Source: www.fonsforngos.org
Whether you are an experienced project leader or you are moving your first steps in the NGO-world, you should keep in mind that the secret of being successful in this field is to plan in advance to deliver what you promised. To have a good idea is rarely enough to achieve concrete changes in your community. Certainly, creativity will help you imagining how to tackle an existing problematic situation and propose a set of activities, which could interest the youth of your community. Yet, if you want to attract funding both from development agencies and private donors you have to learn how to write a project,monitoring its development and report to those whosponsored you. This is why to understand what projectmanagement entails is of crucial importance.
Project management is the process of designing and monitoring the development of a set of activities aimed to reach a goal. It starts with the analysis of one or more issues relevant to your community in order to propose a concretestrategy able to address said issues with the aim of solving existing problems. Project management begins with an in-depth analysis of the economic, social and political situation of your community.
Once you gathered this information, you will draw on the collected data to build your project proposal, which will include the rationale of the proposed project, its main goals, the timeframe and its main outputs. A successful project proposal is the one that clearly states the steps you are taking to move from the evaluation of a problematic situation to its resolution in a limited time span. Additionally, a successful proposal includes an explanation of how you intent to monitor the development of your project as a means to assess its final outcomes and your overall success. You should also take into consideration that planning has to deal with the uncertainty of the future.
As such, a strong proposal draws on the analysis of the present to list a series of potential risks that the project is taking also to imagine ways in which you could engage with them if they happened. Lastly, a good proposal spells out how you intent to report on the progress of your project to your stakeholders being them your donors, potential partner organisations, your community and your target group. This part is of utter importance especially for those who are financially supporting your activities. To clearly state how you will communicate with them, when, and how they will become part of your project (for instance by participating in the final events, meeting the participants, or reviewing your financial activities) will demonstrate your ability to manage a grant and it will support the creation of long-term working relationships with donors, who might become interested in sponsoring other future projects.
The next 5 sections will guide you through the main phases of project management. You will be given a general idea of what is expected from you. You will also find a list of common mistakes to be avoided. Further, each section will give you examples and practical information that you can use to write your own projects targeting youth.
Will be continue in next blog.
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