CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

PROJECT PLANNING, APPRAISAL AND IMPLEMENTATION

2010-2011

SEMESTER ONE








COURSE COORDINATOR AND LECTURER: Mr Tony Gloyne







Total number of teaching hours: 20 hours lectures, 10 hours tutorials
Course credits: 20
Course code: 9LRS


Brief description
This course is compulsory for students of the MSc in Project Planning and Development
Policy Analysis. It is also available to all other MSc students in the centre as an elective. The
course structure combines the existing theories with practice and views of prominent
international donor agencies. The first group of lectures will focus on project planning and
the latter group of lectures will cover appraisal and implementation. The appraisal section
will include consideration of both private and public sector projects with the emphasis on
some of the key differences that arise. Finally there is a section on project implementation
that covers critical path analysis and some important variations on this theme.

The tutorials will emphasise practical skills including calculation and students will require a
basic scientific calculator. It would also be useful to revise the properties of geometric
series, usually a topic included in high school algebra.


Course timetable
There will be one 2 hour lecture session per week which will take place as per timetable. In
addition there are 10 hours of tutorials on Thursdays (weeks 3, 4, 6, 8, 9) as follows:

Weeks Lectures Tutorials
Week 1 Lecture 1
Week 2 Lecture 2
Week 3 Lecture 3 Tutorial 1
Week 4 Lecture 4 Tutorial 2
Week 5 Lecture 5
Week 6 Lecture 6 Tutorial 3
Week 7 Lecture 7
Week 8 Lecture 8 Tutorial 4
Week 9 Lecture 9 Tutorial 5
Week 10 Lecture 10


Assessment
Students are assessed on the basis of course work (25%) and a two-hour final written
examination (75%). The course work consists of assignments which will be posted on the
Moodle site with due dates for handing in this semester. In the final examination, students
are required to answer two questions from four on the question paper.


Penalty for lateness
Penalties for late submission of coursework apply. Please refer to the MSc handbook,
section In-course assessment.

TG/jb/Sept 2010 2
Lecture outline
Part 1 Introduction (1 lecture)
Lecture 1. Definition of the project and of project planning, appraisal, implementation and
evaluation; the role of project planning; aspects of project analysis; types of
project report; the structure and role of a project feasibility study report; the
significance of the incremental (with/without project) approach.

Learning objectives for Part 1:
1. Understand the nature and role of project planning and management.
2. Understanding the principles of project analysis.
3. Appreciate the need for a systematic format for project reports.

Part 2 Planning development projects (3 lectures)
Lecture 2. Project cycles; the project (logical) framework and results based management
(RBM); project identification and problem tree analysis
Lecture 3. Monitoring and evaluation of projects
Lecture 4. The approaches of some international organisations or donor agencies such as
the World Bank, USAID, DFID and UN technical agencies towards project
management. Participatory project planning; stakeholder analysis; the
sustainable livelihoods approach

Learning objectives for Part 2:
1. Familiarity with alternative approaches to the project cycle and with the stages of project
cycles.
2. Appreciate the significance of the results based management approach and of the
project framework.
3. Understand the principles and practice of project monitoring and evaluation.
4. Familiarity with the evolution of institutional approaches to project management.
5. Understanding of participatory, stakeholder and sustainable livelihoods approaches to
project analysis.

Part 3 Financial appraisal (4 lectures)
Lecture 5. Resource flows and cash flows financial and economic analysis of projects;
the need for consistent efficiency criteria; the rationale behind discounting, the
rate of time preference and the rate of interest. The impact of inflation; real vs.
nominal values.
Lecture 6. Measures of project worth: nature and comparison of the net present value,
internal rate of return, gross benefit cost ratio, net benefit investment ratio,
annuity method and net terminal value.
Lecture 7/8. Applications and some extensions. Complications that arise from public sector
projects. System boundaries and opportunity costs. Review of the criteria for
project selection when using DCF and the impact of capital constraints and
inflation. Continuous discounting. The inadequacy of financial appraisal in
public sector projects and the rationale for economic and social appraisal.

Learning objectives for Part 3:
1. Understand the distinction between financial and economic analysis of projects.
2. Understand the need for efficiency criteria, the nature of discounting and the distinction
between the discount rate, the rate of time preference and the rate of interest.
3. Appreciate measures of project worth and their advantages and disadvantages.
4. Learn to work with purpose built software for investment decision making.

TG/jb/Sept 2010 3
Part 4 Implementation of projects (2 lectures)
Lecture 9. The principles of the implementation plan, network analysis/critical path method
(CPM) and of PERT; planning the work and working the plan.
Lecture 10. Project scheduling, the critical path, probabilistic duration, the use of time-chart
and its use in resource levelling and optimum cost scheduling; the implications
of rescheduling.

Learning objectives for Part 4:
1. Appreciate the need for an implementation plan based on the critical path method
(CPM).
2. Familiarity with the CPM/PERT technique for project scheduling and re-scheduling.
3. Understand the use of probability in network analysis.
4. Be able to draw a time-chart (GANTT) and use it to level the use of scarce resources for
the implementation of projects.
5. Be able to adjust critical paths to achieve minimum cost schedules for a project.


Suggested reading. This will be supplemented by additional recommendations.
Belli, P., Anderson, J ., Barnum, H., Dixon, J . and Tan, J -P. (2001). The Economic Analysis
of Investment Operations: Analytical Tools and Practical Applications, Washington:
The World Bank.

Cusworth, J . and Franks, T. (1993). Managing Projects in Developing Countries, London:
Macmillan.

DFID. (2001). Poverty: Bridging the Gap Guidance Notes, London: Department for
International Development.

DFID (2003). Tools for Development: A Handbook for those Engaged in Development
Activity, London.

Gittinger, J .P. (1982). Economic Analysis of Agricultural Projects, Economic Development
Institute of the World Bank. Baltimore: J ohns Hopkins University Press for the World
Bank.

Kirkpatrick, C. and Weiss, J . (eds.) (1996). Cost Benefit Analysis and Project Appraisal in
Developing Countries, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Potts, D. (2002). Project Planning and Analysis for Development, London: Lynne Rienner
Publishers.

Rondinelli, D.A. (1993). Development Projects as Policy Experiments: an Adaptive Approach
to Policy Administration, 2nd edition, London; New York: Routledge.

Sullivan, W.G., Wicks, E.M. and Luxhoj, J .T. (2003). Engineering Economy, Upper Saddle
River, N.J .: Prentice Hall International.

Sumner, A. and Tribe, M. (2008). International Development Studies: Theory and Methods in
Research and Practice, London: Sage Publications.


Further specialist reading will be recommended on a topic by topic basis during the semester
together with a range of web-based resources.
TG/jb/Sept 2010 4