20278 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

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Management knowledge is mainly based on organizational views: activities run by permanent organizations pursuing institutional goals. However, private and public organizations increasingly pursue their policies and their enacting strategies, are increasingly implemented through programs conceived as organized groups of projects. Projects, i.e. temporary endeavors undertaken to create a unique result by the means of defined sets of activities/tasks and resources (PMI, 2010) can be enacted both by public or private profit or not for profit actors engaged via a range of different instruments and processes. The course exposes students to the main systems used to fund and evaluate projects conceived by companies, non-governmental organization and public institutions. Students also learn how to design and manage projects in a variety of institutional and geographical contexts.

The course is organized around three logical blocks:

1. International actors and their policies and approaches about projects award and funding;
2. Projects design and management.
3. Projects evaluation.

1. The first block presents the relevance of projects and project management in the field of international economic and social cooperation and development policies. Instructors present the main international institutions (EU, UN, international financial institutions) and private organizations (philanthropic foundations, NGOs) and the way they operate to fund, monitor and evaluate projects.
2. The second block focuses on how to design and implement projects by providing students consolidated managerial approaches and techniques (project management, project cycle management, logframe, theory of change, public prrocurement, project budgeting and reporting).
3. The third block provides students with applied analytical tools to assess project costs and benefits.

• Understand public and private interplay in implementing policies and strategies
• Know and understand the importance of projects in today’s public and private international organizations’ activities
• Know and understand main funding and procurement processes used by international organisations
• Understand the importance for third-party organisations willing to engage with international actors to position themsevles strategically
• Know main project design and management tecniques 

• Interpret international organization policy implementation strategies
• Identify effective approaches to work with calls for proposals and tenders issued by international organizations
• Define a project intervention logic
• Define project activities and resources needed
• Write a project proposal
• Assess and evaluate a project

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments

• Instructors use case studies or incidents to present real situations and activate class discussions.
• The individual assigment consists of a critical appraisal of a Cost-Benefit Analysis submitted to the European Commision.
• The Group assigment ask students to face a real-world situation where they are required to design a project in order to answer to a call for proposal.

• Individual assignment (30%)
• Group assignment (40%).
• Written exam (30%).

Attendance is valid for all exam sessions of the academic year. The course is designed to keep involved also those students who cannot attend classes.

In case of partial attendance, due to internship or other academic commitments, it is recommended to contact the instructors to arrange the participation to class' activities (even at a distance) and course evaluation.

Not attending students are required to take a written exam on all the topics covered during the course (100% of the final grade).

Materials available on Bboard and listed in the syllabus

Materials available on Bboard and listed in the syllabus

H. LEWIS, Bids, Tenders and Proposals: Winning business through best practice, Kogan Page, 2015 (available at the library)