Capacity Assessment
What are your limits as a project implementer? Are your financial resources sufficient? Do you have human resources to carry out your project? Can you establish the necessary partnerships? The answers to the questions “Is your social network sufficient to spread your project?” will help you see more clearly what you can and cannot do in your project.
Problem and Need Identification
What is the “problem or deficiency” you have identified, taking into account the sector you work in, your field of expertise and the environment you live in? Are social priorities and the “problem, deficiency” you have identified linked to each other? What kind of contribution can your purpose make to the sector and the country? You can base your findings by asking questions.
Narrow Your Project Topic from General to Specific
For example; When “youth unemployment” is identified as a problem, this general framework should be narrowed and the project topic should be created. When it comes to “reducing youth unemployment”, this title again draws a general framework and cannot be successful in project implementations with a certain time limit. For this reason, the project subject should focus on a specific problem whenever possible. By saying “Reducing Youth Unemployment in the Central Anatolia Region”, you can further narrow down the project you are considering within the scope of the region and define it as “Reducing Youth Unemployment in Ankara Province”. You can go one step further and limit your topic to “Reducing Youth Unemployment in Ankara’s Çankaya District”. In summary, you can limit your project topic depending on characteristics such as geographical region, province, district, age, education level and gender.
The idea you come up with for the project may seem realistic at the first stage, but when you start analyzing the problems you may encounter, you may see that your project is not feasible. Therefore, when developing the project idea, you should determine whether it is realistic or not by doing research and evaluating the current situation.
After creating your project idea, you can apply to organizations where you can receive financial support. At this point, instead of preparing a project according to the financial source, you need to find a financial source according to your project. Since your application process for financial resources varies depending on the source you find, having your project idea and basic preparations made before the announcement will enable you to manage the application process more successfully.
When you create the project idea, you have taken the first step, but you need to make more detailed planning in order to carry out the project preparation process to the standards required by the financial providers. Therefore, it will be advantageous for you to have your idea and purpose ready before applying.
What is project cycle management?
The process that starts with determining the project idea you want to implement and covers the execution phases of all activities is called the project cycle. The project cycle method is used to design the entire process, from determining the project topic to its implementation, according to a certain systematic.
Project management cycle is a preferred method used by the European Union to accurately plan the project preparation process and increase its effectiveness.
Stages of the project cycle;
Identification of the idea
Analyzing the project idea
Planning the project
Finding resources for the project
Implementation of activities
Monitoring and evaluation
In the first three stages of the project cycle, the issue you have identified as a “problem, deficiency” is clarified through research and analysis and evaluated whether it is applicable or not. To learn these stages in detail, see “How to Create a Project Idea?” You can read the article titled again. Finding resources for the project, implementation of activities, monitoring and evaluation stages should be planned according to the resource application processes.
Advantages of project cycle management;
It allows you to determine your subject with a cause-effect relationship while creating the project idea.
It helps you identify any obstacles you may encounter during the activity process.
In order for your project to be sustainable, you should evaluate the planning and conditions in the long term.
It allows you to evaluate.
It aims to minimize planning-related problems while implementing your project.
No matter how good your project topic is, if it is not well planned and analyzed, you will not be able to receive financial support. By preparing your project with a method with proven results, you can receive financial support and carry out the implementation process in the best possible way.
Project Management Cycle Stages
A well-analyzed project idea allows you to evaluate the project process from a realistic perspective. While preparing your project, it is important to follow the stages of the project management cycle in order to minimize the risk of errors, analyze the current situation well and proceed with the question-answer method.
Project management cycle is a project writing method at international standards used by individuals or organizations who want to prepare a project. After creating your project idea, project management cycle steps to predict activity, budget and sustainability processes will help you achieve successful results. Project Management Cycle can be understood as a very technical method due to its name, but its main purpose consists of performing the reasoning that everyone knows in a systematic way.
Our aim with the project management cycle is; Ensuring the project is feasible is basing our forecast on specific analyses.
The Project Management Cycle begins with the emergence of the project idea and ends through the stages of project writing, planning, development, grant applications, implementation and completion of activities, and evaluation. The project writing method applied to use resources in the most effective way in all these processes is the Project Management Cycle.
What are the Project Management Cycle Stages?
1) Creating the project idea
2) Evaluating the suitability of the project idea for the grant program
3) Preparation
4) Formulating (Preparing Logical Framework)
5) Writing the Project
6) Evaluation of the Project
7) Signing the contract with the contracting authority
8) Implementation of the project
9) Project monitoring and termination
10) Sustainability of the project and formation of a new project idea
These stages are a process that complements each other in a chain and is the method that moves your project preparation forward at every step. The entire Project Management Cycle is reported based on the monitoring and evaluation process.
What is the Scope of Project Management Cycle?
Logical Framework Approach
It is the scheme used in the planning and development of the project.
Budget Planning
At this stage, you can evaluate your project’s suitability for the budget and amount of financial support required for its implementation.
Sustainability Planning
It is planning to ensure the continuation of the intended results after the activity period of your project ends.
Evaluation Criteria for Your Project Proposal
These are the evaluation criteria that will enable you to receive financial support. These criteria check whether your project complies with the form and conditions and whether it is suitable for the program in terms of content.
Project Implementation (Monitoring and Evaluation)
What is a Budget?
The estimated table showing how financial resources will be used and distributed according to activities from the date the project will begin to be implemented to the date it will end is referred to as a budget. Every activity may not incur a cost, but every cost is definitely for the implementation of an activity.
While preparing the project budget, a draft budget should be created, and then market research should be conducted for cost calculations.
Budget preparation stages
The source should be determined and a draft budget should be prepared.
Market research should be done for costs
Creating the project budget
Budgeting categories
Human Resources
Travel Expenses
allowances
Equipment/Technical Equipment Expenses
Office Expenses
Other expenses
Administrative Expenses
One of the concepts you will encounter in the project budget is “Affordable Cost”. It refers to the costs that arise with the implementation of the project and those that can be covered by the project budget. Affordability conditions vary in each financial program.
The concept of Affordable Cost is divided into 2
Eligible Direct Costs
These are the costs that meet the Eligible Cost conditions specified in the project application conditions for the realization of the project.
Eligible Indirect Costs
It is the budget specified not to exceed 7% of the total Eligible Costs to be spent on the project to cover general administrative expenses.
It should be checked whether the costs specified in the project budget are suitable for the project, and costs that are not required within the scope of the project should not be added. Additionally, when applying for your project, it should not be forgotten that your budget should be in amounts determined according to market research results.
What is Sustainability?
The success of projects in the long term depends on their being “Sustainable”. A project prepared with sustainable goals will contribute to the applied field without encountering a certain time limit continues to provide.
What are the project stages?
Preparatory phase
Application phase
Dissemination/Visibility
Monitoring/Evaluation
Sustainability
Reporting
Sustainability is ensuring the continuity of activities to be carried out after the completion of projects with a start and end period. It is very important to evaluate the sustainable activities of the area in which you plan to work during the project preparation phase. When applying for financial support, one of the criteria that ensures your project application is selected is undoubtedly the sustainability of your project.
The outputs such as services, products and systems targeted by the project should be designed in a way that they are guaranteed after the financial support period expires. For example; A project planned in the field of technological transfer for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises is expected to be able to use and develop the technological infrastructure even after the financial support ends. In some cases, the sustainability goals envisaged during the preparation of the project may encounter obstacles due to external factors. These obstacles; It may arise from the country’s current economic and political process, sociocultural changes, global policies, and technological developments.
In order for your project to be “Sustainable”;
You should determine the conditions under which the activities you plan to continue after the project period ends.
Activities to be carried out after the financial support ends must be planned in accordance with the capacity. You should identify sustainability targets that may exceed the capacity during the preparation process of your project.
Project Cycle Management / Activity Plan, Budget
The planning of the implementation process of projects whose targets are defined is created with the Activity Plan. The goals and activities of your project should be considered as complementary parts. You can make the project details you specify in the Logical Framework table applicable with the Activity plan.
In Project Cycle Management, proceeding step by step allows you to proceed by collecting information and analyzing this information while writing your project. The Activity Plan is the next stage after the Logical Framework Table is prepared. Thus, you should foresee and plan the necessary activities according to the explanations you wrote in the Logical Framework table.
This process is respectively;
Logical Framework Table
Determination of activities (Activity Plan)
Determining necessary expenses
Determination of expenditure amounts
It is completed with the creation of the budget.
How to Prepare a Budget?
The project budget is the budget that covers the activities to be implemented. The required expenditure amounts for each activity should be written in the budget together with their justifications. One point you should pay attention to here is that if you have an activity that you have not included in your project budget, you are expected to carry out this activity within the scope of the financing program. If you forget to show activities in the budget, it will remain your fault and you will be expected to perform that activity. You should be careful to plan carefully which activity and how much budget is required.
When preparing the project budget, you need to know its content as the Activity Plan is very important.
The Activity Plan consists of 6 basic sections;
Human Resources
All personnel who will work on the project are listed here. Gross salaries are added, provided that they are not less than the minimum wage. You should not add service purchases to this section.
Trip
You should detail domestic and international travel expenses in this section.
Equipment
You should indicate the equipment and material expenses required for the project in this section.
Local Office
If a local office will be opened in the place where the project will be implemented, you should specify the office expenses in this section.
Other Costs
You should write the service purchases in this section. For example; For website design, you can specify the service procurement expense with an invoice.
Other
Each expenditure included in the budget must be justified in accordance with the objectives included in the Logical Framework.
In order for your project to receive grant support, the budget must be priced according to market research, be consistent and do not include unnecessary expenses.
Things You Should Avoid When Preparing a Project Budget
Do not overestimate the budget. Among dozens of projects applying for financial support, those whose budgets were created as a result of market research and those that aim to use resources in the most effective way will stand out.
Cost according to activities, that is, do not produce activities just to fill the budget.
You should not add expenses in the “ineligible costs” section of the financing criteria to your budget. Ineligible costs may vary depending on each financing program. For example; If purchasing or renting a building is shown as an ineligible cost, you should not add such expenses to your budget. Since preparing a project budget is a very detailed and foresight-requiring phase, you should make sure that your budget is prepared in the best possible way before applying.
“The content is taken from EU supports education programs”
