Context

·   Local Livelihoods provides in-house support to programmes and projects using the Project Cycle Management (PCM) methodology to build the capacity to achieve lasting impact.

·   Programme design is supported through delivering training in strategic planning and programme planning.

·  Our training course, Project Cycle Management Programme is accredited to Level 2 and 3 OCN throughout Europe. We provide training in short modules, which can be stand alone or tailored with other modules to provide specialist integrated training. This course is suitable for development staff, board members and volunteers.

·   Project Cycle Management Toolkit – a 100 page manual which includes a project management framework and a set of interlinked best practice techniques for regeneration and development projects.

·   Project Facilitator – a software program that records, analyses and manages the whole project process, in a participative and integrated way from the initial programme strategy to the final project evaluations.

Project Cycle Management (PCM) is a cycle of six stages through which projects are processed from the policy framework to the final evaluation. The Logical Framework (Logframe) is the specific tool that is used to design, appraise, manage, monitor and evaluate the passage of a project through the PCM stages.

In order to create successful projects, in terms of achieving stated outputs and developing a sustainable flow of benefits thereafter, it is essential that projects are well designed. Designing projects is the stage before writing the proposal. Within PCM the way in which projects are designed, planned and implemented follows a sequence that is known as the project cycle. The cycle starts with the identification of the problem to be addressed, the idea for solving the problem and then is developed into a working plan, which can be implemented, monitored and evaluated.

PCM obliges practitioners in project design to focus on the real needs of the beneficiaries by requiring a detailed assessment of the existing situation and by applying the Logical Framework method. Right from the beginning, aspects assuring sustainability are incorporated in the project design. The strength of PCM is that project documents are structured according to a standardised format which gives a framework for analysis.

The way governments disburse project funds and the way communities perceive their needs are quite different. Government departments operate within a sectoral structure, i.e. education, health, etc. and deliver these specialised services through vertical systems. Communities, on the other hand, are made up of horizontal groupings such as families, young people, single mothers, people with disabilities and many more. The Logical Framework matrix enables the vertical and horizontal to meet in the design of projects.