Importance Of Project Cycle

Project Cycle

It is a logical set of activities that leads to the accomplishment of any project’s goals. It is always easy to carry out an effort in a focussed manner by breaking down a project in stages and tackling each stage individually. This divide and conquer approach helps reduce the chances of errors and rectifying them at early stages which minimizes the chances of failure of the complete project. For this reason, a five stage project cycle is popular among many project managers. It consists of five stages (Hira and Parfitt, 2004) namely:

1. Identification

2. Preparation

3. Appraisal

4. Implementation

5. Evaluation

It can be graphically illustrated as below:

Figure 1: Project Cycle

It should be kept in view that the whole process

This forms the basis of the project. It serves as a means to justify the project and why it needs to be done in first place. It also includes identifying the beneficiaries and doing a complete stake holder analysis to help clear what objectives will the project achieve as it will progress. It further includes means end analysis. These activities combined lead to the formulation of a project proposal in the end. This proposal is used by the project manager to pitch for project funding.

2. Preparation

Successful identification of a project leads to the decision making process which helps in determining whether to continue with the project or not. It forms the basis of a project document formation called feasible study that determines the ‘technical, economic, financial, social, institutional’ aspects of the project (Hira and Parfitt, 2004).

3. Appraisal

The project appraisal phase includes a decision on the timeline of the project, budget estimation and the expected outcome of the project. It requires the submission of all these in the form of documents to the stakeholders responsible for funding the project. It serves as the basis to the loan agreements for the project

(The following project will be developed using the above mentioned approach)

1. Project Identification

a. Background

An estimated 401 out of 1576 primary & secondary school buildings were destroyed in Swat and required reconstruction to resume functioning . According to the latest report , some 275 schools still stand non-functional in KPK and require immediate attention.

b. Problem Statement

Head primary school needs to be restored as IDPs return to the Mingora city after the successful anti militant operation Rah-e-Rast .

c. Project Scope

• Restoration of the damaged school building in Mingora.

• Increasing employment opportunities for local teachers, staff and imams.

• Providing disaster management training to students, teachers and staff.

• Introducing curriculum in lines with the federal education.

• Restoring peace and sense of security in the area.

• MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

d. Project Beneficiaries

This includes both the direct and indirect beneficiaries involved in the project. They will act as the primary and secondary stakeholders of the