Project Management

Project management is the systematic process of planning, organizing and managing resources of a set of activities. Each project has a certain goal or objective, a set time frame and certain amount of resources, all together called the project triangle. Project management focuses on the three sides of the project triangle: on the management and control of scope, (quantity, quality, functionality), cost and time frame of a project.

field visit (JEW Austria)

Capacity WORKS

The German International Cooperation GIZ has developed a tool for project management of complex programmes. Taking into account the growing complexity of development projects Capacity WORKS focuses project management systematically on supporting effective cooperation structures and processes.

Projects need

  • clear and plausible strategic orientation
  • clear understanding of who is being cooperated with and how
  • effective steering structure
  • clear understanding of key strategic processes
  • supporting the learning capacity develoment of those involved.

Capacity WORKS provides key questions and practical tools for the respective success factors, which together form a toolbox for project management.

For further reading see GIZ/Publications.

Project Cycle Management PCM

PCM is another approach to managing projects used by many organisations in international cooperation. The European Commission has published the Project Cycle Management Guidelines for free download.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The CIVICUS website offers a variety of toolkits for improving the management of small and medium NGOs, for free download see CIVICUS.