Basic Project Management Program Workshop: Best Practices in Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

Program overview:

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end, typically to bring about beneficial changes or added value and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies. 

For whom:

Managers who are involved in initiating and managing projects, Project Administrators, Contractors and those involved in monitoring and evaluating on-going projects

 Learning objectives:

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• describe key aspects of project design, planning, implementation, administration and monitoring and evaluation; 
• design, implement, monitor and evaluate projects;
• design a logical framework and translate it into a concise and budget and a simple work plan;
• use the logical framework to design an effective monitoring and evaluation system for tracking and reporting results for your organization; and
• apply best practices techniques for project management, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Course outline:

 Day 1: What is Project Management?

• Overview of Project Management:
  • Initiation, Planning,
  • Implementation,
  • Control and Close out.,
• Stakeholder management and engagement,
  • responsibilities and boundaries,
  • Project Cash Flow

Day 2: Planning Projects for Results    

• Project planning (Work breakdown structures),·
• Project Budgeting (Estimating and scheduling work) ·
• Work plan Development
  • (The logical framework approach),
• Designing a Project Goal Outcomes/ Output/Activities)
  • Establishing appropriate milestones

 Day 3: Organizing the Project

• Managing the established milestones, ·
• Getting to grips with information management
• Managing project costs – what you need to know,
  • Network diagrams and Gantt charts,

Day 4: Controlling the Project

• Handling the changes and challenges that affect projects,
• Running effective change control processes
• Project control systems,
• Leadership qualities that get results

Day 5:  Project Monitoring and Evaluation

• The need for monitoring and evaluation of projects,
• Monitoring in all process of the project cycle
• Identifying outcome indicators for your project
  • Project KPIs
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework
  • Types of data & Interpretation of data,
• Writing an effective M/E report

Training Methodology

Lectures, discussions, exercises, and case studies will be used to reinforce these teaching/learning methods.