LEAP

Learning through Evaluation

with Accountability & Planning

Programme/project management reports

Guidelines

World Vision
Development Resources Team
LEAP Guidelines for Management Reports
Published February 2006
© World Vision, Development Resources Team
Send comments or questions to:
development_resources_team@wvi.org

Contents

Contents.................................................................................................. 2

Introduction ........................................................................................... 3
What’s in a management report? .......................................................................................... 3
Why do a management report?............................................................................................. 3

Guidelines for Project Reports ........................................................... 4

Programme and project identification information ................................................................ 4
Narrative summary of progress.............................................................................................. 4
Indicator-tracking table and narrative.................................................................................... 4
Report on budget ................................................................................................................. 5
Adjustments in planned action.............................................................................................. 5
Table 1 – Indicator-tracking .................................................................................................. 6

Guidelines for Programme Reports .................................................. 7

Cover page........................................................................................................................... 7
Table of contents.................................................................................................................. 7
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 7
Glossary ............................................................................................................................... 7
Programme and project identification information ................................................................ 7
Narrative summary of progress.............................................................................................. 8
Project reports...................................................................................................................... 8
Most significant change story ................................................................................................ 8
Programme management challenges ..................................................................................... 8
Appendices .......................................................................................................................... 8

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 2

Introduction
These guidelines are an opportunity for World Vision to bring consistency to project and programme
management reports. Consistency can help set a standard to aim for and a common expectation of what
will be produced. Over time this should reduce the burden of the writers, reviewers and users alike.

At their best reports are an opportunity to reflect, learn and where necessary to change, while remaining
accountable to all interested parties; at their worst reports are simply a duty to be fulfilled that take up a lot
of people’s time. It is hoped that these reporting guidelines will encourage both accountability to all
stakeholders and learning from data the programme is collecting, its analysis and interpretation. If reporting
is done well it should not be a burden but should add value and encouragement to programme
stakeholders.

In order to achieve consistency, National offices must ensure that they use these guidelines for project and
programme reporting. As outlined in the DME Management Policy, management reports must be provided
to funding offices every six months or as specified by the donor. Reports are to be submitted within a
month from the close of the half-year/year. 1 Not having the information available to submit the report on
time potentially has the most significance for those the most directly affected by the project. If data is
regularly being collected and monitored then the project can be well managed and changes made as
necessary and reports relatively easily compiled for all stakeholders. Conversely if no one has the data to
hand to monitor progress then the project could be going off track without anyone being aware of the fact.

Additional reports may be required if there are specific contractual donor obligations. Support Offices are
not permitted to demand additional reporting from National Offices, programmes and projects with the
exception of specific donor contractual obligations. It is the responsibility of the World Vision office that has
signed the contract with the donor to reformat reports and communications as per donor requirements, if
necessary.

What’s in a management report?

At its minimum the report describes achievement of objectives against targets set in the design document,
and information on expenses against budget, following the guidelines given below. To bring this
information to life the report also outlines the things that have been learnt, a significant change story,
challenges and changes that need to take place.

In addition, the annual report should take the opportunity to reflect on the whole year and progress to date
from the beginning of the programme or project.

Why do a management report?

Enables projects and programmes to take stock and to learn; to communicate with and be accountable to
stakeholders; to add value and give encouragement to those stakeholders. Enables Support Offices and the
Partnership to understand the ‘big picture,’ but does not enable them to micro-manage.

In addition, the annual report should reflect on any changes in the context since the start of the programme
or project, which will have an impact.

1
Given that some offices don’t close their financial books until two weeks after the end of the financial year, this means that annual
reports should be submitted within 6 weeks of the end of the financial year. Where reports need to be translated from a local language
it is acceptable where necessary to submit the report on time in the language it was written in and within a maximum of seven days
later in English if that is required by the Support Office.

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 3

Guidelines for Project Reports
Given that projects are the elements that combine to make a programme, project reports are one of the
constituent parts of a programme report. It is recognised that some donors/stakeholders may want to view
these as stand-alone reports.

The following report format should be used as the basis for the standardised semi-annual and annual
management report for each project. It has been adapted from a report structure developed by the West
Africa Sub-Region after broad consultation.

The project report format should include the following elements and be a maximum of four A4 pages long,
not including the report on the budget:

1. Programme and project identification information

2. Narrative summary of progress
3. Indicator-tracking table and narrative
4. Report on budget
5. Adjustments in planned action

Programme and project identification information

This should include:
Name of programme that the project is associated with and number from PIH / PBAS
Name of project and number from PIH / PBAS
Country
Reporting period and date report produced
Start and end date of project
Total project budget
Funder(s)
A description of the beneficiaries (including the number)
Contact person and name of person who compiled the report if different from the programme

Narrative summary of progress

(Maximum one page.)
This should include a summary of progress over the last six months, including a record of lessons learnt.
Refer to the indicators in the project design as a means of measuring progress. What went well and what
were the factors that contributed to this? What did not go so well and what action was taken to address
this? Are there any requests for the technical (or other) assistance of project stakeholders that maybe
reading this report?

The annual report should additionally take the opportunity to reflect on the whole year and progress to
date from the beginning of the project. It should also reflect on any changes in the context since the start of
the project, which will have an impact.

Indicator-tracking table and narrative

The table (Table 1 – Indicator-tracking, at the end of this section), which is adapted from the one found in
Figure 15 of LEAP Edition 1.0, should be included. The ‘target’ columns are set in advance when the design
is finalised. The other columns are filled in with the monitoring data taken for the reporting period
indicated.

Major variances between the targets and what has been achieved should be explained in the narrative
here.

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 4

Indicators need not only be quantitative. Qualitative indicators and targets provide insights into changes in
organisational processes, attitudes, beliefs, motives and behaviours of individuals. Qualitative indicators and
targets that do not easily fit into the tracking table format can be reported here in narrative. There are
various alternatives for using qualitative indicators in the literature. The indicators should be well aligned
with what is expected to change as a result of the project or what the project should produce. The set of
indicators through the hierarchy of objectives should show a consistent pattern – change in knowledge,
attitude and practice for example.

Any unexpected outcomes directly linked to the project should also be included in the report.

Report on budget
A report on the project budget should be included here in the LEAP format (see separate guidelines).

Adjustments in planned action

(Maximum one page.)
Adjustments in planned action for the next six months should be recorded here, along with any
implications for the various project stakeholders. For the annual report an Annual Plan of Action (see
separate format) should be appended to the programme report. In order to use the logical framework as a
useful tool for monitoring and planning, it should be revisited each year and progress measured using the
indicators developed during design. If these are no longer suitable, or if the outputs or activities have
changed, the logframe can be revised. Any revision to outcomes should only follow dialogue with the key
stakeholders. Any agreed changes in the logframe would have implications for the project’s design,
monitoring and evaluation plan and the indicator-tracking table used in six monthly progress reports.

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 5

 Indicator Baseline, 6- 6- 12- 12-month 18- 18-month 24- 24-month End of End of Explanations of Significant Variances
value and month month month Achieved month Achieved month Achieved Project Project
date Target Achieved Target Target Target Target Achieved

Programme goal (the programme goal simply needs to be stated)

Project Goal (given that the project goal is evaluated rather than monitored only fill in the columns below as appropriate for the goal – an example is given)
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Project Outcomes (given that the project outcomes are evaluated rather than monitored only fill in the columns below as appropriate for each indicator – an example is given)
1.1 N/A N/A N/A N/A
1.2 etc. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Project Outputs
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2 etc.

Indicator Baseline, 30- 30- 36- 36-month 42- 42-month 48- 48-month End of End of Explanations of Significant Variances
value and month month month Achieved month Achieved month Achieved Project Project
date Target Achieved Target Target Target Target Achieved

Programme goal (the programme goal simply needs to be stated)

Project Goal (given that the project goal is evaluated rather than monitored only fill in the columns below as appropriate for the goal – see example above)
Project Outcomes (given that the project outcomes are evaluated rather than monitored only fill in the columns below as appropriate for each indicator – see example above)
1.1
1.2 etc.
Project Outputs
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.2.1
1.2.2 etc.

Table 1 – Indicator-tracking

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 6

Guidelines for Programme Reports
The following report format should be used as the basis for the standardised semi-annual and annual
management report in conjunction with the project format above which should be used for each project.

Given that programmes will usually have several funding sources, this report should enable different donors
to understand what their funds were specifically used for, while providing the wider context of the whole
programme.

The programme report format should include the following elements and be a maximum of five A4 pages
long not including the project reports and appendices:

1. Cover page
2. Table of contents
3. Acknowledgements
4. Glossary
5. Programme and project identification information
6. Narrative summary of progress
7. Project reports
8. Most significant change story
9. Programme management challenges
10. Appendices

Cover page
The cover page should have the programme name, location, National Office and the period of reporting.
The name of the person that compiled the report and where appropriate an acknowledgment of others that
have contributed either individually or as a group, e.g., [programme name] staff and community, should
also be included. All reports should have a copyright notice that includes the date the report was produced,
along with the copyright symbol and the programme’s name or the National Office’s name, e.g., Published
December 2005, © World Vision International. Include the WV logo somewhere on the cover page as well.

Table of contents
List the different main sections of the management report. It may be useful to add in various sub-headings,
marking significant places to find different themes and discussions.

Acknowledgements
Include an acknowledgement to thank people who have assisted in the report writing. If the authors were
identified as a group on the cover page, then it would be appropriate to acknowledge them individually in
this section.

Glossary
This is an alphabetical list of terms or words that are found in the document or related to the text of the
document, that need some explanation or which may help the reader to a greater understanding. The list
should also include the expansion of acronyms and abbreviations, e.g., WV - World Vision.

Programme and project identification information

This should include:
Name of programme and number from PIH / PBAS
Name of project(s) associated with the programme and number(s) from PIH / PBAS
Country
Reporting period and date report produced

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 7

 Start date of programme
Contact person and details

Narrative summary of progress

(Maximum two page.)
This should include a summary of progress over the last six months, including a record of lessons learnt.
Issues of project and programme sustainability should be discussed here, including progress towards
transformational development. Issues that have arisen around LEAP’s six cross-cutting themes (Christian
Commitments, disability, environment, gender, peace building & conflict resolution, and protection) should
also be highlighted.

The annual report should additionally take the opportunity to reflect on the whole year and progress to
date from the beginning of the programme. It should also reflect on any changes in the context since the
start of the programme, which will have an impact.

Project reports
All of the current projects in the programme should be reported on here using the guidelines outlined
above.

Most significant change story

(Maximum half a page.)
Establish what was the most significant change that took place for the participants in the programme in the
six-month reporting period. Include that story here. For the annual report also identify whether this story
or the one in the last report was the most significant for the year. Photos can be included in the appendices
if this is appropriate and would be useful to at least one or the programme’s stakeholders. The Standards
for Gathering Story and Photo Resources should be followed at all times
(http://merlin.wvision.org/photopolicy.htm).

Programme management challenges

(Maximum half a page.)
Record any programme management challenges that were encountered during the reporting period and
their implications on the programme. If there have been any changes in the roles of stakeholders, these
should be outlined. Highlight any notable examples of added value provided by any of the stakeholders
during the reporting period (eg support office, community organisation, government partner).

Appendices
These should include:
Relevant photos
List of programme staff and their positions
List of main partners (stakeholders actively engaged in programme activities)
Annual Plan of Action (see separate format) for each project as part of the annual report

Guidelines for six-monthly reports – February 2006 8