Project Planning and the Planning Cycle PIA 2501

Project Planning The Blue Print Approach

What is “Developmental” in the 1990s? The PROJECT as an operational concept

Project Management Defined Setting of priorities for the use of a limited amount of scarce resources and a limited amount of time.

Triumph of the Donor  Need for the "Blueprint" approach  Donors vs. the Learning Process  The Blue Print problem and Project Management

The Blueprint Approach Defined by a series of steps: Identification of available resources and setting of financial priorities  Need to distinguish incremental budgeting from capital or development budgets  Capital or Development Budgets are one time investments Key: Built-in (sunken) costs and problem of maintenance and recurrent implications

The Blueprint Approach  Defined by a series of steps: Identification of or selection of appropriate means (Funding) Formulation of specific activities Provision for plan's implementation Secure coordinated action and cooperation  especially in problem of communications Seek funding for projects Make Go/No Go Decision Implementation: Monitoring Evaluation

Location, Location, Location Location of planning Center: Manager of the Blueprints Ultimately a political question- Central Control President or Prime Minister’s Office Ministry of Finance and Development Planning

Location, Location, Location  Location of planning Center: Manager of the Blueprints Separate Departments or Commissions for Development and Planning Exercises  Depends upon International Technical Assistance  Private or NGO Contractor  Regional and local government  Social Funds

Location, Location, Location  Location of planning Center: Manager of the Blueprint  Use and overuse of inter- departmental committees

Controversy over the nature of planner  Cadre of Economists, budget specialists and project analysts  Informal ties with planner/economists in other ministries  Special issue of foreign international expatriate planners  Planning as shopping list for donors (pork barrel projects)  Politicos emphasis on physical planning infrastructure--problem of maintenance

The Project Cycle  By 1990, largely a donor-driven process  Overview: Projects discrete time bound Sector or spatially based activity Responsibility for generating specific results within time specific space

The Project Cycle  Types of Projects Nationally sponsored  paid by country or private foundations Donor projects Local level community based  village development activities District or regional level sectoral projects  integrated rural development NGO/PVO projects

The Project Cycle  Role of Technical Assistance* Grants Contracts Cooperative Agreements Sub-grants managed by non-profits *For Further Information on Technical Assistance and Contracts see presentations of PIA Skills in Development Management: Privatization and Contracting Out

Interaction of Major Agency Processes Office of Management And Budget (OMB) Evaluation Ex-Post Facto Evaluation Implementa- tion Pre- Implementa- tion Project Paper (PP) Project Review Paper (PRP) Project Identification Document (PID) Field of Concentration Strategy (DAPII) Country Program Strategy (DAPI) Prior Evaluation Operational Year Budget (OYB) Appropriation Congressional Presentation (CP) Budget Submissions Ongoing Projects Host Country Legis- lation Foreign Policy LDC Needs Agency Policy Global Sector Strategies Regional Strategies Research Strategy Management Objectives Financial MANAGEMENT Programming INFORMATION Management Reports Implementation SYSTEM External Needs Program SupportData Bank (CPDB, PAIS, DIS, ESDB) Personnel Administration SupportDatabase for Future Decisions, Policy Lessons Learned Evaluation Criteria Project Reporting Project Performance Tracking (PPT); Financial Reporting Planning Budgeting Design Approval Implementation Evaluation Reporting

The Project Cycle  The Management Model The Blueprint model  Process information and define projects  National plan leads to programs Programs lead to projects funded by donors

The Project Cycle  Design Identifying nature of problem and possible solutions--specific needs and desired changes  Appraisal (Mandatory) data needed to prepare project plan

The Project Cycle  Analysis--collection of data: Social Analysis targeted groups: women, minorities, indigenous peoples Economic Analysis--Cost Benefit Institutional Analysis  Sustainability  Organizational Requirements  Recurrent Cost Implications  Human Skills Needed  Social Acceptance

The Project Cycle  Analysis--collection of alternatives: Prediction Selection of preferred alternatives The Logical Framework: (LOGFRAME)  If-then conditions The Cycle and the Documents BREAK

Source: Project Management System, Practical Concepts, Inc., Washington, DC Project Objectives Achieved 3. Evaluation2. Execution 1. Design The Project Cycle

Logical Framework Performance Networks Practical Concepts, Incorporated Project Objectives Achieved 3. Evaluation2. Execution 1. Design Evaluation SystemReporting System Evaluations assess performance against plans and analyze causal linkages Progress indicators and formats for communicating project information Networks display performance plans over time ACHIEVEMENT EXCEPTION Project Management System Provides Management Tools to Support all Stages of the Project Cycle

Preparation of Documents: Donor - USAID  Country Strategy Paper  Concept Paper  Project Identification Document (PID)

PP (USAID) (PP = Project Paper) Program Agreement (Donor) Technical Proposal (Contractor to Donor) Country Context (Contractor to Country) Implementation Documents

The Project Cycle  Implementation  The Go/No Go Decision Carrying out actions planned Personnel  local (and foreign) Physical and organizational Needs

The Project Cycle  Monitoring and Evaluation Understanding what has happened and assessing changes and quality of change Issue: sustainability regarding follow- on within the country and replicability from one country to another

Monitoring and Evaluation  Nature of Data: Interview vs. survey Seat of the pants observation  "the old quick and dirty" The problem of project goals:  Goals are to be limited and bounded  Specific activities are to be clearly defined and achieved  Short run success leads to successful evaluation  Short-term loop is five years

Monitoring and Evaluation  Nature of Data: Judgment: Evaluation vs. Assessment  Two views: a. Learn from experience b. Judge performance  Problem: judgment requires clear goals, in contradiction with learning  Problem: power of the expert

Monitoring and Evaluation  Nature of Data: Evaluation is a donor requirement  External activity  Targets blueprint activity (CPA)  Critical path analysis (Time based action)  PERT chart (Project Evaluation Review Technique) very technical, programmed  Evaluation often the need for more action

Monitoring and Evaluation  Nature of Data: Evaluation as an end product:  Separate from implementation  Action pre-determined in design prior to evaluation Separates evaluation from the on-going activity

Monitoring and Evaluation  Nature of Data: Problem with Evaluation concept  Implementation suggests a finished product  Bureaucratic action is ongoing  Part of larger system with ambiguous boundaries Assessment  Ongoing, part of implementation process  Inter-American Development Bank- Advocates On-going Evaluation as part of Monitoring Exercises

The Problem  Incrementalism: Planning vs. Implementation Planning challenges incremental behavior Organizations  Problem of innovation incrementalism is the operational reality

The Goal  Goal: Bottom Up Participation Planning vs. politics: myths of participation

The Goal  Learning Process Model--“incrementalism“- theoretical alternatige  Bottom up and interactive  Village development committees vs. local planning officers  Paternalism of the district officer vs. patronage of local level minor networks  Street level bureaucrats vs. agents from center

Discussion: Authors of the Week  In Our Image Is assimilation the answer? In the Philippines, South East Asia, Middle East / Africa?  Progress? (Joyce Cary) Is progress the answer?  Violence? (Fuentes and Singh) Is development the answer?

The Problems of Development Management: Next Week  Quote of the Week:  Discussion "The Human Condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved." Graham Greene

Graham Greene The Quiet American  Themes The US Mission The Third Force The Advantage of the Revolutionaries The French View?

Graham Greene The Quiet American  Characters The American and the American’s theory of development The British Journalist--Engage? The Vietnamese Woman (Passive?)  Conclusions about Foreign Aid and Foreign Policy?

Author of the Week: Next Week: Arturo Escobar  What Does Escobar say about the concepts Development Economics and Planning?  How does he "Deconstruct" development? What does that mean?  "What Is To Be Done?" according to Escobar.