Project Management

Project Management
- Hand out IFMSA Training Level 2
This handout covers the next topics:
(hyperlinks)
The Project Cycle Strategic Planning Financial Management Empowerment Evaluation

Appendices: 1. Exercise #1: Writing Goals and Objectives and making a SWOT analysis 2. Exercise #2: Writing a Strategic Plan and a Time Line
By David Spelt (IFMSA-NL) and Nawied Tehrani (BVMD) AM2006, Zlatibor, Serbia
References:
1. Nikola Borojevic (with thanks to Thomas Shiozawa and Dan Bernstein) Training and Resources Development: Strategic Planning 2. Karen Toftdahl - Project management, Training and Resource Development workshops at AM2003 in The Netherlands 3. Jacco Veldhuyzen - How to set up a project Handbook on desinging and planning projects
Handout Project management level 2 for IFMSA - AM2006, Zlatibor, Serbia By David Spelt & Nawied Tehrani
The project Cycle

The project cycle describes the different stages you should go through when doing a project, but any process can be taken as an example. One model of the components in a project is the Hetzel Wheel.
Evaluation
Assessment
Implementation
Communication
Planning
Decision
The cycle starts with assessment. You need to: define the problem, need or opportunity verify it exists research and contact others who are doing something similar possibly do a baseline survey, a survey that defines the existing situation The next step is communicating your idea and findings to a group, who together can take the Decision: This is where you decide whether or not the project is a good idea, worthwhile, realistic, feasible, and if you will put all the energy into it, that it demands. If you dont have the motivation and time or cant gather the resources, you should not do the project. Planning: This involves strategic planning and more practical preparations, see below. This step is really important to spend some time on, to avoid making mistakes or failing in the next phase. Implementation, or put in simpler terms, the do phase, is where you carry out the project. Monitoring and evaluation is carried out both during and after the project. Monitoring is checking to see how the project is progressing, and evaluation is carried out to improve or assess the outcome (see below). You may have to go back to a previous step if you have not done it thoroughly enough, or you encounter unforeseen problems. In which parts of the project cycle have you experienced problems, in your project work? Hopefully, this workshop will show you how to solve or prevent the problems that everyone faces at some point during a project.
Please think about / use this Project Cycle with additional activities:
RECRUITMENT SUSTAINABILITY IDEA MOTIVATION
EVAULATE
GROUP
TEAM
TEAM-BUILDING
ACTIVITY
SITUATION ANALYSIS
SWOT
FUNDING
PROJECT PLANNING PUBLICITY
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic Planning
If you dont know where youre going, it doesnt matter which way you go. (Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland by L. Caroll)
What is Strategic Planning? A process which allows effective, efficient means of overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals. Why to plan strategically? Useful in establishing clear and common goals Useful in discovering needs to accomplish aims Taking enough time for SP will safe time later in the project To work more effective and efficient Create credibility: your project looks organized towards externals What steps are required? 1. PLAN Decide the organisation (how many people? meet how often?) and the aims of the strategic planning process Find out the relevant history (what activities have we already done/tried/completed? 2. OBJECTIVES Vision statement what will success look like? How does my ideal look like? Mission statement must be shared * Purpose (what are you trying to accomplish?) to eliminate homelessness in Mexico City * Business (what activities do you actually do?) to construct cheap housing to create jobs * Values (principles, beliefs) the most needy first, reward honesty, for the good of the community To clarify your Mission Statement you write Goals. Goals are general, not time bound, abstract and broad. Its possible to have more than one goal. To achieve your goals you create Objectives. Objectives are precise, concrete, always time bound and narrow. bjectives must be SMART Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time Bound 3. SWOT What helps/stops your goals being achieved? Fill in the SWOT table based on your objectives. Internally: Strengths: manpower, enthusiasm S W Weaknesses: lack of skills Externally: O T Opportunities: support of local housing authority Threats: lack of funding, public apathy May need to research the current climate laws, epidemiology, politics, needs. Use your Strengths and Opportunities and be aware of your Weaknesses and Threats.
4. STRATEGIC PLAN Identify most important elements from SWOT, eg: recruitment to harness the manpower rewards to maximise enthusiasm training to get skills use authority to get funds and do PR campaign to generate support Develop strategy and strategic planning specific goals for each 5. ACTION PLAN What will happen exactly? Who will do it? (Dont over-commit!) When will this happen? Organisational structure - roles, meetings The Plan It must be usable readable, and not too complicated. Involve everybody ownership Address the right, agreed issues credibility, and people will use it. Should be realistic and achievable. Should decide who will do what and how it will be executed. Should include a continuous evaluation process, and a way to revise the plan. Whats the point of all this? Everybody agrees on and owns goals Effective and efficient management Crisis management Allocation of resources Credibility - look organised Means of evaluation Continuity
Financial Management
is about how you take care of finances. Financial management gets in the picture when you have defined your vision, mission, goals and objectives, and have made a plan of action. You have an organizing committee (team), and have plans of rounding up a staff and making a final report. You are about to start your fundraising, and are beginning to handle money. There are some things you need to know, in order to manage your finances. Legal issues: There are three things you need to be sure of. 1. The organization you are doing the project for or in, should know what you are doing, and accept your activities. You need a written proof that you have the right to use your organizations name to promote the project. (Example: doing the Teddy Bear Hospital within your NMO, you need to know if the NMO will let you use the NMOs name and logo in fundraising and marketing). 2. Make sure that your external partners have done the same, so you are not talking to someone you think is representing an organization that he really isnt a part of. 3. Know who will have to pay the debt, if the project goes bankrupt. For many organizations, this is written in the constitution or bylaws. The budget, general comments: The budget must make the reader (potential sponsor etc.) confident, that the project is realistic and that the people involved are capable of handling the money. The longer the planning period is, the harder it is to make exact predictions of what the costs will be (prices and circumstances change). Identify things that can be sponsored in other than money. Remember all incomes and expenses. The budget should be easy to edit (written in Excel or equivalent) so it is always updated. The budget is very closely linked to strategic planning. It is easier to predict larger areas than specific things, as the specific things in an area may be more or less than predicted, and can even the cost out when taken together. Make great effort to find out the actual cost of things instead of giving a wild guess call and ask or go and see. You should be pessimistic, expect small incomes and large expenses in each area. Avoid inflation of the budget (overestimating costs), because the potential sponsors will notice. Make a minimum budget (based on the least amount of money that the project can be run for) and a maximum budget (the comfortable version, for fundraising). Always add at least 10% as unforeseen expenses, or at the very least 5-7 %. Round up your numbers, as is appropriate for a guess, but do try to be as exact as possible. Have another person look through the numbers.
The budget, how to set it up: In any budget, you need to be able to see how the total sum is reached. Materials and service that you are getting for free can be added under Incomes or under both Incomes and Expenses. The balance of the budget (incomes minus expenses) should be roughly zero, when doing non-profit projects. When doing projects that aim to raise money for charities, your balance should be as high as possible showing you will raise a lot of money and dont have too many expenses.
Example: NMO meeting Incomes: Participation fees Donations - Dean of faculty - NMO - different sponsors Sponsored material Incomes in all Expenses: Rent of facilities Food Transportation Administration/plan Training program - gifts for trainers - transportation - salary Social program - decorations - materials - beer for games - other plans Extra expenses Expenses in all Balance: -2 euro The role of the treasurer: The treasurer is not necessarily part of the fundraising team, but is the person responsible for keeping track of incomes and expenses. There has to be one person who is responsible for archiving all receipts and proofs of payment, and that person must be organized. It is easier to keep track of, if you have one bank account for each project, but you may be able to use the bank account of your organization (e.g. national member organization). In the last case, you need to have the national treasurer do the withdrawals and deposits as he/she has the authorization to do that. The project treasurer should do all the rest budget, keeping all receipts and filing them by date and the cash flow sheet. Cash flow sheet, cashbook: It is a practical necessity to know how much money is where at which point in time, also whether or not it is meant to be used for specific things. Any movement of money is registered, and again it is important to have receipts for everything. If the cash flow sheet is made well, it doesnt matter if you mix the projects money with your own money in your pocket you will know exactly how much of it is the projects. n 60 people, 6 meals 60 people 7 people 8 meetings 3 3 3 Price per Subtotal piece 2,5 euro 30 euro 2 euro 10 euro 40 euro 20 euro 960 euro 1800 euro 112 euro 30 euro 120 euro 360 euro 460 euro 120 euro 140 euro euro 190 euro 600 euro 5842 euro n Price per piece 60 people 14 euro Subtotal 840 euro 2000 euro 1000 euro 2000 euro 0 Total 840 euro 5000 euro
120 sandwiches
0 5840 euro Total 1400 euro 960 euro 1800 euro 112 euro 510 euro
Example:
Date 3-8 3-8 3-8 3-8 4-8 4-8 Description
Deposit ed Status Nat. drink Withdrawal Bus to the hotel Sold T-shirts Deposit
Cash
Withdrawn 15 60 35 100 100 Balance 0 -15 45 10 110 10 Deposited
Bank
Withdraw n Balance 800 800 740 740 740 840
Total
800 785 785 750 850 850
60
100
If money from a sponsor is earmarked to go to a specific thing, for example to pay the speakers who will lecture or train during the project, you can make an account, which also has the sub points of deposited, withdrawn, and balance. The money will then be seen in a different column than the ones in the bank, and you dont risk using them for something else than what they were meant for. Example (the Cash account is left out because of lack of space on this paper):
Date 4 June Description Donated for speaker salaries Deposited 200 Bank Withdrawn 200 Balance (as before) Only for speakers Deposited Withdrawn Balance 200 200 Total (as before plus 200)
You can make as many accounts on the cash flow sheet as you need to be in control of how much there is for each part, how much there is left and how much you have in all. After the project: The treasurer checks to see if everything is as the cash flow sheet says, that all receipts are collected and organized by date, and hands the materials over to the accountant. The accountant goes through the papers and presents the final result through accounting and audit. For projects with large budgets, it is important to have professionals do the audit, so the sponsors can see how the money was spent and be assured of the quality of the data. On smaller projects, a volunteer can do the checking of transactions and presentation of the financial report. In case of a positive balance, the sponsors should be asked whether or not the extra money could be used later for the same or other projects. Finally and most important, the treasurer is responsible for passing on the knowledge and experience to the next treasurer.
In summary: Financial management includes having a good grasp on budget, cash flow and accounting. Passing on the knowledge and skills to others who will be working in financial management is also of great importance.
Empowerment
General introduction: Whenever people meet to form a group, a structure will be established. The group might naturally select a leader, or someone with the most resources may take charge, the others complying. We will often be in a situation where we are the ones with the resources, and using empowerment we should recognize the power that naturally comes with knowledge, and learn how to share it. The groups we are working for should be given autonomy; the power and responsibility to make their own decisions. To enable others to decide what to do, we need to share our knowledge, and be willing to trust them to solve the task responsibly. Where can you use empowerment? In a wide array of projects, using empowerment is the obvious choice. Some examples are patient centred medical care (power transferred from the doctor to the patient), problem based learning (power from the teacher to the learning group), and peer education (power from the health workers to the community). Why would I want to empower people? It allows efficient use of resources and maximizes human potential. It corrects inequalities and contributes to sustainable development. Why would I not want to empower people? If you find that it is too difficult or dangerous, people are lazy, stupid, corrupt and selfish, and you cant really change things. How do I empower a group? Be critical of your own power, and the power of other leaders. Facilitate the group to say what their problems and strengths are (SWOT), and let them work out how they best can change their situation. Make them feel good about themselves. How to monitor the group characteristics of teams: When being the facilitator you need to pay attention to the development of the group concerning these six components. 1. Interaction how is the group behaving, is anyone dominating or being left out? 2. Structure which roles are there in the group, and which behaviours go with the roles? 3. Size how does the size affect the organizational culture? 4. Goals does the group have clear and common goals, so they work in the same direction? 5. Cohesiveness are the relationships in the group strong and are they giving enjoyment? 6. Temporal changes how is the group changing over time, new situations emerging? Group stages: A group goes through stages, generally as follows: 1. Forming how the group gets together (by election, self-appointment, volunteering) 2. Storming: Roles are being established and cohesiveness is developed. The social aspects of the group need to be settled before the group can work efficiently time needs to be spent on teambuilding. 3. Performing: The group functions and is efficient, roles are well defined, and are focused on the teams work. How to be a good group facilitator: 1. Be yourself 2. Love and trust your group 3. Empathise with your group and say that you do 4. Be a neutral servant 5. Do not evaluate or contribute 6. Help the group to focus 7. Offer choices, tools, options to the group 8. Summarize whats been said
9. Find consensus 10. Protect participants 11. Hold back people who cause the group problems Why empowerment can go wrong You have to trust people You have to compromise on your own agenda Bureaucracy builds up little by little People dont believe in democracy, they dont expect you to really give up any power Power feels very nice! It is hard to give away. Everyone must keep in mind: Power comes with responsibility. Go to the people Live with them Learn from them Love them Start with what they know Build with what they have But of the best leaders When the job is done The task accomplished Then the people will say We have done it ourselves. - Lao Isu, China 700 B.C.
Evaluation
Why do you evaluate projects? Two main reasons to evaluate a project are to improve the project (formative evaluation) and to assess an outcome (summative evaluation). What do you evaluate about a project? You must refer to the goals and the objectives that you have previously defined. Did you reach your goals? What should be improved in the way you did it? Having clear and measurable objectives makes the evaluation of the project very simple. All parts of the process can be evaluated the fundraising, the project team work, the satisfaction of the participants The evaluation should focus on five major points: Efficiency: if you do the task spending as few resources as you can; Effectiveness: if you are reaching the objectives you planned; Impact: the extent to which you affect your target group; Relevance: are you doing the right project in the right situation? Sustainability: will the project survive over time? Tools of evaluation: The most used tool is a questionnaire. Other ways of evaluating are personal interview, complaints box, feedback groups, participating observation, and games. When designing a questionnaire there are a few things you must keep in mind when writing the questions. There must be both positive and negative formulations No double negations No double questions Ask questions that will help you make improvements Be aware of language problems and use simple vocabulary Why do evaluations fail? There are many reasons: no one reads them, no follow-up, no one makes the changes the next time, no one takes them seriously, bad questions, no clear aim for the evaluation, unclear answers, poor analysis, failure to collect the forms, time of evaluation, evaluation is not published. How to avoid these problems: You should pre-test the evaluation. A pre-test is a test similar to the potential final version that you distribute to a selected number of people. You then see how the evaluation works in practice. You need to make sure that you motivate the participants to say what they really mean, and that they feel involved in the evaluation process. You should explain the aims of the evaluation and personally address the participants. The publishing of the outcome makes the evaluation transparent, and the participants know the evaluation is taken seriously. The evaluation forms or whichever kind of evaluation you have must be analysed shortly after the project. Collect the data and interpret it, to make a summary of the outcome. And most important: Follow-up. Act on what you have discovered in the evaluation (or make it available to others who will do it next) or else you may as well not do it. Dont forget to evaluate the follow-up.
Take home messages: Clear goals and objectives are essential for evaluation Evaluation without follow-up is useless Transparency and involvement significantly improve the efficiency of evaluation Evaluation can definitely improve your project
Do
Plan
Observe
Think
We used two Exercises to put all the theory into practice. 1. Write goals and objectives (SMRT) and do a SWOT analysis 2. Write a strategic action plan and a Time Line Chart (Gantt Chart)
More sources: we recommend reading some more background information

Aid Delivery Methods Vol. 1: Project Cycle Management Guidelines, European Commission March 2004, http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/qsm/index_en.htm Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Copyright 1999, Authenticity Consulting, LLC: http://www.managementhelp.org/plan_dec/project/project.htm Wikipedia: Project Management: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management#The_traditional_approach Wikipedia: Gantt Chart: (the time line schedule we used in the exercise) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_Chart
Interested in Training? Contact our IFMSA Training Directors: training@ifmsa.org Check out the IFMSA Training Website: www.ifmsa.org/training Find more training info at: Salto-Youth Resource Centres, European Union Education and Culture Toolbox for Training: http://www.salto-youth.net/toolbox/
Questions about this handout: David Spelt : d.s.spelt@gmail.com Nawied Tehrani: nawittchen@gmx.de

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- Hand out IFMSA Training Level 2

This handout covers the next topics:

The Project Cycle Strategic Planning Financial Management Empowerment Evaluation

The project Cycle

PROJECT PLANNING PUBLICITY

More sources: we recommend reading some more background information

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