Institute for International Health and Development - IIHD

Short Courses

In the context of sector wide approaches and budgetary support as increasingly common ways of providing development assistance, the notion of projects is disputed. The philosophy of projects is therefore an important component of this course. Whatever the mechanism for development assistance, the logical framework which summarises the goal, purpose, outputs, activities, costs and implementation arrangements of a proposed intervention continues to be a common feature of documentation required by many donors (see for example UK Department for International Development’s ‘Tools for Development’ available at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/toolsfordevelopment.pdf ). The ‘logframe’ is also a useful tool for review and management of existing programmes.

This short course is therefore aimed at people working for non-governmental or governmental organisations who are involved in the design and management of health and social development projects. The course develops capacities that are of relevance in preparing proposals for funders; in managing projects and more broadly in fostering a structured and team approach to service planning and evaluation.

Simulating development practice, the module assessment requires a multidisciplinary and multi cultural team of students to develop a project plan which could be submitted to a donor for funding.

Participation in the complex process of proposal development appropriately evokes discussion, strong debate and the emotions that are inherent in working in a group. Because the module operates at all these levels, participants are required to attend all the taught sessions and all the scheduled group work sessions. Effective group working also requires completion of tasks outside the group session in preparation for those sessions. Participants should therefore be cognisant of time required (150 hours in total) to effectively complete this module and be fully committed to engaging in the whole process as a learning experience. They should plan to be in Edinburgh from the start of the module to assessment hand in date.

Credit Rating: 15 SCOTCAT/5 ECTS