1

The Basics
The Longest phase

• Implementation of activities and resource management

Mobilize human, financial, technical and logistical resources that are
necessary to reach the project expected results
• Steering & Optimisation
Adapt/adjust the project according to changing needs, demands and/or
resources
• Participation, Cooperation & Synergy
Encourage the participation of beneficiaries (or their representatives)
and create a complementary dynamic with partners and operators of
the project intervention area
• Information & Communication
Ensure maximum involvement of people involved in the
project.
4 aspects to implementation

Deployment of Activities Steering and Optimisation

and Resources

Implementatio
n

Participation, cooperation Information and

and Synergy communication
Minimal Commitments for
implementation-1
 Confirm and update the project needs to engage
human, financial, logistical and technical resources at
the right time (Organization)

 while respecting the rules in place (Compliance)

 and raising the awareness of project teams and

partners on institutional policies (Values).
Minimal Commitments for
implementation-2
 Consolidating the number and categories of
beneficiaries at least once a year (Impact).

 Formulating a continuity scenario and/or exit strategy

tailored to the context before the completion phase
(Anticipation).

 Including in the project steering the analysis of

performance of partners (Results), monitoring of key
risks and assumptions (Mitigation & Flexibility),
control of technical quality indicators
(Product/Service).
Commitments for implementation-3

 Implementing self-evaluation for all projects (Effects).

 Inform beneficiaries on the project (Understanding)

and give them the means to express their satisfaction
levels (Expression).

 Involve partners in a steering committee

(Implication) and engage them in the
implementation of institutional policies (Values).
Commitments for implementation-4

 Establish differentiated communication according to

stakeholders and produce at least one summary of the
project from the perspective of a female and male
beneficiary (Communication).

 Update and regularly back up a project document

database providing access to all project documents
(Availability).
Commitments for implementation-5

 Conducting regular and formalised project reviews for

analysis and decision-making between project and
support teams: budget monitoring (Optimization)
and inter-service project review (Control).

 Respect beneficiary participation and share clear,

compliant and realistic project monitoring reports with
partners, donors and Handicap International support
teams (Information).
 2
How to manage a
project successfully
Implementing = Managing

 Time
 Resources (HR, finance, logistics)
 Risks
 Stakeholders
 Project outputs/benefits
Managing a project = Managing all
sides of a project
Project Management consist of
many different tasks
Recipe for Success

Communication Manage your Conduct a

! stakeholders learning review
well process

Rely on Foster
Strenghts and Humanity at the Cooperaton
skills of core rather than
stakeholders competition
Set up reference
Framework
Manage Risks
( Values, do’s
and don’ts)

Flexibility and Build a

Reactivity productive team
 3
Reporting
•SESSION OBJECTIVES
• Contents:
• Learn how a quality report is elaborated:
- Why we are writing a report
- Who should write it when
- How we should write
- Tips on avoiding common mistakes

• Objectives:
• At the end of the training course, the participants will be
able to:
• Know what the purpose of reporting is for donors and for
HI and what general reporting expectations are
• Mention what common mistakes in report writing are
• Mention what good principles and practices of quality
report
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writing are
 • WHAT IS A GOOD REPORT?

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•Why do we need to report?
 For the donor, reports are an ACCOUNTABILITY
TOOL – the donor is accountable in its turn for the funds
being spent (to tax payers or to private donors); they
enable the donor to:
- Visualise at a given moment what has been achieved and
what not and why;
- Know how we perform as an organisation in delivering the
contractually expected results
- Assert the relevance of the expenses which they are funding
(in accordance with their legal constraints often)

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•Why do we need to report?
 Reports are a CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION with
the donor; they enable EWDNA to:
• Demonstrate what we have achieved with the donor’s funds

• Explain and justify any changes during the project’s

implementation compared to the contractual proposal

• Show the relevance of expenses (sometimes accompanied with

an audit)

• Sometimes, permit to request a payment / instalment

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Often encountered reporting issues
(contents)

• A) Activity oriented and lacking an analysis of

change

• B) Sudden changes and or unsolved problems

• C) Lack of consistency and coherency with past

documents or no new elements

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•A) Activity oriented and lacking an
analysis of change
• Some reports tend to simply list the implemented activities, without
any further analysis…
• A donor is usually more interested in :
• - What (measurable) results have been achieved? How do we know
this?
- What activities have mainly contributed to this?
- What impact will this have on the beneficiaries?

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•B) Sudden changes and or unsolved
problems
 A report should never suddenly present donors with big surprises.
Ideally, problems and modifications due to contextual, management
or other causes, should have been discussed with the donor
beforehand…
 Of course, a report = opportunity to notify changes, challenges and
difficulties, but a donor should not be presented with a fait
accompli, i.e. a request for change which has already taken place.
 Challenges or difficulties should be linked up as much as possible
with the risks and hypothesis that have been identified in the
proposal.
 No problem should be left unresolved: it is important to show to the
donor that EWDNA is actively seeking solutions.

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•C) Lack of consistency and coherency
with past documents or no new elements
 For different reasons, the link with what has done or said
before on this project is sometimes missing...a report
should be consistent with and be compared against:
 The latest reference project document: not change name
or order activities, results, objectives – always
 previous reports: be sure to use the latest version of
workplan, logframe, etc.
 Also: a report should provide new elements – update info
and not cut and paste!

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 • So again…..
• WHAT CAN BE CONSIDERED A GOOD
REPORT?

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•A good report is ... Analytical (1)
• Provide analysis on the extent to which the objectives have
been achieved (why and how), the expected results and the
activities, focusing on the indicators and how we know they
have been achieved (sources)
• Be factual and objective: a report analyses a given
situation
• Highlight the effects and progress made by the project but do
not hesitate to speak about any difficulties/ differences
but explaining and justifying them well
• Highlight the strengths and achievements of the project,
including any positive effects not expected in the original
project.
•  Generally speaking, these elements are what makes the
difference between a good report and an excellent one.
• For example,
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no figures should be presented without analysis.
•A good report is ... Analytical (2)
• For activities…keep it short - reporting should be done in
summarized and synthesized way:
• Progress – whether it is not yet started/ongoing/on
track/finished;
• Achievements – as foreseen or with changes to be specified
(modifications/difficulties), explain briefly what, where was done.
• Result of the activity - concrete outputs and contribution to the
achievement of the expected result
• Involvement of partner and beneficiaries.
•  Max. length description activity: about ¼ page per activity

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•A good report is ... relevant

• Use the right format!

• All the problems encountered should be followed by

solutions (or proposed solutions).

• All the questions raised in the report should be answered.

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•A good report ensures ... continuity

A report should form a logical continuation in

relation to:
 the reference project document: do not change the name of the
activities, follow the same order of presentation, do not add any
additional activities.
 previous reports: answer any questions left unanswered the
previous month due to a lack of information, review the planned
time chart etc.
No report should contain any identical text from previous
documents. (but neither just “already previously reported”,
give short summary)
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•A good report is ... consistent

• No inconsistencies, no incorrect figures...

• Consistency between the narrative,

financial and logistics reports

• Consistency with previous reports:

• Continuity of information
• Consistency between figures
• Consistency in the justifications

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•A good report ... anticipates

 Analytical or strategic considerations should be

previously discussed and agreed upon within
program team (e.g. through project review) prior
to drafting the report (Project Review)
The report validation is a long process involving
numerous different people so anticipation is
absolutely key (importance of retroplanning)
The donor report is ideally done progressively
(and not just before report elaboration or when
there is no more project team…)

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•What approval chain?

1. The PM/PO is responsible for writing the report

2. The operational and technical coordinators give programme
validation before sending the report to the
donor/government
3. The technical advisors can be consulted
4. Normally, the Desk approves the final version to be sent to
donors or Institutional Funding teams first

To be reflected by the Project Coordinator (Fikirte)

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 • FORMATTING TIPS…

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•A good report is also clear…

• -Remember that the donor does not have the same detailed
knowledge of the project that you do-
• Explain our specialist jargon ("inclusive education", "referrals", etc.).
• Include a list of the acronyms used an explain any abbreviations.
• Use the automatic table of contents function and make a final check
that the page numbers in the contents are correct.
• Avoid using long sentences. Get straight to the point.
• No surprises - follow the format provided by the Donor.
• Contrary to proposals, write in past tenses : you report on something
you already did!
• Is written in correct English…make sure you have the resource in-
program to review/proofread a report or to have budget to externalize it.

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•... easy to read...
 Texts which are overly dense are difficult to read – long reports, with
lengthy activity descriptions and/ or repetitions are not likely to be read!

• One report, one font

• - Harmonize the formatting throughout the document

 Ensure consistency in use of names, places, acronyms

• Intersperse the document with illustrations for improved clarity

• Not too many Annexes! We should annex those documents such as

publications and important written deliverables, but not all sources of
verification (perhaps only those of the main indicators)
• Caption the Annexes and give them a header making reference to the
project and report if it is a separate document.
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•... illustrated

• Systematically include the title and caption for the graphic or

photo, and the copyright for any photos used.

• When using graphics, cite the date and source of the data
used.

• Use high quality digital photos, BUT!!  Reduce the size of

photos for documents sent out by email

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Over to you !
 What do you think?

14 November 2017
“ Given the lack of technical human resources in
Amhara region, EWDNAwas unable to fill the
physiotherapy vacancy for a period of three
months, which explains why the objectives were
not met."
 What do you think?

14 November 2017
"Given the lack of technical human resources in
Amhara region, EWDNA was unable to fill the
physiotherapy vacancy for a period of three months,
which explains why the objectives were not met."
What do you think?

14 November 2017
“EWDNA was unable to complete the food
distributions in Oromia due to logistical issues, as
the logistics officer was suffering from
depression."
What do you think?

14 November 2017
“EWDNA was unable to complete the food
distributions in EWDNA due to logistical issues,
as the logistics officer was suffering from
depression."
What do you think?
"The health professionals from the clinic went on
strike for two weeks, EWDNA was therefore
unable to deliver the training sessions as
scheduled. EWDNA was able to negotiate with
the regional health authority to reschedule these
training sessions in the next quarter."
What do you think?

"The health professionals from the clinic went on

strike for two weeks, HI was therefore unable to
deliver the training sessions as scheduled. HI
was able to negotiate with the regional health
authority to reschedule these training sessions in
the next quarter."
What do you think?
• "As already mentioned in the monthly
information sheet, this activity was
completed within the given timeframe
with the full involvement of all project
stakeholders."

42
What do you think?

• "As already mentioned in the monthly

information sheet, this activity was completed
within the given timeframe with the full
involvement of all project stakeholders."

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What do you think?
• "This awareness-rising activity took place on 4
January 2017 and was attended by 47
participants, including 4 influential community
leaders. The event was covered by the local
media, resulting in the publication of articles in the
press disseminating key inclusion messages (see
appendices 2 and 3: press articles)."

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What do you think?
• "This awareness-rising activity took place on 4
January 2017 and was attended by 47 participants,
including 4 influential community leaders. The event
was covered by the local media, resulting in the
publication of articles in the press disseminating key
inclusion messages (see appendices 2 and 3: press
articles)."

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What do you think?
• "This training course produced a 20%
increase in knowledge. This was a major
achievement in relation to the baseline
situation: obtaining authorisation from the
Ministry of Health was complicated but my
diplomacy and perseverance led to a
satisfactory outcome."

46
What do you think?
• "This training course produced a 20%
increase in knowledge. This was a major
achievement in relation to the baseline
situation: obtaining authorisation from the
Ministry of Health was complicated but my
diplomacy and perseverance led to a
satisfactory outcome."

47
What do you think

• The training was also achieved through

bringing together parents/caregivers  for
experience sharing during the monthly
psychosocial support group meetings.
They discussed their challenges  and way
forward.  

48
What do you think?

• The training was also achieved through

bringing together parents/caregivers  for
experience sharing during the monthly
psychosocial support group meetings.
They discussed their challenges  and way
forward.  

49
What do you think ?
• Given the situation of uncertainty and to
avoid delays in project implementation,
EWDNA decided to modify the lists of
localities targeted for Technical Surveys and
suspended until further notice its operations
in the 3 villages of SNNPR and deployed its
teams in other threat-free areas.

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What do you think ?
• Given the situation of uncertainty and to
avoid delays in project implementation, HI
decided to modify the lists of localities
targeted for Technical Surveys and suspended
until further notice its operations in the 3
villages of Bignona and deployed its teams in
other threat-free areas.

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What do you think ?

• The health-awareness sessions were

implemented with the relevant
stakeholders in a timely manner and
effectively, according to what most of
participants declared.

52
What do you think ?

• The health-awareness sessions were

implemented with the relevant
stakeholders in a timely manner and
effectively, according to what most of
participants declared.

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•Overall, to consider a report
good…
• On reading the report, the donor should:
• have fully understood the improvements for the beneficiary
populations
• have a clear impression that the report is truthful and
accurate
• be reassured that the use of its money is being carefully
controlled
• be convinced of our professionalism
• have its confidence in HI confirmed and even increased

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•Supporting docs:

• Documents that will be made available:

- This presentation
- Writing quality documents to donors + Checklist!
- Format checking doc Writing Quality
Docs

- How to create a table of contents

Format Check

Table of Contents

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Thanks... and good luck! 56