project holds /uses including:-
 Materials and components- Essential items needed to create/make other finished items
e.g. micro chips for computer.
 Work in progress (WIP) -partially completed items on their way to getting finished.
 Finished products- final products, ready for use.

There are several different ways of handling inventory. Keeping track of inventory can be a
complex activity. The term for watching inventory is called Logistics management.

Reasons for keeping/carrying inventory

 To have a smooth activity run.
 To protect the organization/project against errors, shortages and stock outs. Stock outs
have a cost because projects may stop or ‘customers may get diverted.
 To level production activities and stabilize employment labour relations i.e in case of
system breakdown, use inventories and keep workers on board.
 Hedging: Inventory is used to hedge against price increases and inflation (unstable
economic conditions).
 Provide the means of obtaining and handling materials in economical cost sizes, thereby
allowing the project to gain from quantity discounts

Inventory Management Systems

a) The Two –Bin System
The project will have two bins Inventory quantity equal to the re-order level is put in 1st bin and
filled. The reminder is put in bin 2.When the stock in the store is used up, one bin is opened. At
this level an order is placed, in case the project operations are still going on.

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b). The Periodic Review System
Involves periodic monitoring of stock so that it doesn’t fall to level lower than the usage during
lead time.
The technique used to prevent breakdowns from affecting the entire project is decoupling.
Decoupling means breaking project operations apart so that each operation stage is independent
of the others.

OP OP OP
Inv
Input → → Out put
1 2 3 4

Processing Stage
OP= Operation stage
Inv = Inventory

Purpose for Decoupling

 Improves on smooth running of project activities.
 Allow independent scheduling of operations for the same end product e.g a Car may have
engine, body, seats, etc.

NB: Service organization/Projects differ from materials processing/handling projects because

they deal in intangible products (services) which are offered directly.
The modern approach to materials management is based on: Procurement, Logistics and
Warehousing.

A) Project Procurement:
This is concerned with getting the right item of the right size/quantity and quality, at the right
time, from the right place,

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The procurement process involves
1. Materials specification: Giving a detailed prescription of the item to be purchased.
It includes giving physical characteristics, chemicals analysis, part number etc.
2. Purchase requirements: Originates from the department which will use the
materials to the purchases department. Requisitions include specification of:
d. What is to be purchased: quality, quantity, size, etc.
e. Delivery date (in relation to use date).
f. Account where cost is to be charged.
g. Approval by right person/officer in charge.
3. Inquiries about where to get right product from and price.
4. Request for Quotations: Prepared by the procurement section to the supplier and
Include specification of;
h. Delivery dates
i. Quantity available in relation to what is required
j. Terms of payment, etc
5. Purchase Order: Acts as the basis for the supplies authority to supply goods and
services. Also represents the buyer’s obligation to pay for the goods and services.

B) Project Ware Housing

This involves management of project’s materials from the point they appear on its property
list.
It includes aspects like: receipt of items, storage systems, controls and ordering for
replacement.
The main issues of concern under ware housing are:-
a) Ensuring security of stocked project stems.
b) Ensuring security and safety of the human resources in ware houses through:-
-Ensuring that stores /ware houses are well organized- gang ways, clear and
proper lighting, cleanliness, etc.
-Assigning responsibilities for accountability e.g checking boxes, analyzing
Chemicals, loading and off loading, etc.
Project Material / Inventory costs management
This involves determining the amount of material requirements and expenses in relation to the
production plan.
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Material/inventory costs include;
1. Ordering costs: Costs for placing orders, faxing, emailing inspecting, expediting
(change of shipment or transport means).
2.
Ordering costs = cost per order x Demand/Quantity

3. Holding/carrying/handling/storage costs. Includes expenses like insurance, lightening,

shrinkage, obsolescence costs, pilferage, costs of personnel (stores personnel),
heating, cooling, etc.

Holding costs = Holding cost per unit x Average inventory

= CH× Q/2
4. Purchase costs: include the price paid for items or labour material.
Purchase cost = Price per unit x quality items
= P x Q.
In project material cost management, the aims is to create a balance between ordering,
holding and purchase costs so that the project does not incur high costs, as below:

36
 TC

Costs CH
Tc,Ch,Co
EOQ Co

0 Qty
TC = Total Cost.
CH = Holding Cost
Co = Ordering cost
EOQ = Economic Order Quantity (Quality at which ordering, holding, and total costs are at
minimal level).
-When the quantity ordered is big, ordering costs per unit reduce but holding costs increase.
-When the quantity ordered is reduced, the number of orders to be placed will be many, hence
ordering costs will increase, though holding costs decrease.
-It is important therefore to apply the optimal quantity (EOQ), where ordering, holding and
total costs are minimal.

Supervision of Time Control and Remedial Action during project implementation

The time taken to implement project activities is an important measure of successfulness of
supervision of project implementation amongst others.
The supervisors of project implementation have to pay particular attention to time control
measurers, time scheduling and its supervision, time extension and postponement, damages for
non-completion, partial completion and handover, practical completion, defect /warranty liability
period.

37
Time is a major supervision function within projects implementation. When a project
implementation runs out to time, it develops strain and puts an additional stress on resources
from the various parties to sustain the extension. On almost every party involved, there is
additional operation expenditure into the extension period.

Time Element and Value

Project implementation time deals with setting start, implementing /duration and end times that
are useful to supervisors.
These characteristics have got special values individually and collectively. There are events and
activities in project implementation that must either start, or take a certain specific duration or
end on certain dates. Other wise it may crate a problem with the project implementation process
quality, costs and time frame, causing possibilities of poor quality, extra costs, delays and losses.
Therefore, time supervision in project implementation is about focusing on the start date,
duration/period and the end dates of component and the entirety of the project implementation
activities.
The delay of a ‘start’ or ‘end’ of some part of project activities or prolongation of specific
activities duration, propagate distortion in the entire project time frame and brings about
consequences. The time element value of project implementation may make the project fully or
partially succeed or fail, in terms of delivery, usefulness and development effect.

It may worsen the whole viability of the project or loss or even life of people. For example, a
delay in completing health facilities can make people who would otherwise have been saved by
the health services from the facilities to die.
‘Detailed project implementation time supervision must both anticipate and overcome possible/
problems in advance and help provide satisfactory solutions to delays.

The inevitable problems, even in the best supervised project implementations need to be
controlled by:
 Planning and setting targets
 Choosing method to achieve such goals and targets
 Monitoring and evaluating progress

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  Taking corrective action immediately when problems have been identified and as they are
necessary.

The supervisor should ensure continual and optimal setting, monitoring, evaluation and revision
as the ultimate ways to cope with time supervision.

Time Scheduling
Time scheduling is the assigning of starting dates and completion dates to the various activities
that go in the project implementation. The important things for the supervisor of project
implementation to note are:
 The earliest time that an activity can start
 The latest time that an activity may be completed without delaying the project
completion.
 The lee way or float or degree of freedom available in scheduling an activity and the
critical path.
Most often, project supervisor does not develop the time schedule directly but has to be done by
the project implementer. The supervisor checks whether it is realistic and achievable within the
available means and meeting the expectation.

Supervision of implementation of time schedule

This involves a set of checks and balances to ensure that the schedule is being adhered to. It is
continual through comparing the actual on–the-job daily progress with that which was
anticipated and previously scheduled.
This covers the process of making decisions based on this comparison. It covers keeping current
the information that is required in re-scheduling.

The supervisor’s role:

 List all the activities that are to get under way on any given day to look ahead and to
ensure that all activities are started on schedule.
 List all finish/completion dates of all scheduled activities. The supervisor needs to note
that if an activity is not completed in its time, they become critical to the completion of
the entire project implementation. The latest finish time of any activity is the latest that it

39
can be completed without interfering with the planned completion of the overall project
implementation.

40
Project Activity Time Listing Supervision Table

Activity Activity Activity Activity Earliest Activity Latest Progress

Code Description Duration time time Remarks
Start Finish Start Finish

In supervision of project implementation time, the most troublesome aspects are matters of
claims for time-related extra costs and extensions of time by the implementer and the disputes
that result there from. The supervisor of project implementation needs to take care on behalf of
the other stakeholders and protect their interests.

Time Extension and Postponement

If a project implementation was well planed and executed, without occurrence of any drastic
events, there should be no need and justification for extension or postponement.

Project implementation time supervision, often, runs out of control. Delays of the whole or
partial project implementation process by parties to the implementation process or outside factors
may cause disruption and loss that can result into disputes that may subsequently ruin the course
of the project implementation. Therefore, there is sometime need for time extension and
postponement.

Supervisor needs to ensure that a fair and reasonable extension/postponement of time is granted.
A fair and reasonable extension of time is the measure of the extension to be granted, which
must mean fair and reasonable in relation to the cause. And supervisor is also to ensure that,
the cause for the time extension is fair and reasonable. The initiative for obtaining an extension

41
of time beyond the original or amended date for completion is to come from the project
implementer and incumbent on them.

Dealing with Delays

The cause of delays in project implementation may be of a continuing natural or intermittent
nature or its interaction with some other causes- internal/ external.
The implementer is therefore not necessarily required to state at once the length of delays
occasioned, although he may well consider it prudent to give opinion. However, the
implementer must set out in his initial notice the material circumstances, which are to include the
cause or causes of delay and which, by implication, should cover any uncertainties and
interacting matters. At the same time any relevant events to sustain the claim for an extension
should be identified.

Damages for Non-completion and Extra payment

The causes of delays are normally referred to as ‘Relevant Events’, that give rise to extension of
time. They may in some cases also give rise to claim for extra payment or to termination of
project implementation or for payment of damages for non-completion.

Damages for non-completion permit the claiming of liquidated and sustained damages from the
project implementer/contractor for failure to complete the works on time. The sum usually is
calculated at a flat rate per unit time either in days, week or months.

The supervisor should note that damages for non-completion payment or a liquidated damage is
not a penalty. If the amount can be illustrated to be a penalty, then it is not enforceable.
Liquidated amount payable and enforceable is a compensation for loss incurred due to the delay
in completion of the project implementation.

Practical Completion
Practical completion is the substantial completion of project implementation to a level which full
utilization of the project out put can be initiated. It is considered that the project implementation
is nearly complete with the remaining activities to be considered as snag/defect lists to address
during defect/warranty liability basis. The effects of practical completion are:

42
  The beginning of the defects liability period
 The ending of insurance of the works
 The end of liability to further liquidated damages.
 The end of regular interim valuation and certification.
 Final adjustment of the project implementation costs/sum
 Project implementer/contractor is no longer obliged to accept instructions requiring fresh
work even on modified terms.
Cross –Cutting Issues / Integrative Issues and Remedial Action
Any project, whether human development or infrastructural development, is implemented within
a context of a broader social, political and economic environment and should therefore take into
consideration cross cutting issues such as gender, HIV/AIDS, labour welfare and environment.
However, the extent of supervision for these issues should be on the basis of the extent to which
they are in line with the project /organization objectives.

Supervision of project implementation should, among other things, assess project considerations
for labour welfare and motivation, designs and practices for HIV/AIDS prevention and care,
implications for men and women, as well as the ecological biological, socio cultural, political
and economic environment, for sustainable development.

Projects and HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS has for a long time become a great concern for Government, therefore, project
supervisor must ensure that issues relating to HIV/AIDS have to be put into consideration during
project implementation because a majority of people are either infected or affected.

During Project Start

What plans have been put in place to address HIV/AIDS epidemic in regard to prevention,
care and advocacy?

During project implementation

a) Prevention
a) What is the level of HIV/AIDS awareness?

43
 b) What strategies (Structures and mechanisms) have been put in place for prevention
education?
c) How effective are these strategies?
d) What are the indicators for behavioural change?
b) Care
 How many are living with HIV/AIDS in the project?
 How may people are affected (Lost close relatives) with HIV/AIDS?
 What type of care is provided to those living with HIV/AIDS?
 How adequate is the care provided?

3) Advocacy
Is there local capacity to deal with issues of stigma, rights of workers, women and men etc.
Is there an effective method of liaising with various authorities and partner?

During project handover;

a) To what extent have the strategies in place caused impact on the lives of project stakeholders?
b) What recommendations could be implemented to ensure that HIV /AIDS strategies do succeed
in project implementation?
Projects and Environment
Due to the great threat of environmental degradation worldwide, concern is focused on how to
safeguard further degradation of the environment especially by the projects. Therefore, project
managers should ensure that they have an environmental management plan in place while
implementing various projects. Government has put environmental laws in place, which should
be followed.

Project start
1. Was an Environmental Impact Assessment conducted?
2. What are the likely impacts of the project on the environment?
3. What are the mitigation plans/measures for the likely negative impacts?
4. Are these plans in line with overall national environmental policies?

During project implementation

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 5. Are mitigation plans being implemented?
6. Are there any unforeseen impacts on the environment?
7. What measures are being put in pace to address the un-forecasted impacts on
the environment?
During project handover
8. Has the ‘environmental audit’ been performed?
9. What is the impact of the project on the environment i.e
 Are there any aversive social, cultural, economic, ecological, and
political effects on the environment?
 Does the project foster sustainable use of resources (Land, water,
solids, ozone layer, etc)?
Projects and Gender
Owing to the inequalities between men and women regarding access to power and resources, it
has become imperative that any project should ascertain the implication of the project on women
and men.

A distinction is always made between sex and gender. Sex refers to biological differences such
as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs. Thus, the categories of sex are ‘female’
and male’.
Gender refers to a set of culturally expected personality, behaviour, roles and attitude- attribute
associated differences between men and women. Gender is perpetrated through institutionalized
gender symbolism and gender structures.
At project starting
 What are the gender implications of the project designed?
 Are there measures planned to ensure that both men and women, participate equally in
the project and have equal access to project proceeds.
 Is the design of the project in consonance with national gender laws and policies?
During implementation
 Are the practical and strategic gender needs of women put into consideration at the work
place for example, is there provision for adequate maternity leave, paternal leave, is the

45
 work duration too long e.g over nine hours such that mothers are unable to meet child
care demands?
 Are the human resource policies and practices, such as recruitment, capacity building,
promotion and remuneration gender balanced.

During project closure;

 Have implemented activities taken account of the situations and circumstances of
both women and men, or they deter or exclude women?
 Have project benefits been equitably distributed between men and women according
to need?

Projects and Labour Welfare

Always ensure that the occupational health and safety issues are in place and in line with the
national labour laws, consider using the following questions for your checklist.

During Project Start

 Are there project policies (Occupational Health and Safety) in place?
 Are these policies in line with the national labour laws?
 Is there a proper structure and strategy for human resource management and development
(Recruitment/ staffing, motivation, salaries, benefits and training)?.

During project implementation

 Are these policies comprehensive and adequate?
 To what extent are the policies being implemented?
During project handover
 What is the impact of the policies implemented on the output of the project?

MODULE 6: PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Also called Performance review
 A process of assessment of performance at a particular point in time or after the
completion of the project.

46
Evaluation is usually undertaken as an independent examination of the background, objectives
results, activities and means deployed in order to draw lessons to guide future decision-making.
Project evaluation involves assessment of whether the project management is found the right
things in the right way. As such, project evaluation is not only concerned with project outcomes
but also with the project implementation process.

Why Monitoring and Evaluation normally go together

Monitoring and evaluation go together because while monitoring as an internal process, assesses
progress on regular basis for the sake of improved management and decision making; evaluation
reflects what has happened and is happening in order to improve the future. As such monitoring
and evaluation are complimentary project management functions which together ensure that the
project is running on the right track.

Importance of Monitoring and Evaluation

 To establish whether the project is progressing as planned, i.e M & E establishes whether
or not the project is on schedule and within the resources, and if not what can be done to
faster improvement;
 To find out whether project output are useful and relevant to the development needs of
beneficiaries;
 To compare actual change caused by the project against set objectives.
 Assess whether effects are worth continuing with or if there is need to adjust procedures
accordingly’
 To document lessons of both good and bad practices and to enable sharing of useful
information.
Meaning of Evaluation
Project evaluation is the assessment at one point in time that concentrates specifically on
whether the objectives of the project have been achieved and what impact has been made. It
is about judging the merit or worth of interventions or outputs, generally focusing on the
quality, quantity and/or performance of the outputs of a piece of work. It’s an on-going
activity, which is essential at every stage of the project.

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 There are many ways in which the term “Evaluation” is defined some of these include:
 Reflection process to look back and forwad;
 Assessment of achievement/impact over a long period.
 Learning from experience
 Valuating
 Specifically, monitoring and evaluation contributes to project effectiveness by;
k. enabling project participants to assess how far the activities have been carried
out.
l. Assisting project participants to determine how the resources are being utilized.
m. Identifying problems or shortcomings in time for some remedy;
n. Documenting accurate information about the project.
o. Providing regular feedback on the progress of project implementation.
Key project areas that are monitored
Project performance areas that are monitored vary from project to project. They depend on the
nature of the project; and on specific monitoring issues identified by the stakeholders according
to each stake holder’s needs. Listed below are some of the areas that are normally monitored in
a project.
a) Time /schedule performance
Time is monitored in relation to technical and financial performance. Time in the context of a
project is planned to inform activity schedules. Time is monitored to find out whether the
project is on schedule or not.

Time schedule is crucial in project management because:-

 Project have got to comply with the national budget frame work and time line-up.
 Delays in project implementation violate statutory financial and accounting regulations
i.e, it some part of the project budgets funds cannot be spent by the close of the financial
year.
 Delayed implementation often makes the project budgets and inputs more susceptible to
rising price inflation.
Cost/Budget/Cost performance/Financial monitoring

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This monitors budgeted costs compared to actual costs incurred during implementation of a
project it is important to monitor budget performance in order to detect cost deviations earlier in
the process. It is also to monitor any unusual situations or events.

It is extremely crucial that a project operates within the approved budget. Overspending on some
project activities normally implies frustration in implementation of other activities especially
those that are designed to come later on in the project schedule.

b) Work quality (input – output performance)

Most projects have a clearly defined set of inputs that are needed to produce a given set of out
puts within a given time. A periodic report comparing the actual and planned progress towards
each of these implementation targets is required, its important to monitor both the quality and
quantity of inputs and outputs.

c) Work quality (technical performance)

This monitors how far the planned project technical specifications have been carried out.
Technical specifications here refer to aspects like;
Is it the right standards?
Is it the right dimension?
Is it the right mix of cement?

Activity monitoring.
Activity monitoring determines whether the planned activities are being implemented or not it so
are they timely and within the projected resource limits
Process monitoring
Process monitoring looks at other process related performance. In this case it is vital to monitor
compliance to the laws and regulations.

Characteristics of a good monitoring procedure

A good monitoring procedure should be both effective and efficient that is it;

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  Should provide all the information required to make the correct decision
 Should not take up too much time
 Should not take up too many resources
Types of Evaluation
There are various types of evaluation depending on the basis of categorization. The basis may
include coverage, timing who does the evaluation and a comparison input –out put relationship.
Coverage:
 Partial evaluation. Covers some aspects of the project not the entire one.
 Comprehensive evaluation, mid way through the project to determine which course the
project should take.
 On-going evaluation (formative); takes place at intervals during the implementation in
order to ascertain the continuing validity of the project.
 Terminal evaluation: done at the end of the project life to determine its relevance.
Timing
 Ex-ante evaluation: carried out before activities are undertaken to gauge viability and
needs assessment to justify activities.
 Ex-post evaluation: carried out when the activities have been completed.

Who does the evaluation?

 Built in self-evaluation: conducted by those directly involved in the implementation
 Participatory evaluation staff and external evaluators consult with the beneficiaries.
 External evaluation: carried out by individuals outside the implementing team.
Input-output relationships
 Performance appraisal: focuses on the three elements of the project (technical, time and
cost).
 Audits: focus on financial performance.
 Results evaluation: taken at or towards the end of the project to determine whether the
project output have been used to achieve the planned objectives.
 Cost/benefits assessment: to ascertain whether benefits realize from the project actually
justify the resources expended to achieve them.
 Impact studies: inform whether the project actually made the desired impact.

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Mid-term evaluation: This is done mid-way through implementation of the project to determine
which trend the project should take partial evaluation: This way covers some aspects of the
project and therefore not the entire project.
Formative on-going evaluation; Takes place at different stage of project implementation in order
to ascertain the continuing validity of the project.
Technical evaluation in order to ascertain the continuing validity of the project.
Terminal evaluation: it is carried out at the end of the project life to determine its impact and
relevance.
Key Questions in Evaluation
Evaluation is normally based on the following questions:
 Who wants the information?
 What do they want to know?
 What will the information be used for?
 When will it be needed?
Attributes of Good Evaluation Questions
 They should be attributes –vague questions lead to vogue answers.
 Limit the number- too many questions can result in on unfocused effort.
 Frame the questions so they are answerable based on empirical evidence not subjective
opinion.
Importance and Need for Evaluation
There are 4 major uses of evaluation money, performance i) implement ii) enhancing
accountability iii) promoting communication and iv) promoting learning and empowerment.
i) Improving performance
 Findings and recommendations from on evaluation should be used to improve
implementation.
 An evaluation should also be used to derive lessons from completed projects so that
these lessons may be used to guide future strategies.
 It is a management tool used to improve activities still in progress and for aiding
management in future and decision –making.
 To find out reasons for delay and to seek remedial actions.
 Enhancing Accountability

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 ii) Enhancing Accountability
 An evaluation can be used to improve the ways in which projects communicate the
objective ,strategies, achievements and short coming with various stakeholders;
 Evaluation justifies the allocation of scarce funds, time and efforts by all the projects
participants.
 Greater openness about the achievement and failure can help to enhance trust and
reduce criticism.
iii) Promoting communication
Evaluation should promote effective communication between the various stakeholders in the
project, staff and donors.
iv) Promoting Learning and Empowerment
 An evaluation should be a part of the learning process through which the project
participants develop new skills in planning and social and technical change.
 Involvement in an evaluation can result in increased motivation to participate in planning
and implementing of the future activities.
 By assessing achievements and problems, participants in an evaluation enhance their
analytical capacity and critical awareness.
 Project staff can develop their planning and implementation in the evaluation process.
 In evaluation we learn about the good and bad practices so that we are able to discard bad
practices and employ good ones.
Focus of Evaluation in a project
Projects are usually evaluated for the following purposes:
 To assess whether or not a project has met its objectives.
 For operational tool to improve project design
 For policy analysis purposes
Evaluation focuses on the following
Relevance: the appropriateness and importance of goals and objectives in relation to assessed
needs.
Effectiveness: Performance in relation to the targets set by the original plans, is the project
achieving its objectives?
Efficiency: The cost effectiveness of the activities
Impact: the broader economic,technical,political, social consequences/ effects of the project.

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Sustainability: the potential continuation of the project activities following the original
withdrawal of external support.

Need for Data in project; Evaluation

Date is as crucial evaluation as it is to monitoring. An important requirement for collecting good
quality and adequate data is to choose appropriate methods and instruments. Methods of data
collection commonly used in project evaluation include interviews, observations, focus group
discussions, semi-structure interviews, and questionnaires and records review.

As such any evaluation exercise should design data collection and processing very properly.
This will involve
 The need to collect data, which will show the project’s progress;
 Record what is taking place
 Know the type of data to collect when and how
 Data collection techniques and tools to use.

Evaluation Report
Importance of evaluation reports.
 It documents the important process, which needs to be assassinated to a wide audience
 It provides a comprehensive analysis of the outcomes of the project, conclusions and
recommendations on which decision –makers base their decisions.
 It provides an important record for future reference by the different stakeholders.

Need for disseminating evaluation results

 Results of an evaluation can be used in decision-making;
 In particular an evaluation can form part of local level planning processes to meet the
needs of project participants.
 Evaluation results contribute to transparency and accountability in a project.
 Leads to information sharing among primary and secondary project stakeholders..

Evaluation Report Format

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Typical formal for an evaluation report is outline here below. It whould however be noted that
there is no blueprint format for presenting an evaluating report.

Executive summary
This presents on overall snuypsis of the main aspects of the evaluation reports, which may cover
general information on the following;
 Objectives/purpose of the evaluation exercise
 Scope of the evaluation exercise
 Main findings
 General recommendations.
Background
The background usually covers the following
 Description of the project
 Purpose of the evaluation
 Evaluation problems and questions to be answered
 Justification
Methodology
The methodology specifies in a summarized form the following spects of the evaluation process.
 Specific information gathered
 Sources of information
 Data collection methods/instruments
 Data analysis tools employed
 Report writing process
Presententation of results
This covers findings in accordance with each evaluation question considered
Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusions, which are the implications of the results of the evaluations to the project
Recommendations, which are the suggested steps to be taken in light of the conclusions and
findings
Responsibility centers for action i.e the different persons and agencies that are responsible for
implementing the recommendations of the evaluation.

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Monitoring indicators and the role of data in project monitoring and evaluation
Meaning of Performance indicators
Indicators are variables used to measure change in phenomena or an achievement in a process.
In M&E indicators are used to trace the answers to questions e.g what is the functionality of
water users committees?
Categories of indicators: there are two categories of indicators commonly used in M&E. These
are direct and proxy indicators
Direct indicators measure the variables directly e.g numbers of boreholes, or classrooms etc
constructed.
Formulation of performance indicators
Indicators should be formulated on the basis of the key project variables targeted in the project
matrix or work –plans. These variables may relate to project activities/inputs/outputs or methods
of implementation etc.
For each variable
 Define the aspects to be measured e.g classroom or training sessions etc.
 Determine the unity carried of measure e.g numbers or sizes frequency, etc.
 State the time element e.g per week month etc.
 Determine the spatial /location aspects, e.g per sub country, or district etc (as applicable).
In formulating the indicator, it is crucial to specify the unit of measurer or at the ever least
estimated or observable terms. A simple four-step approach may be used as follows:

Step Indicator/Parameter Specification

1 Basic/Elementary indicator Agricultural production value rose.
2 Add quantity how many/how Agricultural production value rose to $ 4500
much?
3 Add quality (what /how) Agricultural export value (excluding
subsidy) rose to $ 4500
4 Add time (when and how long? Agricultural export value (excluding
subsidy rose to $4500 by the end of 2003.

Factors considered when selecting indicators for monitoring and evaluating projects

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In selecting which indicators to adopt, management decision are usually based on the following
considerations.
 Information that show whether or not project objectives are being achieved.
 Information required for effective management of a project (finance, staffing and
logistics)
 Information that responds to the priority interest of the different groups involved in the
monitoring process.
 The data that is valuable and can be collected accurately in order to ensure that the
monitoring information is up to date, accurate timely, relevant and reliable.
 Ability to use the collected information (feed back to the user for decision making).
Types of Indicators
-Input indicators
In put indicators assess the extent to which resources are being utilized in the project to active
the objectives. Input indicators also measure utilization of capital and recurrent expenditure on
equipment and any schedule of activities that need to be completed before the project can begin

-Out put indicators

These show whether the outputs that were targeted are being achieved as planned and in the right
quantity and quality
-Process indicators
These show whether the activities that were planned are being carried out as effectively as
planned. They are used to show the volume, efficiency and quality of work. They reflect what is
being done and how it is carried out.

-Impact indicators
These are used to assess what progress is being made towards reaching the project objectives and
what impact the project has had on the different target communities. The project can create
either a positive or negative change.
It is hence extremely crucial that organizations develop impact indicators for all their activities.
Developing impact indicators helps organizations objectively evaluate themselves and to know
which activity has been most effective and which ones have not.

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Objectively verifiable indicators (OVI)
Indicators must be objectively verifiable. A non verifiable indictor produces subjective results,
which may not be very useful to management. The verifiability of indicators is normally stated
in terms of the following:
 Quality …How well?
 Time …By when?
 Quantity…How much?
 Location…Where?
 Cost…What amount?

Means of Verification (MOV)

There must always be ways of measuring or collecting information about each of the indicators.
This is what is called “Means of certification” it is important to state the sources from which
information to verify indicators can be gathered.

MOV informs us where to get evidence that an objective verifiable indicator has been met and
where to find the necessary data to verify the indicator.
Issues to consider when establishing MOV
 Are the MOVs available from normal sources (Statistics, observation and records)?
 How reliable are the sources?
 Are special data gathering techniques required? If so at what cost?

Role of Data in monitoring and evaluation

Introduction
This session focuses on the statistical process of collecting processing and managing data both
for continous monitoring and timely evaluation of projects. It also explains the importance of
good quality data in monitoring and evaluation of processes.
Definition of Data
Data refers to basic facts from which one may easily draw meaningful conclusions. For instance
a set of observations recorded about a particular organization is called organization data.

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Forms of data for monitoring and evaluation
Data for monitoring and evaluation takes two forms namely; quantitative and qualitative data.
Quantitative data: Quantitative data some times called numerical data will either be discrete or
continuous. Discrete data will take the form of whole numbers e.g number of classrooms
constructed, number of health units constructed. Continuous data will take on any given range of
values. For example distance in (Kms) could take the form of 2.5 km, or 3.6km etc.
Qualitative data: this is used to measure social variables like poverty level education level etc.

Baseline Data
In project language baseline data normally refers to a collection of data/facts about the
characteristics of a community before a project or program is set –up. Baseline data is so crucial
in project monitoring and evaluation because it offers the basis for measurement. Without
baseline data one cannot be able to order to determine situational performance or trends in
performance of a project. In order to make sense. Both project monitoring and evaluation
normally compares project performance data with the original situational data in order to
establish what has changed during project implementation. Baseline data can take the form of
quantitative or qualitative data.

Methods/Tools of collecting monitoring and evaluation data

Methods of data collection commonly used in evaluation include interviews, observations, focus
group discussions, semi-structure interviews and questionnaires. These are called primary
sources of data.

In duration there are secondary sources, which include review of project resources baseline data
and any other documentation about the place, people or problems involved in the project.

In addition there are secondary sources, which include review of project records baseline data
and any other documentation about the place, people or problems involved in the project.

Primary sources of data

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The most common primary sources of monitoring data include the following; Direct observation,
this means observing objects, events, processes and relationships or projects performance and
recording these conservations.
Holding semi-structured interviews. Researchers should avoid being too restricted by the
pre-set questions on the list
Key informant interviews: This involves interviews, which engage selected informants. The key
informants should be able to answer questions about project performance and give a good
overview of the impact of the project to the community.

Focus group discussions: A small group of people (6-12) with specialist knowledge or interest in
a particular project is invited to discuss specific topics related to project performance in detail. A
facilitator is chosen to keep the discussion on or around the original topic and to stop an
individual dominating.

Importance of data in Monitoring and Evaluation.

It’s Important to use correct data in monitoring and evaluation exercises. This is due to the need
to:
 Measure performance
 Assess trends
 Have precision in conclusion
 Enhance reporting and feedback

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MODULE 7: PROJECT DOCUMENTATION, REPORTING AND REVIEW
Introduction
This section contains details of different types of project management documentation, which
may be used as guidelines in producing your own project/ programme documentation.
The section is split into two categories.
-Core documentation and
-Supporting documentation.
Core Documentation
There are 5 major documents which should be in place for each project/programme. They are as
follows.

1. The Project Brief

This is the document which describes your project. It defines amongst other things.
-The scope of what you are trying to achieve,
-The timescales you are working in, and
-The resources you require.
It should also define the business justification for the work of your project (which may be
expanded upon in a separate business case, see below).

2. The project plan

The project plan should break down your project into achievable pieces of work, known as
‘Deliverables’ or ‘Products’.
The project plan allows you to monitor progress, and to identify those areas you will need to
keep a keen eye on during the project (known as the ‘Critical Path’).

3. The Risk Register

The risk register contains the risks you have identified as result of your risk analysis, and your
proposals/ strategies for managing them.

4. The Issues Register

The Issues Register is a log of all issues that arise during your project and of the decisions made
on how to manage them.
5. Lesson Learnt Report
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The ‘Lesson Learnt’ report is one of the most important documents your project will produce, as
it records both the things that went well, and the things that you would recommend be done
differently in future projects of a similar nature.

The Lessons Learnt report ensures that;

 Best practice is developed and implemented and
 Future projects of a similar nature avoid any ‘pitfalls’ that may have been experienced.
Stakeholders’ analysis Records/Matrix
A stakeholder is best defined as an individual or organization that needs to be involved with, or
who will be directly affected by the programme or project. The following groups of people will
all, to a greater or lesser extent, play a part in the success of the programme or project.

 Delivery partner (e.g public and voluntary sector bodies and agencies, commercial
suppliers and others contributing to the work or delivery of the programme or project);
 Target audience or customers (e.g children, young people, adult learners, families etc).
 Other stakeholders (e.g lobby/interest groups);
 The core and wider programme or project management teams. (ie Senior
Responsible Owners (SRO), Programme or project managers, programme or project
support managers and staff);
 The programme or project Board (and Steering or User Groups).

With the above in mind you should, before you plan the programme or project, ensure that you
identify those key stakeholders and other interested parties – i.e those who can seriously aid or
hinder the successful delivery of your programme or project. These include;
 Those who must be consulted or involved in design and delivery
 Those who will contribute to the work –again they need to be involved at appropriate
design and planning stages (ie key delivery partners.
 Those who will be directly affected by the outcomes – ie customer beneficiaries.
 Anyone who has expectations of, or an interest in, the work – for example in lobby
groups.
Take time to talk to and involve your key stakeholders, to make sure they fully understand and
“buy in” to the work.

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Take time to talk to contributors to the work to make sure you have their full commitment and
that they will be available when you need their contribution.

Stakeholders and the Project Board.

The principle is that key stakeholders should be represented on the Project Board. Where this is
not possible a separate consultation mechanism may be necessary.

Stakeholder can be managed in a number of ways. A stakeholder consultation group. May be set
up, or a number of stakeholders may be included within the Project Board.

Steering group
Programmes and Projects should also consider involving key stakeholders in steering groups to
get their perspective on direction. Steering groups also provide a mechanism for helping to
understand the environment.

A steering group does not usually involve itself in monitoring progress, except to the extent
required to fulfill its function this is left to the Project Board.

If you have a large number of stakeholders it may be more appropriate to establish a separate
Stakeholder Group.
Risk Register
The Assessment and management of risk are (respectively) recorded and monitored using a risk
register. Registers will be held and maintained at programme, sub-programme and project level.
The Risk Register record identified risks according to probability of risk, likely impact and
Programme severity. Counter-measures will be identified to show the measures in place, or being
considered, to minimize the risk being realized

The register will also identify timescales and the effect on the risk of activating the
countermeasure. Suitable owners will be identified to manage each risk. Risks at the level of the
sub-Programmes or Projects will be a matter for the manager of each sub-Programme or
Projects, however, all risks identified should be recorded, even if they are closed swiftly;
The Risk Register should contain the following information as a minimum

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 Risk reference – this should be a unique reference code for the risk. This will be essential
to ensure that no risks are missed and will act as a key where risks are escalated;
 Description –should describe the nature of the risk and how the risk will impact on the
Project or Programme when identifying and describing risk you should think in terms of
the following, or similar phrases to express the risk in terms of threat and impact (or
cause and effect) –i.e
-There is a risk of/that ….which may result in ……
-There is a threat of ……..which may result in……….
-When (Date) identified;
Owner –this is the person who carries the responsibility for ensuring that the risk is
monitored and, where appropriate, effectively managed. This may not be the person who has
to do the necessary task, but they must be continuously aware of the risk status;

Assessment ratings
Note: Inherent risk should be re-assessed in light of counter-measures to assess whether it has
been reduced as a result of action taken. If it has been reduced, then the assessment of
residual risk should be done.
Proximity – timing of the threat of the risk. Is the threat strongest at a particular point in
time? (i.e certain period, date etc?). Does the threat disappear sometime in the future? Or
does the probability or impact change over time?

Counter measures Counter measurers should be represented on the relevant programme (or
Project) plan as they require activity and consume resource –as above risk should be re-
assessed to see if either probability or impact has been reduced by the identified/deployed
counter-measure and assessed residual risk should be recorded/shown on the risk register;
Target date / Trigger –timing by which counter measure action needs to be started (or
completed) based on what it is and how it will address the risk – e.g contingency actions will
identify the trigger that would warrant the plan being invoked. Other actions may need to be
undertaken at a specific point in time.

Contingencies

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Status – description of the current position for the risk. Include whether the counter –
measures are in place and if they are being effective. The status should be reviewed
regularly, and it is often helpful to set review dates against risks to prompt the review.
Statement of status may include information about whether the risk is decreasing or
increasing in relation to the likelihood of occurring (what is the trend?); closed; relegated
(when, to whom and why?); or escalated (if latter then to whom and when (detailed reasons
should be recorded as to why it was escalated).

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Module 8: PROJECT PROPOSAL WRITING

Introduction:

Having a good project idea is one thing; presenting it to financiers for funding is another.
Funding a project depends on the proposal’s ability to adhere to requirements and standard
stipulations/ guidelines of the prospective funder.
Project proposals are documents designed to present a plan of action, outline the reasons why the
action is necessary, and convince the reader to agree with and approve the implementation of the
actions recommended in the body of the document.
It is a written description of the project to be undertaken

A proposal is a request for financial assistance to implement a project. For a community project,
it may be used to seek approval from the community members (the community itself being the
most important donor). You may use these guidelines to seek project funding from any donor.
We recommend that you aim for multiple sources of funding. If you have only one source of
funding, you may become dependent upon that one source.

A proposal is not just a "shopping list" of things you want. It must justify each item in the list of
things you want, so that a donor agency can decide if it wants to provide some or all of those
things. You must know (and be able to communicate) exactly what you want to do with these
things and that is why you should design a project to carry out what you want to achieve.

It is important to carefully formulate and design your project. It is equally important to write a
proposal which will attract the necessary funding. Proposal writing is a skill which requires some
knowledge and practice.

Your project proposal should be an honest "sales" document. It's job is to inform and to
convince. It is not a place to preach, boast or to deceive. If you are convinced it is a good idea
and should be supported, your project proposal should honestly report it to decision makers who
weigh its merits against other donation commitments. It should clearly indicate how and when
the project will end, or become self supporting. Proposals should be neat and tidy, preferably
typewritten, and without any extraneous or unnecessary information.

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How elaborate your proposal is should depend upon the amount of resources being requested and
how big the total project is. Modify these guidelines to fit the project and proposed donor.

The project proposal must reflect the background work you have already done and should be
logically set out. It is not enough to write a letter stating your request. You have to demonstrate
the need and prove that the project is worthy of funding. Remember that there will be many other
organizations and individuals competing for the funds.

Use clear concise and simple language which says exactly what is meant. If necessary use
diagrams or charts to illustrate key points. Use appendices to avoid crowding the body of the
proposal and the flow of the narrative. Tailor your presentation to the agency approached.
Express a willingness to be interviewed personally by the funding agency once they receive and
read your proposal request.

Do not be discouraged if your proposal is not accepted. Find out why, and try another agency.

Plan Your Project (Practical Vision):

Perhaps you and your associates have many ideas of things you want to do; you see a need to
reduce illiteracy, to reduce poverty, to provide safe drinking water, to improve the level of
health, to provide training for disabled persons, and many other things. You must, however,
choose a project that is very specific; limit your goal to a single desired solution to the highest
priority problem.

Involve the whole community. In choosing your project, call a meeting and do not neglect to
include the people who have been often neglected in the past, women, disabled, the very poor,
those who have no voice in the way things are decided in the community. Make sure that the
people who are supposed to benefiting your project feel that this is their project, for their benefit,
and that they may contribute to it because it is theirs.

It is not enough, however, to choose your goal. Good planning is needed, identifying your
available or potential resources, generating several strategies and choosing the most viable one,
deciding how you are going to monitor (watch) the project to ensure that it stays on track (ie it

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continues to be consistent with your original desires) , ensuring that the accounting is both
transparent and accurate, and deciding what is to be done when (a schedule) . A bit of research
about the location, the population characteristics, the situation, the existing facilities, is needed in
order to objectively describe the background to the project. Involving the community and the
beneficiaries in this research is the best way to ensure that it is valid.

With the community or target group, use Brainstorming Principles and Procedures to outline a
Plan or Project Design. Without allowing criticism, ask group members to contribute to each step
of a brainstorming group process: what is the priority problem (list all, even the foolish
statements; then rank them in order of priority) , facilitate the group to understand, therefore, that
the goal is the solution to that identified problem. Help them to generate objectives (finite,
verifiable, specific) from that general goal. Identify resources and constraints, then generate
several alternative solutions, choosing the most viable. Other documents are available to explain
the brainstorming process in more detail but this was a brief sketch.

With your background work behind you, you will want to start drafting your proposal. We highly
recommend that you obtain resources (funds) from several sources. Do not let your organization
or group become dependent upon a single donor.

Before you begin to write your proposal, keep in mind the following points:

 It is necessary to find out in advance what sources of funding are available, through
governments, United Nations agencies, some international NGOs or private foundations.
 Most donors look for the degree of local initiative in the project proposal, the utilization
of the available resources within the country itself and the plans for the project to be self-
supporting once the initial funding has been spent.
 Your project should be practical, not too costly, and have the potential for being repeated
in other situations.
 Increasingly, funding agencies are looking for integrated approaches to development
projects. This means that you will want to see to what extent your project supports and
supplements existing activities, and is designed to overcome identified problems.
 Almost all UN and government agencies, foundations and private voluntary agencies
have their own proposal format, that they will want you to follow. If you are not in
contact with a local or regional representative, write a letter requesting information as to
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 proper procedures, application format and funding requirements. While format varies, the
same information is asked for by all agencies and foundations.
 Find out the budgeting cycle of the agency, whether annual, quarterly or ongoing. Check
to see if there is a closing date for application.

Project Structure (Outline of Proposal)

These (structure) guidelines are not intended to tell you what to write, but rather how to write the
proposal. If you are responsible for writing the proposal, then it is because you are the "expert"
(in the best sense of the word). If you are responsible, then you know what you want to achieve
and the best way to achieve it. In any event, don't panic at the prospect and don't be put off by the
technical jargon that unfortunately is frequently used.

Do not try to write the proposal by yourself. Ask for help from your friends and colleagues,
programmer, manager, staff and those who can assist in either concepts or in style. Think of
preparing a proposal as a written form of "dialogue" in which each successive draft is a
continuation of the process.

The chapters of your proposal do not necessarily have to be written in the order presented here,
but what is written in each chapter must relate in specific ways to what is written in the other
chapters. Make sure that you put the right content in the right chapter. Make sure that each topic
relates to the others and to the proposal as a whole.

A project proposal aimed at soliciting funds must follow a specific format of the prospective
donor, since preferences differ from one to another. Nonetheless, there are common elements in
all, hence the possibility for a general guideline.

a) Title Page (Cover):

This is a single page; the front cover of the proposal. It should include:

 Date;
 Project title;
 Locations of the project;
 Name of the organization; and
 Any other necessary single line information.
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b) Abstract (Executive Summary):
Write this part last. It is a collection of critical elements in the proposal. This is the section on
which a potential donor will read and make that vital preliminary decision: whether or not to
seriously consider assisting.

This should not be written, or even contemplated, until all above sections are written. Avoid
writing it as an introduction. Think of it as a concise summary and conclusion.

The optimum size is half a page; the absolute maximum size is one page. Any longer and it is in
danger of not being read or considered. It should summarize only the key recommendations and
be written for busy board members or executives who may read up to fifty of them and may not
initially read anything more than the executive summary for each proposed project.

Ironically, while you write the abstract last, you then put it directly after the front or title page of
your proposal.
A good summary should consider the following questions.
 What project is being proposed?
 Where is it located?
 What problem is it meant to address?
 What is its likely duration?
 Who are the beneficiaries?
 Who are the implementers?
 What is the total implementation cost?
 What are the proposed sources of fundings?
 What plan is in place for the project institutionally?

Background (Causes of the Problem):

This section is expected to answer why your project is needed. Here you will want to give a
description of the situation and focus on factors which prompted the formulation of your
proposed project. Tell how the need for this project was identified and who was involved in
developing the project. Explain your project's origin or context.

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It is most advisable to involve the whole community in identifying priority problems; that is
called "participatory research."

The first thing the background does is to identify the problem. That means it must name the
problem and locate the problem. It indicates the target group (beneficiaries), the sector, the
magnitude, and other actors who are working to solve that problem. It also indicates the extent to
which the problem has been solved by the other actors, and what has been so far accomplished
by your group.

While examining the problem(s) to be addressed, several questions should arise here. What is the
condition of the target group to justify the donor donating money and perhaps seconded staff? A
history of the community, your group, or the project is not essential, but a brief outline can be
useful. More importantly, what conditions, or what changes in conditions, are envisaged that
would lead to any donor agreeing to fund your project?

You may wish to include:

 Project area (Issues and problems, not descriptions);

 Reasons for making this proposal;
 Circumstances leading up to the project; and
 Broader plans or strategies of which it is a part.

If yours is a project that is not starting fresh, the background will also indicate any changes in
your project since it began.

Remember that the background chapter describes the factors leading to the problem that your
project intends to solve. Everything in this section should be justification to approve the project
and the requested funding assistance. Long histories and analyses would be detrimental here.

The Project / Organization (Profile):

This section describes the (perhaps changing) organization and management structure needed to
carry out the activities described above.

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Describe briefly your organization's goals and activities. Be specific about its experience in
working with problems of a similar nature, what its capabilities and resources are in undertaking
a project of this nature.

The abilities and experience of your organization's members, your human resources, may well be
your greatest asset. Indicate the kind of assistance your organization expects to receive from
possible collaborating agencies. Attach additional organizational information, such as an annual
report, if available.

Explain:
 How will it be done?
 Who is responsible for the project?
 Who will implement (who will do it)? and
 Who will direct the implementation of the project?

Who runs the project? Who is in charge of the overall organization? Who is responsible for its
overall implementation (in contrast with responsibility for its design and its monitoring, and in
contrast with the separate actors, separate agencies, and separate locations) ? Will that change?
These can be spelled out in the proposal. See Organizing by Training for participatory methods
of developing the organization.

Do not overlook the activities (labour) of volunteers who contribute to the project. Although they
might not be paid staff, they are resources, and contribute resources to the project.

Goals & Objectives (Solution - Output):

The goal of your project should be to solve the problem or problems described in the
background. Goals and objectives must relate to the previous chapter, by stating what is the
solution to those above problems. You need a set of (general) goals, and sets of (specific)
objectives.

Start with "goals" which are general, long term, broad desires. From those goals generate specific
"objectives" which are verifiable, measurable, finite, and have specific dates of achievement. For
example: "To reduce illiteracy," is a goal; while "To teach basic literacy skills to 20 clients by
March 2," is an objective.
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You will want to be as specific as possible in stating the objectives of your project. They should
be written in terms of the end results you expect in the project, not how you will achieve these
results. Those results must be verifiable (ie. you can clearly show that they have been achieved,
and they can be confirmed by outside observers) .

When selecting the goals and objectives for the project, remember the nature of the donor you
ask; what kinds of solutions are sought? The donor does not want to contribute to dependency, so
is not interested in funding charitable services which may take the pressure of obligation off
those authorities who should look after the rights of the local people. Most donors are not simply
a source of funds for carrying out routine "operations." They are interested in supporting
activities which highlight the needs of the most vulnerable and distressed, and promote self
reliance, ethnic harmony and development.

Beneficiaries (Target Group):

In this chapter you describe the beneficiaries or target groups in some detail. You may also add
indirect or secondary beneficiaries (eg people trained to help the primary beneficiaries). This can
be an expansion of the topic mentioned in your background section; indicate their number,
characteristics, reasons for vulnerability, locations, and so on.

Most donor agencies will be more predisposed towards your project if you can demonstrate that
the beneficiaries have participated in the choice and design of the project. (An appendix can list
meetings of beneficiaries, listing details such as dates, locations, times, topics discussed,
speakers, and lists of beneficiary group members who attended. Refer to the appendix in this
chapter; do not include it here; put it at the end of your proposal).

Activities and Targets (Inputs)*

This chapter identifies the inputs in your project, ie what resources (cash, personnel and actions)
will be put into your project.

First, start with examining possible strategies to reach the objectives mentioned above. In each
case you have to link with the previous chapter. The best project proposal lists two, three or four
different strategies and discards or rejects all but one of these, and says why. Then it goes on to
say, "Given the objectives and strategies, what activities must be implemented or started to use
that strategy and reach the objectives?"

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Target means, "How much, to whom, where and by whom?" – In other words, "Who does
what?" For example, what kind of training will you provide, for how long, and how many people
will be involved? What specific skills will be taught and what kind of follow up activities are
planned?

Indicate what kinds of jobs are being done in the project. Refer to your appendix for key job
descriptions. Always refer those activities to how they will achieve the objectives mentioned
above. Even the activities of the support staff must be justified in that they must be employed so
as to allow the operational staff to reach their targets.

The Schedule (Each Action When)*

In this section you describe in sequence the activities you plan in order to achieve your
objectives.

If you can be so specific as to give dates, even if approximate, all the better. You may wish to
use a diagram or bar chart to mark out the calendar events.

Include in the work plan the phasing of the project; how one stage of the project leads to the
next.

How long will support be needed?

(When will the project end, or when will the project be locally self supporting? )

Costs & Benefits (Analysis)*

In a proposal, the chapter called costs and benefits is not the same thing as a line by line budget
with numbers indicating amounts of money. (The line by line budget should be put as an
appendix at the end of the document, not in the text).

Here in the text of your project proposal, the chapter on costs and benefits should be analytical
and narrative, and relate to the previous chapters. It should discuss those budget lines that may
need explanation (eg purchases, expenses or needs which are not immediately apparent or self
explanatory).

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You should try to make a cost benefit analysis, ie relate the quantity of the objectives reached, to
the total costs, and calculate a per unit cost (eg the total cost divided by the number of children
taught literacy will be the per unit cost of teaching literacy) .

Summaries or totals of the following information may help some donors to decide:

 local costs;
 external costs;
 methods of financing;
 local versus foreign exchange needed;
 all non-financial contributions by the local community (each costed with a money
equivalent);
 methods to obtain supplies (where and how purchased); and
 Proportion of total costs requested in this proposal.

As well as the costs (including the amounts asked for in the proposal), you should make some
comparison between the costs (inputs) and the value of benefits (outputs). The following could
be answered:

 Who benefits?
 How do they benefit?
 Justifications for the project?
 What are the specific outputs of the project?
 What is the average total cost per beneficiary?
 Will value of benefits exceed costs of inputs (or vice versa)? By how much?

When the objectives are qualitatively different from each other (eg number of new parent
committees formed and the number of children taught literacy) , then some arbitrary but
reasonable division of "per unit" cost must be calculated.

The budget totals should be indicated in this section, then refer to appendix for the detailed
budget. Other sources (donors and the amounts) must be mentioned. The total amount requested
should appear here in narrative text.

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The above (*) can be summarized in the ‘Implementation Strategy’ section. A typical example of
a plan is indicated below

Strategy /Implementation plan.

This section of the project proposal, the goal is to outline all procedures that are necessary to
make the project successful. Often, the strategy helps to define short term and long term goals for
the project, explains how to systematically accomplish each step and what type of return can be
expected from the effort. Here, the intending funder is given an idea of how important the project
is and the potential it has to help the community make better use of available resources/ change
the situation at hand.

Strategy may consist of a single intention or many intentions, carried out at the same time.
p. Come must be taken that strategy relates to problem objectives, assumption and
its out put will address the problem; it must also be feasible
q. Strategy involves statement of
What is to be done.
Who is to do it.
When it is to be started and completed.
How it will be done, all which have to summarized in a work plan.

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NB.1:The Work Plan illustrates how the specific project activities are to be implemented
Showing what comes first, second, etc. For our case of the Gravity Flow scheme project,
No. Activity Objective Time Period

A Sensitization of To create
beneficiaries awareness
of the
importance
of using
safe water
B
C
D
E

NB: Monitoring and Evaluation

 Mechanisms for assessing project progress must be set out in the implementation plan.
This helps to evaluate whether we are working in line with the plan. The logical frame
work matrix if used has to be revealed.

Monitoring (Observing):

Monitoring should be done by:

 the affected community, represented by the local committee;

 Your agency or organization (specify who in it) ; and
 Your donors.

How will achievements be measured?

How will they be verified?

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Monitoring and follow-up should be built into the project activities. Part should be continuous
self evaluation by you (the implementing agency).

The monitoring and receiving of reports from the project to the donor must be worked out and
put into your project proposal. The monthly reports should be designed and reviewed as to
usefulness to the donor for its ongoing planning and programming for the whole country.

One thing is for sure; there should be emphasis in reporting the results, or outputs, ie the effects
of the project on the target group or beneficiaries. There is no harm in also reporting activities if
the reports are brief. The reporting of achieved results, as compared to planned objectives as
defined in your project proposal, is essential.

Reporting (Communicating the Observations):

In any agency-funded project, accounting and accountability are very important. This applies to
most donor agencies, UN, governmental or NGO.

In your proposal, your reporting procedures should describe: "how often, to whom, including
what?" You may want to discuss this with the prospective funding agency since reporting and
evaluation requirements vary among agencies, and are dependent upon type of project.

Evaluating your own project while it is under way will help you and your donors see your
progress and accomplishments and the choices available for future action. Careful reporting of
your project in progress is an invaluable resource for others who attempt projects of a similar
nature.

Your proposal should indicate what reports will be submitted. These include regular ongoing
reports, and a final report. Short, frequent reports (eg weekly sitreps) may include only events
and activities. Longer reports should indicate the results of the project activities (not just
activities) , an evaluation or assessment of how far the objectives were reached, reasons why
they were not, and the impact or effect on the beneficiaries (target group) .

Reports should be prepared and submitted optimally every month. The proposal should indicate
what reports are to be submitted and with what frequency and content. Each project (if your

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group is proposing more than one project) requires a separate report (two or three pages of text
plus needed appendices).

A detailed monthly narrative report should include how far each of the intended objectives has
been reached, what were the reasons they were not fully reached, and suggestions and reasons
about changing the objectives if they were found to need changing. The narrative report can
include information about events and inputs (what actions were undertaken, see below) , but
should emphasize outputs (the results of those actions in so much as they lead to achieving the
stated objectives) . Attention should be paid to the number and location of beneficiaries. The
monthly report would best be organized into sections corresponding to the sections of your
proposal.

A detailed monthly financial report should include what moneys were received and from where,
what moneys were expended, listed line by line according to the budget categories in the
proposal, reasons for over- or under- spending, and an assessment of how well the expenditures
contributed to reaching the stated objectives of the project.

The final report should include the same topics as the monthly reports, plus a section called
"Lessons Learned," and a section indicating the impact of the project on the target community
and surrounding areas. The report should be concise (brief but complete).

Appendices (Attachments):

The text of your proposal should be a single, brief yet complete argument from beginning to end
–– easy to read. Because many important details will make the text too convoluted and difficult
to read, they should be put into appendixes at the end.

Typical of documents to put in appendices are:

 lists;
 diagrams;
 detailed budget;
 job descriptions; and
 any other necessary detailed documents.

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When you have written your first draft of the project proposal, go through it and look for any
descriptions of details in your text that may draw the reader away from the smooth flow of the
argument. Move them to an appendix, and in their place put a brief note about them and ask the
reader to look in the appendix for the details.

Now read the document again. With those details tucked away in an appendix, does the flow of
argument become smoother, yet not weakened by their absence in the text? Yes? Good! You've
just found another way to make use of the appendices.

Appendices can include any other material that will allow officers of donor agencies to decide
whether or not to approve funds. The purpose of the appendices is to be able to include all the
necessary and important details (which the meticulous reader will examine) , but not in the text
of your document where you want a smooth flowing, brief argument. It tucks those details away
for use when wante

Detailed Budget:

The line-by-line budget should be put in an appendix. Each line on your detailed budget should
have the total costs for one budget category. The lines should be grouped into similar kinds of
costs (eg salaries, vehicles, communications, fuels, transport).

Budgets may be of 2 types:

- The capital budget – for one your and beyond.
-The operating budget covering the day to day operating expenses.

You can, distinguish between non expendable items (ie equipment that can be used again later)
and expendable (ie supplies that get used up).

The budget should be a realistic estimate of all costs involved in implementing and operating the
project. If possible demonstrate the potential for eventual self support, or support from other
resources other than the one to which you are applying. Costs estimates should be broken down
in to logical categories (line items) such as: salaries; supplies and materials; equipment; travel
and per diem; rent; telephone.

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Voluntary contributions made to the project by you and members of your organization should be
listed and estimated as closely as possible in cash terms, or shown as "no charge." Specify
physical facilities that are available or, are to be made available for the project. Specify your
organization's existing equipment and supplies that will be used for this project. Include any
other inputs to be used for this project from government or from other organizations.

Often, funding agencies prefer to match grants, or assist with part of the total budget rather than
give the entire sum. Therefore it is suggested that you show the total budget when applying, and
indicate when you expect or hope to get other funding assistance.

Note
The most likely projects to be funded will be rapid, sustainable, small scale, low budget
interventions for the most pressing needs identified by the communities.

Often proposals will be evaluated as to how they will contribute to wider, integrated sustainable
development of the geographical area.

Active participation of women in identification, implementation and monitoring of a proposed

project should be encouraged. The proposal should clearly describe the number of women
involved in project design and implementation, and as beneficiaries.

Any projects that are part of larger or longer term plans must indicate other (preferably secured)
funding sources to ensure continuity and sustainability.

Projects which are developmental, promote self reliance, and are ultimately locally sustainable
have a higher chance of being funded. Your estimate of when the project could be self sustaining
should be indicated in your proposal.

The success of projects requires the co-operation of all segments of the target community. There
must be a sense of community "ownership" of the projects (including both local residents and
displaced persons affected) . That means there should be some initial activity of "community
development mobilization," "social animation" or similar community facilitation to ensure all
members of the affected community participate in decisions concerning the proposed project.
Active participation of the community as a whole (all members) in identification, assessment and
implementation of the project is usually a prerequisite for approval.
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A good project should be replicable. That means it should be possible to implement the same
project in other communities.

Many of the resources of those beneficiaries can be hidden by the concern we may have for their
plight, but this can be deceptive. The hidden resources of your target group usually include skills
and wisdom, and surprisingly many material resources, both capital and supplies. Your objective
as a mobilizer and trainer should be to stimulate a process of uncovering hidden resources among
the beneficiaries and encourage a social process of reducing dependencies and increasing self
reliance.

MODULE 9: PROJECT COST AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Projects face different types of costs stemming from the use of the 3 types of resources- human,
material, financial (and time) in attempting to achieve the set objectives.
This module will help you to
 Identify each of the costs within your project
 Ensure that expenses are approved before purchasing
 Keep a central record of all costs incurred
 Control the overall costs
The module will also enable you to:
 Determine whether your expenses were adequately budgeted
 Monitor and control instances of over-spending
 Gain special approvals for extra –ordinary expenses
 Schedule expense payments and invoice approvals
 Keep your project and financial plans up-to-data.

Project Cost Management

This module covers key concepts and areas related to project cost management
1.The knowledge area of Project Cost Management consists of the following processes.

Project Cost Processes

Process Project Phase Key Deliverables

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 Cost Estimating Planning Activity Cost
Estimate
Cost Management
Plan
Cost Budgeting Planning Cost Baseline
Cost Control Control Cost Estimate
(Updates),
Cost baseline
(Updates).

2. Alternative identification process identifies other solutions to any identified problem.

3. Value Analysis approach is used to find more affordable, less costly methods for
accomplishing the same task.
4. The cost Estimate process takes the following inputs-
 Enterprise environmental factors assessment.
 Identification of organizational processes and assets
 Project scope statement
 Work Breakdown Structures’
 Project Management plan. This may include:
-Schedule Management plan
-Schedules Management plan
-Staffing Management plan,
-Risk register.
Selecting the appropriate method to depreciate project’s assets.
Depreciation is a technique used to compute the estimated value lost by an asset during its
life time. There are 3 techniques used to do this which include:
r. Straight line method: reduces the asset by the same amount each.
s. Declining balance method: reduces value by bigger figure in the first year and
by a lesser amount in the proceeding years.

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 t. Sum of the year’s method: Reduces asset value basing on the life of the asset.
Let’s say the life of the asset is five years, The total of one to five is fifteen. In
the first year, we reduce 5/15, 4/15 for year two and so on.
Project Cost Estimation
This is a programme manager’s Problem. It mainly involves
 Establishing the project requirements and drawing the Plan for the Project
 Estimating the Cost and establishing the Budget
 Identifying and acquiring necessary resources (People, Equipment, etc).
 Managing it (to the schedule, within budget).
NOTE: Cost is usually the boundary that cannot be crossed and is a determined by how much
(labour, materials, etc). and how long (Schedule)
The challenge is to figure out what it will take before you have done it?
Fundamentals of Costing
Cost accounting is the set of techniques; methods and principles whereby transactions are
appropriately recorded, costs are ascertained, classified and allocated to products and activities
within the organization/ project.

Cost Accounting is concerned with the allocation of costs to individual jobs, products or services
for purpose of pricing, profit measurement and inventory evaluation.

Cost Accounting is a system for recording data and producing information about costs for the
products produced by an organization and all the services it provides. It is used to establish costs
for particular activities of responsibility centers. The terms cost accounting and management
accounting are often used to mean the same thing, but are different in that management
accounting uses cost accounting information.

Classification of Costs
Cost can be classified in different ways according to the purpose for which they are to be used.

Functional Analysis of costs

a) The functional costs include;
i) Manufacturing costs

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 ii) Administration Cost
iii) Selling and Distribution Costs
iv) Research and Development (R&D) costs.

b) Classification by nature
i) Material costs,
ii) Labor costs and
iii) Other expenses

c) Classification according to ease to trace (Traceability)

Direct Cost
i) Direct material costs
ii) Direct labor costs
iii) Direct expenses.
Indirect Costs
i) Indirect material costs
ii) Indirect labor costs
iii) Indirect expenses

d) Avoidable and Unavoidable costs

Avoidable costs are costs that can be eliminated by changing the operation or taking one course
of action rather than the other.
Unavoidable costs are costs that will not be changed regardless of the decision that is made. A
distinction between avoidable and unavoidable costs is relevant in the provision of information
to management to assist in decision –making.

e) Controllable and Non Controllable costs

These are vital for purposes of providing management with control reports and control
information. It is useful to make a distinction if possible between controllable costs and costs
that cannot be controlled by a manager either because they are unavoidable or because they are
under the control of some one else.

f) According to Cost Behaviour

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Understanding cost behaviour helps in:
u. Forecasting (budgeting)
v. Controlling of costs
w. Monitoring of performance
Cost behaviour is about making analysis of the responsiveness of costs to changes in the level of
activity i.e variability of costs.
It refers to the way in which total costs or costs per unit are affected by fluctuations in the level
of activity.A common assumption in cost and management accounting is that costs belong to one
of the following categories.
i) Entirely fixed costs (fixed costs). Costs such as periodic rental charges and senior
management salaries.
ii) Entirely variable costs such as direct materials and labour costs.
iii) Semi-variable costs/semi fixed costs)

Elements of Costing
Direct Costs – Attributable to the Project and include:
x. Salaries and associated benefits, material costs payments to subcontractors or
consultants, project related travel, etc.
Indirect (Overhead) Costs – Necessary Business Expenses:
General Administrative costs, facility (space, utilities, insurance) marketing, ongoing
research and development

The Basic Cost Equation:

Cost = labor x Time + Other Direct costs + Indirect Costs
Note: Indirect Costs are usually allocated on some proportional basis of the activity each project
a Business is executing.

The Project Costing Process-Steps

– Break the Project down into a set of definable tasks (Iterative, top-down process)
- Identify major activities (Design. development, integration, production test).
- Break down further into “self Contained” tasks.

Keeping projects under Cost control and Financial management

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Cost and financial management is an important factor in controlling projects.
Important issues to consider include:-
 Examining the various approaches to estimating and costing inputs/outputs.
 Analyzing data and budget information.
 Uses and limitations of traditional project costing and evaluation methods.
 Determining cost estimates for work packages.
 Determining what cost data to collect.
 Forecasting project schedule cost for completion.
 Defining and controlling financial tolerances.
 Defining and prioritizing project resources (labor, materials etc).

Financial Reporting and Reviews

The financial reporting and review process will mitigate the risk of the project overspending and
ensure that the project is kept focused and on target. Such financial and budgetary information
may include:

1. Monthly reporting that includes:

 Time allocation (direct and indirect)
 Value of work done
 Value of rework
 Lost hours (or non productive work); extraordinary purchases.

2. Establishing the cost rate.

3. Building up project costs that include;
 Estimating staff time;
 Applying indirect costs
4. Recording and validating both direct and indirect costs

FUNDRAISING AND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

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Fundraising is not just about writing proposals or collecting money. It is about winning hearts
and minds.
It is about building a constituency of supporters for your cause. It is about learning to
communicate effectively with the public and developing a network of enthusiastic and
committed supporters for your cause.
Fundraising is divided into two parts:
Public fundraising and Institutional fundraising
Public fundraising looks at how to build a constituency in your community and raise funds from
people.
Institutional fundraising looks at managing relationships with donor organizations and how to
manage your own fundraising activities efficiently.

In public fundraising, we will look at how to:

 Mobilise support as well as funds for your cause;
 Get local people involved
 Organize local fundraising events
 Get support from local companies
 Get support in kind
 Raise money from diaspora communities
 Generate income
 Develop a fundraising strategy
 Communication effectively
 Manage your donors.

In institutional fundraising, we will look at how to;

 Describe your organization effectively to funders.
 Manage your approaches to a limited range of funders more successfully.
 Produce project proposals that follow a logical structure
 Produce a well –structured description of your project which links input of resources to
outputs and outcomes.
 Devise and implement a ‘core funding strategy’
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 Make the best use of your colleagues to help you with your fundraising.
 Make the best use of beneficiaries, volunteers and supporters in your fundraising.
 Know when to adapt projects for funders without compromising your organization’s core
objectives.
 Build and maintain relationships with your funders.
 Establish and maintain an effective paper-based record keeping system.
 Identify potential funders.
 Develop a fundraising plan

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