Project Design & Development

Introduction

Project or programme design and development refers to the process of assessing a problem in a targeted community with the aim of building a specific project to provide solutions.

Why

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This toolkit is useful when:

• Your organisation needs to (re)define the direction of a certain project.
• You want to create a new project for a specific target group. 

What you can expect

In 8 steps, we will guide you through the process of assessing the need, analysis, addressing and designing a project.

Step 1: Needs assessment

• Assess the need for a potential or existing intervention through a variety methods of data collection, such as interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires or observations.
• The assessment should be done in a participatory manner, allowing enough space for the target group to come up with their own ideas of what they would benefit from.
• Collect enough baseline data to support your decision for an intervention.
• Watch this excellent short video from Efua Elens-Edeh on program design for NGOs:

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Step 2: Stakeholder analysis

• Identify all possible stakeholders and the role they can play in the project. 
• Group the stakeholders according to their level of influence on the impact of your program or project.
• Define their interest and how they can possibly influence the project.
• Our online course on mobilising support will help you to draft your stakeholder or actor analysis.
• This short video will give you a good idea on how to conduct your stakeholder analysis:

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Step 3: Problem analysis

• State the exact problem, including the 'who', 'what' and 'where' elements.
• Assess the causes and consequences of the problem. This is also the first step in making a logical framework, therefore that toolkit can help you.
• Identify the most important causes and consequences of the problem and their severity and extent to put proposed solutions in perspective.
• Decide which problems you can address, taking into account your resources, interests, and capacity.
• Watch this short video on how problem analysis with the participatory method 'problem tree' can help you:

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Step 4: Select interventions

• Analyse your resources and any internal and external constraints (environmental, material).
• Analyse the target group’s needs and interests.
• Identify the area where you are likely to be the most successful.
• Define your programme hypothesis in a 'if… then' form:  e.g. 'If we intervene here…. then this problem will be eliminated… and this will lead to the following result'.

Step 5: Make an action plan

• Now address the 'how': write down the activities you plan on conducting to carry out the project.
• For each activity, define the steps to be taken.
• Define a timeline for each activity.
• Design the person responsible for carrying out the tasks.
• Estimate the resources you need for each activity.
• Identify milestones and deliverables for each activity.

Step 6: Design your framework

• Phrase your overall problem statement.
• Define the purpose of your project or programme.
• Define your outcomes.
• Define the activities you have to do to achieve your outcomes.
• Define your outputs to be able to measure the results of your activities.
• Establish performance indicators to measure the success of your project.

Step 7: Determine the budget

• Based on the resources identified in your action plan, establish the budget you need for setting up and implementing the project.
• Divide the budget per item (i.e. facilities, human resources, project expenses etc).
• Watch this excellent short video with great tips on how to budget for your project or programme:

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Step 8: Write the project proposal

• Once all the previous steps have been completed, you are ready to write your proposal.
• You only need to write a proposal for funding, if you do not have the necessary budget.
• A proposal contains the needs assessment, the stakeholder analysis, the problem analysis, your problem hypothesis (i.e. your intervention area), the logical framework, the action plan, and the budget.
• See also our free online course on Proposal Writing.

Key To Success

• A comprehensive project design means a clear identification of the problem, its causes and consequences.
• Think about indicators to monitor and evaluate your programme impact right from the beginning.
• Make it participatory! Involving the beneficiaries and staff who will deliver the project in the process will help you get a better understanding of their needs.

Challenges

• A constantly changing environment forces civil society organisation to adapt frequently.
• Your organisation has to be able to distinguish between the perceived and the real needs of the targeted community, and thus involve them from the start.