Foundations of Project/Program Cycle Management

Description

The course examines the role of the “project” relative to other aid delivery methods such as sector support and budget support used by the Donors/Development partners in pursuit of development cooperation objectives. An analysis of all the different phases of the project/programme cycle will be carried out to emphasis the methodology for preparing, implementing and evaluating projects and programmes. Particular effort will be made to bring clarity to the terminology used by the donors/development partners for the different stages for the project/programme cycle.

The 6 phases of the Project/Programme Cycle

Programming, which is the first phase of the project/programme cycle will involve an analysis of the process of setting broad national/regional/ sector policy objectives at the global/overall level. The links between these overall objectives and those of the Millennium Development Goals will be demonstrated. The Principles of the Paris Declaration, Accra Agenda for Action as well as the most recent update on Aid Effectiveness will be considered.

Following on from programming, the various techniques used in the Identification of projects/programmes from the prioritised list of overall objectives will be explored in the second phase of the project cycle i.e. Identification.

The third phase of the project cycle, Formulation will focus on designing and developing the concept of the project/programme and testing its logic and feasibility i.e. technically, socially and environmentally.

In the fourth phase of Financing, the contractual obligations between the funding agency i.e. the Contracting Authority and the Implementing Agency/party will be examined.

The Implementation Phase will involve outlining the stages of implementation with emphasis on what needs to happen in the three important stages of (i) Inception (2) Operational and (3) Phase out. The Principles of Monitoring will be discussed as well as how to design a monitoring system.

The Evaluation Phase will analyse the 5 main Evaluation criteria used by the major Donor/Development Partners (Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and sustainability). The rationale as to why different Donors/Development partners use more or less than 6 phases in their project/programme cycle will be explained.

Objective

The principal workshop objective is to ensure participants have enhanced capacity and understanding in the areas of Project Cycle Management, Logical Framework Approach, Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Identification, Project Formulation and Appraisal and Project Implementation. Participants will also get an update of the funding trends of the major Donors/Development Partners. 

Audience

The target audience includes those involved in development projects, particularly policy makers (Government and Donors/Development Partners), Planning Officers of Line Ministries and NGOs.

Pre-requisites

There are no pre-requisites for this course but participants should be involved in an on-going projects or at least preparing one.

Learning outcomes

Participants will have a better understanding of:

• the funding trends of major Donors/Development Partners
• the project cycle, decision points, key documents and use of the Quality Frame
• the principles of the Logical Framework Approach
• how  to design a project according to the Logical Framework Approach
• how to prepare and assess the quality of a Logical Framework Matrix
• how to assess project implementation arrangements
• how to design a Monitoring and Evaluation System
• how to accurately choose indicators and sources of verification
• how to apply the 5 evaluation criteria used by the  major Donors/Development partners

Learning methods

The learning method will be based on the principle of adult learning in a participatory manner. Case studies used will be of existing projects which participants are involved or of their new projects in the design and preparatory stage. The aim of this approach is to ensure relevance and direct application of the tools acquired.