99457 - MANAGEMENT, MONITORAGGIO E VALUTAZIONE DI PROGETTI

Learning outcomes

This course allows the students to become familiar with the main Project Cycle Management concepts. It is intended to provide the students with the required skills for planning, formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating project activities as a tool for policy implementation at an international and European level especially. In particular, the principal learning outcomes will be: a) to analyze calls for proposals; b) to plan and formulate project proposals along with their relative attachments (e.g. budget and activity plans) according to the PCM quality criteria; c) to select and use the tools that are relevant across the different stages of PCM to monitor and evaluate development projects. Particular attention will be devoted to the tools and methods adopted by the main international agencies (particularly EU).

Course contents

The course aims at providing the relevant knowledge and skills for the preparation, management, monitoring and evaluation of project proposals under international and European calls for proposals. This is achieved through both class and house work. The methodology for the preparation and evaluation of development projects is based on the approaches adopted and recognized by the major international (e.g., the European Commission) and national organizations.

Students will be allowed to take the final test even without formal proof of attendance of all lessons. However, attending lessons is highly recommended due to the operational nature of the core competences and skills to be acquired during the course. Training and simulations will be reserved for students actually attending the majority of lessons.

The modules content and sequence may be subject to changes, given the course's workshop approach.

Methods of teaching and attendance may vary according to the evolution over time of national and regional provisions aimed at tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Module 1 – An introduction to EU programmes

This module presents and discusses the involved parties in European projects and the tools used by the responsible bodies and organizations for the provision of funding and grants. The module provides a critical analysis of the mode of disbursement of these funds and outlines the initial assessments needed to decide whether to participate in a call or not.

The aim of this module is to provide students with useful knowledge in order to critically read the calls.

1.1 EU programmes and funds

1.2 Involved institutions and organizations

1.3 Disbursement methods: call for proposals and call for tenders

Module 2 – The project cycle in the practice of international development cooperation

The module aims at analyzing the methodology first introduced by the European Commission to improve the quality of project design and management in the international cooperation and beyond. It includes the analysis of the stages of preparation and implementation of development projects, defining for each phase the role of the involved players and the decisions they must make.

The aim of this module is to provide students with the relevant knowledge in order to define a development project idea, identify problems and define objectives.

2.1 Definition and taxonomy

2.2 The five steps of the project life cycle management (PLCM)

2.2.1 Programming

2.2.2 Identification

2.2.3 Appraisal

2.2.4 Implementation

2.2.5 Evaluation

Module 3 – The Logical Framework Approach (LFA)

The module analyses the logical framework methodology as a necessary tool to draw up a project proposal which is consistent in all its parts and then to monitor and evaluate the results. The module explains the different investigations needed in order to undertake the formulation of an initial idea of the project, which will be then detailed and organized by the logical framework.

The aim of this module is to provide students with a vast range of tools for drawing up the first draft of a proposal, following the LFA methodology adopted by the European Commission since 1992. This means identifying the relevant problems and their priorities, identifying the objectives of the project, the expected results and activities to be implemented, identifying indicators that allow to monitor the implementation of the project and its ultimate success, identifying possible risks and possible strategies to address them.

3.1 Definition and taxonomy

3.2 Stakeholder analysis

3.3 Problem tree

3.4 Objective tree

3.5 The “logical framework”

3.5.1 The intervention logic

3.5.2 Indicators

3.5.3 Sources of verification

3.5.4 Risks, assumptions and preconditions

Module 4 - The project submissions' budget and details

The preparation of a good project submission requires good programming skills. This requires the ability to plan what it is needed to do, how to do it, who will do it and what will happen once it has been done. There is a number of documents to be prepared in support of the logical framework to provide details concerning the operational aspects of the project and which are just as necessary as the logical framework itself.

The aim of this module is to provide students with the relevant knowledge to draw up a budget for the project along with a coherent and realistic timetable for the phases of the project activities and to find the most suitable project partners.

4.1 Preparing the project budget

4.2 Documents and attachments for the project proposal and risk management

Module 5 - Project monitoring

In order to successfully complete a project it is important to reach the expected results with respect to times and methodologies planned in the project submission. It is therefore required a constant monitoring of the implementation of the activities in order to identify as quickly as possible any differences between what was planned and what is achieved. The module introduces the concepts of monitoring and evaluation and then delve into the first one, identifying the purpose and methods of monitoring.

The aim of this module is to provide students with the relevant knowledge to monitor the progress of a project, interpret the results of such monitoring and, where appropriate, take the necessary corrective measures.

5.1 Terms and aim of monitoring

5.2 Monitoring times

5.3 Monitoring methods and tools

Module 6 - Evaluation

Project evaluation requires to consider comprehensively, objectively and in a critique way the appropriateness of the objectives set before and achieved during the project, the quality of the implemented actions in relation to the results, the effects and the needs that are intended to be satisfied, the adequacy of the resources allocated and used. Evaluating does not only means using a technique, but also developing a process whose steps must be planned throughout the whole project lifecycle.

The module will review the main methods and tools consolidated so far in the evaluation of development projects, devoting particular attention to the tools and methods mutuated from policy evaluation techniques.

The aim of this module is to provide students with the relevant knowledge and tools to implement the evaluating process during the different phases of the project implementation.

6.1 Types of evaluation

6.2 Evaluation and criteria

6.3 Times, definitions and operational aspects of:

6.4 Implementation evaluation

6.5 Performance analysis

6.6 Outcomes and Impact evaluation: counterfactual approach, experimental and non experimental design

Readings/Bibliography

Additional readings may be provided during the workshop.

Module 1

Compulsory readings:

European Commission, Project cycle management guidelines, Bruxelles, European Commission, March, 2004.

Optional readings:

Viesti G. and Prota F. , Le politiche regionali dell'Unione Europea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007.

Module 2

Compulsory readings:

European Commission, Project cycle management guidelines, Bruxelles, European Commission, March, 2004.

Optional readings:

Blackman R., Project cycle management, Teddington, ROOTS, Tearfund, 2003.

FAO, Project cycle management technical guide, Roma, SEAGA Programme, 2001.

Module 3

Compulsory readings:

European Commission, Project cycle management guidelines, Bruxelles, European Commission, March, 2004.

Optional readings:

Blackman R., Project cycle management, Teddington, ROOTS, Tearfund, 2003.

Spreckley F. [http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/search%7ES4?/aSpreckley%2C+Freer./aspreckley+freer/-3,-1,0,B/browse], A project cycle management and logical framework toolkit: A practical guide for equal development partnerships, Birmingham, G.B. Equal Support Unit, 2006.

Module 4

Compulsory readings:

European Commission, Project cycle management guidelines, Bruxelles, European Commission, March, 2004.

Optional readings:

Blackman R., Project cycle management, Teddington, ROOTS, Tearfund, 2003.

Module 5

Compulsory readings:

European Commission, Project cycle management guidelines, Bruxelles, European Commission, March, 2004.

Optional readings:

The World Bank, Monitoring and evaluation: Some tools, methods and approaches, Washington D.C., The World Bank, 2004.

Module 6

Optional readings:

G. Antonelli, Analisi di efficacia ed efficienza nelle valutazioni in itinere ed ex post dei progetti di sviluppo locale, SDIC, Università di Bologna, 2006 (mimeo).

G. Antonelli (ed.), Valutazione e sviluppo locale. Principi teorici e applicazioni all'Appennino Bolognese, SDIC, Università di Bologna (mimeo), chaps. 4 and 5.

Stock J. H., Watson M. W., Introduzione all'econometria, Torino, Pearson Education Italia, 2005.

Teaching methods

The course adopts a teaching organization - inspired by the logic of the "inverted class" - which foresees the subdivision into two different sections.

The first section consists of 8 lectures (16 hours) and aims to introduce students to the acquisition of basic conceptual and theoretical tools. Classes will be held twice a week.

The second section, organized according to seminar methods (6 seminars, 12 hours), aims to apply and deepen knowledges.

In the seminar part, students will divide into two groups according to their preference and to the indications of the protocols relating to the health emergency, participating in one seminar per week: one group will carry out the seminar in person (12 hours) and another group will carry out the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours). Each student will therefore be involved in the classroom for a total of 28 hours.

Students are required to read the assigned material and - in the case of seminars - having active participation will be required, also through the use of presentations and case studies.

Assessment methods

Tests and assessments are designed to verify the achievement by students of the following learning objectives:

- ability to identify the objectives of a project proposal (and their hierarchy)

- ability to prepare a logical framework of the project proposal.

Students who attend classes can perform one or more presentations using slides, involving parts of the modules of the program. All presentations will be commented and discussed in the classroom.

Teaching tools

Teacher will be available on appointment to repeat concepts or give further details concerning parts of the program.

For questions, clarifications and information you can use e-mail.

The guided use of some websites presented during the lectures might prove particularly useful in the search for documentation, information and data on specific issues.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Fornaciari