This is a skill-based course that is primarily designed to provide students with practical skills they are likely to use in development contexts. The course introduces students to the planning and analysis of small-scale development projects. Types of projects covered include donor funded, government and NGO projects, primarily those aimed at income generation and poverty reduction. The course begins with the project cycle and continues to project identification, logical framework-based planning, budgets and forecasts, project valuation, management and evaluation. The course is practice-based with widespread use of group-based case studies and exercises, many drawn from real projects. The course is introductory in nature and no prior economics or financial training is needed.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Demonstrate a general understanding of the project planning and delivery process and to be able to make a critical assessment of their limitations and strengths.
Design and implement simple development projects but also to be aware of the potential problems that they may face
Read larger scale project proposals and similar documents with understanding and to critically evaluate them
Be familiar with specific develop tools such as the logical frame work and to be able to critically evaluate their use
Design and a simple monitoring and evaluation system
