Overview
Application of appropriate project management techniques is extremely crucial for the achievement of desired goals and objectives for donor funded projects. Success or failure of a project is fundamentally in the hands of key players in the management of projects. Without effective project management, a project may become unmanageable and diverge from the set scope of work, miss milestones, and ultimately fail to provide the desired target outcomes.
Course Description
Donor funded projects have stringent guidelines that the beneficiaries of the funds must adhere to in order to avoid conflicting with the donors. This course introduces participants to the trends and requirements for project management as it relates to donor funded projects. It emphasises the key tools and techniques necessary to effectively manage donor funded projects, large and small. The course includes analysis of the different phases of the project/programme cycle to emphasis the methodology for preparing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating projects and programmes. It also examines the role of the “project” relative to other aid delivery methods used by donors/development, such as budget support. The training ensures that participants have enhanced understanding of the terminology used by the donors/development partners for the different stages of the project/programme cycle.
Project Management for Donor Funded Projects (Pretoria, South Africa)
- This programme is aimed at programme or project administrators, coordinators and managers wanting to understand the key drivers of project management for donor funded projects
- Procurement officers, funding officers, policy makers, economists, community development officers
- Any professionals looking forward to strengthening their knowledge of project management
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
• Design project/programmes that meet the requirements of the major donors/development partners
• Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts of project management
• Understand the project cycle, decision points, key documents
• Understand key project management approaches especially the logical framework
• Design a project according to the logical framework approach
• Prepare activity schedules, budgets and resources schedules
• Design a monitoring and evaluation system
• Accurately choose indicators and sources of verification
• Apply the evaluation criteria used by the major donors/development partners
• Assess project implementation arrangements
• Follow laid down donor specific procedures in funding requests
• Evaluate donor requirements
• Provide tools for efficient management of donor funded projects
- Introduction, definitions, key concepts
- Project fundamentals
- Project cycle management
- Project identification
- Project budgeting and planning
- Project formulation
- Project planning, schedules, WBS
- Project analysis and needs requirements
- Appraisal and project implementation
- Project implementation work plan
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Project execution and closure
- Logical framework approach
- Procurement guidelines
- Common payment/disbursement problems in donor funded projects
- Donor policies and procedures
- Complying with donor procedures
- Nature of donor funded projects
- Developing effective partnerships for projects
- Preparing successful project proposals
- Managing donor funds and assets
- Management of donor relations
- Stakeholders analysis and engagement
The training approach is highly interactive. It uses a mixture of presentations by the facilitator and by participant(s), group or individual exercises, use of case studies and role plays. These proven learning techniques enhance understanding and retention of covered issues.