The Project Document

This project document is produced at the moment in time just after all the design and planning components have been completed, analysed and agreed by the various stakeholders, and just before activities are about to commence. It should carry all the necessary details of the international development project in order to capture the essence of the initiative and enable its implementation. (Notwithstanding that the project document may link to dozens of references, sub-documents and appendices in order to fully detail the finer points, they will not all be required for this assessment.)

Please select a project at a sub-country level, e.g. village, district, province, hospital or school and so on; it is not advised to attempt a whole-of-country project. The country and issue should be real and current. However, your project proposal should be an original creation. So while it would be fine create a project document for a new refugee health project in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, it would not be ok to research a project run by an existing NGO and write that up.

You are welcome to adopt a the persona of an employee of Canberra International Tri Development who is preparing this document in order for a field team to implement the project. You are equally as welcome to the write from any other perspective.

Please choose an original project that is broadly in the International Development space that includes issues in Gender, Microfinance, HIV, Poverty, Rural Development and more generally to Education, Environment, Health, Human Rights or Nutrition.

The project should be different from the one you have been working on in Assessments 1 and 2.

The Project Document must be fully referenced using Harvard, correctly and consistently, and must include (at the end) a reference list of all sources used, in alphabetical order by author surname. Please follow the University of Canberra Library guides. https://canberra.libguides.com/referencing/apa (Links to an external site.)

The recommended word length is 2500. 3000 words is the absolute maximum. There is no minimum, though work with less than 2000 words should be suitably enhanced with maps, pictures, diagrams, tables and budgets to demonstrate necessary effort. All these enhancements are encouraged.

A simple, plain formatting style and font is preferred, with all body text in black and white. Enhancements should match in style. Numbering should be in the format 1.1.

The project document should consist of five parts. The parts are of equal importance, but may or may not be of equal length depending on the nature of the project.

Part 1: The Proposal

The work should start with a short, sharp, descriptive title. The opening sentences should be written to capture the main ideas of what problem the project addresses and how it will do it (aka elevator pitch). This section can include detail of any needs assessments that were undertaken (Needs assessment may fit in Part 2 also). You may wish to make the proposal SMART.

Part 2: The Context Analysis

This section should explain the context in which the project is being undertaken. This can include recent history, politics, geography, demographics, culture, environment and significant events, as they relate to the proposed project. Many of the Design Issues taught in the unit such as gender, intersection, environment and hard-nosed development can be included here.

Part 3: Project Management

This section should explain the operational management of the project. This might clearly follow one of the accepted project management tools, such as LogFrame, Agile, Theory of Change and others. If your context and project demand it is possible to describe the project management using a combination of techniques. Work plans and budgets may fit here or the next section.

Part 4: Schedules

This section should contain sufficient project management tools from the planning and design phase to help explain the project. This can include Budgets, Risk and SWOT Analyses, Maps and GIS data, Organisational Charts, Inventory, Timelines, Gantt charts , Communications Strategy, Governance models and Closure. It will not be necessary to include all of these, just the few most relevant to your context. Make sure these flow in a coherent way.

Part 5: The PESTLE Impact

In addition to meeting the project objectives, discuss what involvement and impact will there be on the local community with regards to politics, economics, sociology, technology, legal and environmental impacts.