If you know which stage a project is in, you know what work matters right now and which documents people will ask you for. That makes you useful from your first week on a new team.
The five stages
Organisations use different names, but most projects pass through these stages:
- Starting (initiation). Someone has an idea or a need. The team agrees the goal, rough budget and who is in charge, often in a short charter or concept note. Funding may be sought or approved.
- Planning. The goal is broken into tasks, dates, a budget, roles and a list of risks. For donor projects, a logframe and work plan are agreed.
- Doing (execution). Activities happen: trainings, construction, purchases, community meetings.
- Monitoring. Progress and spending are checked against the plan, problems are spotted, and reports are written. This runs alongside doing, not after it.
- Closing. Results are handed over, accounts are settled, records are archived and lessons are captured.
Monitoring is drawn as a loop around doing: you do some work, check it, adjust, and keep going.
A worked example: the school feeding programme
Wumpini works as an assistant on a programme that serves a daily hot meal at four basic schools near Savelugu.
- Starting: The NGO and district education office agree the goal: every pupil at the four schools gets one hot meal each school day for one academic year. A charter names Issahaku as coordinator.