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