Project Planning and the Planning Cycle
PIA 2501
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.
Discussion: Authors of the Week
Isabel Allende- Clarrisa”
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Book of Sand”
The Problems of Development Management: Next Week
Quote of the Week: Revisit the Quiet American
Discussion
"The Human Condition being what it was, let them fight, let them love, let them murder, I would not be involved."
Graham Greene
Review
Neo-Orthodox View of Planning
To what extent is the state planning approach necessary?
Mandated by technical assistance
Expanded government meant specialized planning organizations and the rise of development economics as a discipline
To what extent is the state planning approach necessary?
The issue of grass roots participation was raised
There was rhetoric of a command economy as opposed to a market economy with two extremes and the soft state in-between
The Reality is in-between: Public Private Partnerships
Limitations of Planning
To what extent is the state planning approach possible?
Issue of growth vs. distribution
Issue of planning vs. ways in which budget priorities are set
Debate about the coordination of planning voluntary vs. hierarchical authority
Structural Reforms- Review
The Change: Overemphasized the Anti-State theme
Result Since 1985, privatization, public sector
reform and structural adjustment New Theories
Neo-orthodoxy based upon Public and Social (Rational Choice) ideas
What was “Developmental” in the 1990s?
Contemporary Themes of Development- Review
Except for the Newly Industrializing Countries(NICs), the failure of Development Management as a method
Question: does failure occur as a result of state collapse? (Goran Hyden)
What is the future of Development Planning
Level of Analysis Issue & Planning
Public Policy Overall decisions to take action
Programs Ongoing areas of activity within a
policy area, a nucleus to carry out program
Projects Discrete time-bound, often sector
or spatially based activity
Contemporary Themes of Development
Problem of government as a negative; a state centric vs. society centric view
How does that translate into public private partnerships? (Robert Bates, Eleanor Ostrom)
Issue of "implementation," the neglected component of development policy (Pressman)
Contemporary Themes of Development
• Institution building is a pre-requisite
• Development Policy is environmentally bound;
• Importance of micro-macro linkages (Kathleen Staudt)
What is “Developmental” in the 1990s?
The PROJECT as an operational concept
Project Planning
The Blue Print Approach
Project Management Defined
Setting of priorities for the use of a limited amount of scarce resources and
a limited amount of time.
The New Orthodoxy
The PROJECT as an operational concept The Problems of Development
Management Project management means loss of
control over programs and policy Project Characteristics:
-Discrete tasks-Time Bound-fixed amount of money
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
Blue Print
Secure coordinated action and cooperation
especially in problem of communications
Seek funding for projects Make Go/No Go Decision
Implementation:
Monitoring and 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
Afghanistan, 2005- Office of President
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 (more often) 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 2490--Skills in Development Management: Privatization and Contracting Out
Interaction of Major Agency Processes
Office ofManagementAnd Budget
(OMB)
Evaluation
Ex-PostFacto
Evaluation
Implementa-tion
Pre-Implementa-
tion
ProjectPaper(PP)
ProjectReviewPaper(PRP)
ProjectIdentificationDocument
(PID)
Field ofConcentration
Strategy(DAPII)
CountryProgramStrategy(DAPI)
PriorEvaluation
OperationalYear Budget
(OYB)Appropriation
CongressionalPresentation
(CP)
BudgetSubmissions
OngoingProjects
HostCountry
Legis-lation
ForeignPolicy
LDCNeeds
Agency PolicyGlobal Sector Strategies
Regional StrategiesResearch Strategy
Management Objectives
Financial MANAGEMENTProgramming INFORMATION Management ReportsImplementation SYSTEM External NeedsProgram Support Data Bank (CPDB, PAIS, DIS, ESDB)Personnel Administration Support Database for Future Decisions, PolicyLessons Learned
Evaluation Criteria
Project ReportingProject PerformanceTracking (PPT);Financial Reporting
Planning
Budgeting
Design Approval
Implementation
Evaluation
Reporting
BREAK
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
Source: Project Management System, Practical Concepts, Inc., Washington, DC 1979.
Project Objectives Achieved
3. Evaluation 2. Execution
1. Design
The Project Cycle
Logical Framework Performance Networks
Practical Concepts, Incorporated
Project Objectives Achieved
3. Evaluation 2. Execution
1. Design
Evaluation System Reporting 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 Toolsto 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
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
Target Group
Grassroots Organizations
Civic Education
Land Rural Industries
Governance / Democracy
Communica-tion and Support
NGOs Women’s Focused Groups
Decentralization