IFMSA-Egypt Projects' Management Manual Kit

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

Contents • Introduction………………….………………………………………………………………………………….3 • What is a project?..............................................................................................4 • Characteristics of a project………………………………….……………………………………………5 • How to start a project?.......................................................................................6 W-Questions Four Factors in a successful project • Project Cycle……………………………………….……………………………………..……………………8 • The Problem Analysis……………..…………………………………………………….……………….10 • Goals & Objectives………………………………………………………………………….……………..12 Goals, Objectives, Activities, Plan of Action • A guide to setting priorities……………………….……………………………….………………….13 • Dissemination & Sustainability………………….…………………………………………………..14 • Stakeholders’ Management……………………….………………………………………………….15 • SWOT Analysis…….………………………………………………………………………………………..16 • Monitoring & Evaluation……………………….………………………………………………………18 • Contact Us……………………………….……………………………………………………………………20

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Introduction Greetings from IFMSA-Egypt Projects Support Division, It is our pleasure to introduce the 1st IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit. With the Coordination of Certified and Experienced IFMSA & IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Managers. All we hope is to help you in conducting Project Management Sessions and know how to deliver any project successfully.

As a project manager, you play a critical role in furthering IFMSA-Egypt’s vision in empowering medical students and making change in the society. The purpose of this manual is to help you manage projects more efficiently and effectively, with a focus on the Project Life Cycle.

This Manual is produced for those who want to develop projects and who can refer to their own experience and own project.

At the end of this manual, you will be responsible enough for successfully planning and executing projects in the midst of many challenges.

With deep appreciation and sincere gratitude for all experience and support. And, lastly thank you for the pleasure and privilege of working with you.

Yours Sincerely,

Reem Gamal IFMSA-Egypt Projects Support Division Director 2017-2018

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit What is a Project?

Dictionary Definition: “A temporary endeavor undertaken to accomplish a unique purpose”.

More clarification: “A project is a piece of planned work or activity which is completed over a period of time and intended to achieve a particular aim”

• • • • • • •

Projects differ in scope cost and time, but all have the following characteristics: A start and a finish.

A life cycle involving a series of phases in between the beginning and end.

A budget.

A set of activities which are sequential, unique and non-repetitive.

Use of resources which may require coordinating.

Centralized responsibilities for management and implementation.

Defined roles and relationships for participants in the project.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Characteristics of Projects: •

Projects have a purpose: projects have clearly-defined aims and set out to produce clearly-defined results. Their purpose is to solve a “problem”, and this involves analyzing needs beforehand.

Suggesting one or more solutions, it aims at lasting social change.

•

Projects are realistic: their aims must be achievable, and this means taking account both of requirements and of the financial and human resources available.

•

Projects are limited in time and space: they have a beginning and an end, and are implemented in a specific place and context.

•

Projects are complex: projects call on various planning and implementation skills, and involve various partners and players.

•

Projects are collective: projects are the product of collective endeavor. They are run by teams, involve various partners and cater for the needs of others.

•

Projects are unique: all projects stem from new ideas. They provide a specific response to a need (problem) in a specific context. They are innovative.

•

Projects are an adventure: every project is different and ground-breaking; they always involve some uncertainty and risk.

•

Projects can be assessed: projects are planned and broken down into measurable aims, which must be open to evaluation.

•

Projects are made up of stages: projects have distinct, identifiable stages.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit How to start a project?

Structuring the project along “W-questions” (Inspired from the Laswell method) Use questions to identify individual elements of the project and how they interrelate. Your answers will give you an overview of the project and let you see how its constituent parts are linked.

WHO? – FOR WHOM? – WITH WHOM? – Identification of project partners or target groups.

– Their roles and relationships in the project.

– Their views on the project.

– Strengths and weaknesses rooted in these relationships and views.

WHAT? – The main project activities – spontaneous, organized and institutional.

– Social, economic, cultural, political and educational dimensions.

– The project’s impact on these dimensions.

WHY? – Needs and wishes satisfied by the project.

– Motivation and interests of participants.

– Main objectives of the project.

– Project funding options.

– Relationship between participants’ objectives and institutional objectives.

WHERE? – Social context of the project and situation of participants.

WHEN? – What period is being focused on (past, present, future)?

– Short, medium or long-term?

– Background of participants as it affects the project HOW? – How was it done? Organization and participation process.

– Techniques and instruments used.

– Input of participants’ experience, theories, other projects, etc.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

Four Factors in a successful project: Successful project management is about connecting together four different and sometimes conflicting factors.

The need or problem Projects work best when the people developing them understand and appreciate the needs and problems they have to tackle. It is important to properly evaluate the need or problem. What is its root causes? What are the symptoms?

What is the scale of it? For whom it is a problem?

The opportunity for the project Projects need to have or to create the space in which to operate. Projects need to be actively supported and backed with more than just money. There must be support for the project from key people and an active participation from the target group.

The idea and vision Projects need a vision to unite all their, activities and efforts. It is from the vision that strategies, objectives and work plans flow. The big idea behind the project should be clear enough to show how the project will make a significant and sustainable difference to the needs or the problems.

The capacity Projects need the right balance of skills, energy, resources and organization to get up and going and deliver results.

They need to be designed so that they are able to make an impact and create results.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Project Cycle Successful projects move through seven phases of the project cycle, though not always in order. Learn more about these phases along with potential pitfalls that keep projects from succeeding.

1. Identification Most projects enter the first phase of the project cycle with little or no structure. Ideas that start in the back of the mind start to bubble up into potential projects. As creative professionals include colleagues, supervisors, or investors, projects become more formalized and start to follow the traditional phases of a project cycle.

2. Preparation This phase of the project cycle requires coordinators and managers to research both the needs and the impact of a project. The preparation phase often includes brainstorming sessions that result in “pie in the sky" estimates instead of true cost/benefit analysis. Effective preparation also includes laying the groundwork for the evaluation phase of the project cycle.

3. Appraisal During the appraisal phase of a project cycle, project managers negotiate with stakeholders for resources while setting timelines. Depending on the scope of a project, leaders must determine whether hiring or outsourcing human resources will play a role during the implementation phase.

• • • •

4. Presentation Arguably the most crucial phase in any project cycle, the presentation often determines whether or not a project will reach its eventual conclusion. Depending on the nature of the project, decision makers could include board members, supervisors, investors, creditors, community members, customers, or other stakeholders. By the presentation phase, project managers and planners should be able to communicate: Project needs Goals and Expected Outcomes Budget Timeline 5. Implementation While implementation represents just one phase of a seven-step project cycle, it frequently takes the longest amount of time. During this phase a project manager actually takes the steps to lead a team through the process developed during the previous four stages.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit 6. Monitoring While some project management professionals prefer to view monitoring as a task that happens throughout the project cycle. Unlike the evaluation stage of the project cycle, monitoring focuses more on individual tasks or personnel in order to make adjustments. Projects often shift between implementation and monitoring phases multiple times during a project cycle.

• • •

7. Evaluation Highly functional organizations use the evaluation phase of the project cycle to answer three important questions: What went well during the project?

What didn’t go so well?

What would project leaders and team members do differently during future projects?

A successful evaluation phase requires effective planning during the preparation phase. However, when measurable goals are set and stakeholders agree on desired outcomes, all parties can make honest, insightful evaluations.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit The Problem Analysis It begins from an assumption that development projects stem from existing problems that require intervention and change. If it is not broken, then there is not a need for fixing it!

But often the “problem” is not clearly defined, or may not be the actual problem. In order to determine what the real problems are, here we can help you to determine the cause and effect relationship between problems. A tool that enables this to be done is called the Problem Tree.

Steps of Problem Tree: • Identify the Core Problem.

• Identify the causes and effects.

• Develop a solution tree.

• Select the preferred intervention.

The Core Problem A project should have a specific problem (e.g. High-risk level of Diabetes in Egypt) that it seeks to overcome if change is to occur. A vague or broad problem (e.g. Non-Communicable Diseases) will have too many causes for an effective and meaningful project to be developed.

Identifying the Causes & Effects The core problem is placed at the center of the tree.

You then need to consider the direct causes to the problem. These are placed below the core problem. Each cause statement needs to be written in negative terms.

The direct effects of the problem are placed above the core problem.

You then need to consider the causes to the immediate causes-these are called Secondary Causes, and so on. You can do the same to the effects.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

Develop a solution tree A solution tree is developed by reversing the negative statements that form the problem tree into positive ones.

For example, a cause (problem tree) such as “Lack of knowledge” would become a means such as “increases knowledge”. The solution tree demonstrates the means-end relationship between objectives.

Select the preferred intervention This step is designed to allow the project team to select and focus an intervention on a preferred strategy.

This solution tree may present a number separate or linked intervention to solve a problem.

Depending on project funding time and relevance, a planned intervention may not be able to tackle all the causes.

If all causes cannot be overcome by a project, it is important to identify if any of the branches are more influential than others in solving a problem. This may impact on the success of your project.

Effects • The effects become your intermediate and long-term outcomes.

Core • The core can become your project goal.

Causes • The causes/solutions become your activities and objectives.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Goals & Objectives Goals: The final goal of the project. Goals are defined according to an analysis of needs or the identification of a set of problems in a particular environment.

Objectives: These are a project’s goals put into operational form. Projects always have several objectives which must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Activities: The different stages associated with a specific objective which help to achieve the goals.

Plan of Action: The plan of the various activities that make up the project, with a precise indication of what those activities are, their location and timing and the resources involved. Such plans need to be modified to take account of the situation on the ground and the intermediate assessments.

Characteristics of Goals & Objectives:

S M A

R T

• Specific: State exactly what you want to accomplish (Who, What, Where, Why) • Measurable: How will you demonstrate and evaluate the extent to which the goal has been met?

• Achievable: Stretch and challenging goals within ability to achieve outcome. What is the action-oriented verb?

• Relevant: Is the goal worthwile and will meet your needs? Is each goal consistent with other goals you have established and fits with your plans ?

• Time-bound: Set 1 or more target dates, the "by when" to guide your goal to successful and timely completion (include deadlines, dates and frequency).

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit A guide to setting priorities For many people setting priorities is a complex task which they try to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, instead of trying to identify that which needs to be done and doing it, they compound the problem by refusing to come to terms with what can be a straight forward task if approached in a systematic way.

When setting priorities, we have to take account the complexity of balancing: • That which is urgent with that which is important.

• The interrelationship between all the things that are waiting to be done.

• The amount of time needed to carry out and finish the task.

The following chart can help to make decisions especially when urgency and importance are the primary considerations.

High Urgency/Low Importance Do it yourself if spare time is available.

Otherwise, delegate get someone else to do it.

High Urgency/High Importance These items should undoubtedly be handled by you.

Low Urgency/Low Importance These items can be postponed, ignored completely, referred to someone else.

Low Urgency/High Importance These items can be handled by you or at least delegated to someone else so that work can begin on building the foundation for solving the problem or meeting the opportunity.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Dissemination & Sustainability

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

1) 2) 3)

4)

•Project’s results should be sustainable and should continue to be used /updated after the end of the project.

•Dissemination supports sustainability by ensuring: Delivery of the right message to the right people at the right time.

Awareness message spread among public.

Visibility of the project at partner institutions.

Interest from medical students (e.g. for new study projects).

Support from the university authorities and services.

Support from policy makers and relevant stakeholders.

Ensuring Sustainability: Sustainability of financial / administrative / legislative achievements.

Continuation of developed study projects.

Continued cooperation with project managers: –Student and staff mobility.

–Research cooperation.

–New projects.

Continued cooperation with stakeholders at national/regional levels.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Stakeholders’ Management Project Stakeholders are the entities within or outside the organization who can be: 1. Individuals whose interest lies on successful completion of project.

2. Project Sponsor’s.

3. People influencing the outcome of the project.

Involving and engaging with the right people in a positive manner is highly important for project success. To be successful in your career, a positive interaction with people working around is a key.

Thus, stakeholder analysis is required and can be undertaken through following steps: 1. Identifying stakeholders: Brainstorming is required to identify various stakeholder who are part of the project or indirectly/directly affected by the outcome of the project.

2. Planning and Managing your stakeholder: After identifying stakeholders, it is equally important to prioritize and engage with them at right time.

Some stakeholder will play a key part in project planning and some would be helpful at the time of procurement and thus have to be involved actively during that time. Engaging and working with them at right time do have a positive impact on the project.

3. Controlling stakeholder: It is a process of monitoring project stakeholders and implementing right strategies to engage with them, whenever required. Stakeholder engagement activities are part of stakeholder management plan and should be implemented accordingly during project execution life cycle.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis (or SWOT matrix) is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and is a structured planning method that evaluates those four elements of a project. It involves specifying the objectives of the project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective. Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective.

Strengths Advantages.

Capabilities.

Resources, Assets.

Maketing.

Weaknesses Lack of competitive strength.

Lack of knowledge.

Financials.

Sustainability.

Opportunities

Threats

New communication and engagement through new media sources.

Limited funding.

Time-delays increase cost Opposition - People hate change.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit SWOT analysis aims to identify the key internal and external factors seen as important to achieving an objective. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories: Internal factors – the strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization.

External factors – the opportunities and threats presented by the environment external to the organization.

Analysis may view the internal factors as strengths or as weaknesses depending upon their effect on the organization's objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses (distractions, competition) for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4Ps as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on.

Strengths (S) S1 S2 S3 S4

Weaknesses (w) W1 W2 W3 W4

Opportunities (O) O1 O2 O3 O4

S-O Strategies S1-O1 S2-O2 S3-O3 S4-O4

W-O Strategies W1-O1 W2-O2 W3-O3 W4-O4

Threats (T) T1 T2 T3 T4

S-T Strategies S1-T1 S2-T2 S3-T3 S4-T4

W-T Strategies W1-T1 W2-T2 W3-T3 W4-T4

Internal Factors

External Factors

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit Monitoring & Evaluation Monitoring & Evaluation is a process that helps improve performance and achieve results. Its goal is to improve current and future management of outputs, outcomes and impact. It is mainly used to assess the performance of projects Monitoring There are several types of monitoring and they include process monitoring, technical monitoring, financial monitoring and impact monitoring.

1) Process monitoring In process monitoring, routine data is collected and analyzed in order to establish whether the project tasks and activities are leading towards the intended project results.

2) Technical monitoring Technical monitoring involves assessing the strategy that is being used in project implementation to establish whether it is achieving the required results. It involves the technical aspects of the project such as the activities to be conducted 3) Financial Monitoring Just like the name suggests, financial monitoring simply refers to monitoring project/ program expenditure and comparing them with the budgets prepared at the planning stage.

4) Impact Monitoring Impact monitoring is a type of monitoring which continually assesses the impact of project activities to the target population. Indeed, impacts are usually the long-term effects of a project.

Evaluation Evaluation is simply to study the data collected from monitoring and comparing them to the intended results stated at the beginning of the project, and then evaluating whether the results of the comparison are satisfying at this point and to which point they are satisfying.

The Evaluation Tree Evaluation is a process that starts from the beginning of a project with young people. It is not something that can be left to the end in the hope that you can remember what it was you set out to achieve. The danger in evaluating work with young people is that the process can become boring so the ‘Evaluation Tree’ is something you may wish to use to make the process a little more interesting.

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

Green

Yellow

Red

The Green apples are used at the beginning of the project.

The Yellow apples half way through the project.

The Red apples at the end of the project.

At the start of the project get young people to identify how they see it developing, what do they hope to learn from it, and what they see their involvement as being and write this on the Green Apples.

At the half way stage use the yellow apples to again get the young people to consider whether it is developing as they thought, what have they learnt so far about themselves and others and what future learning do they hope to gain.

At the end of the project use the red apples to work through a similar process.

You will now have a colourful tree which young people have been fully instrumental in developing but more importantly you will have an overall picture of how involved young people have been, what they have learnt and you will be able to use this to develop further work with the group.

References • •

Project Management T-Kit © Council of Europe and European Commission, November 2000 Project smart. UK

IFMSA-Egypt Projects’ Management Manual Kit

IFMSA-Egypt Project Management Manual Kit Collaborators If you need more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Reem Gamal Rami Abdallah Osama Hegazy Karim Sleem Ahmed Khaled Nada Halawa Gihan Abdel Moneim Mona Khodari Hozayfa Abdel Hameed Ahmed Slim

projects@ifmsa-egypt.org.eg reem.gm12@gmail.com rami.abdallah890@gmail.com osamahegazy5@gmail.com karimosama81@gmaill.com ahmedidkh1996@gmail.com nadahalawa95@gmail.com gihaneldeeb7@gmail.com monamoon71734@gmail.com hozyafa16@gmail.com ahmedslim800@gmail.com