Sometimes I can't believe how useless so many development reports are.

Seriously.

Monitoring reports are NOT just about numbers. They're not about ticking boxes.

We did this. We did that.

So what?

I love metaphors, and here's one.

Reporting is a house of cards.

At the top we have our evaluation. This is where we reflect on EVERYTHING. The project's over, and it's time to hand over to the community, pack up and go home and say 'job done'.

But how do we know that we succeeded?

And how do we even define success?

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time” - according to the American Poet John Lydgate.

He Obviously Never Did Stakeholder Management.

I'm not sure who originally said this - Einstein, Plato, or John Lennon - someone on my Facebook anyway.

But it's a statement I throw at my training participants on Day 1 whenever we are doing Project Planning or RBM. And it's this:

A Problem Is Not The Absence Of A Solution, It's An Existing Negative State

OK - maybe you're not the manager - but you do manage things.

You may oversee community volunteers and mobilisers, or manage community expectations. You may lead a team. You might just manage information. And, then again, you might be the one who oversees the whole project, and has to keep donors sweet.

But Do You Manage Reactively Or Responsively?

Reasons 7 - 12 ...

This does NOT mean your organisation can't 'go it alone'. Partnership can be full of difficulty, and it's sometimes the 'lone wolf' NGO that can achieve its objective better than several NGOs together, especially for small, targeted and specialised interventions.
 

Proposals can be rejected for a number of reasons. Over the next two posts I'm going to outline some of the key things to be aware of when seeking funding to increase your likelihood of success.

No project can be supported if the donor cannot understand why it’s necessary. Sometimes this may be because the problem actually isn’t very relevant to the donor, or they don’t see it as serious (see my next point), but often it’s because it’s poorly communicated.

"Who's Responsible For This Mess?"

I think we all heard that as children.

I doubt we often heard our parents say, "Who's responsible for this tidiness?"

Which is why a lot of people - managers and project teams - don't actually like responsibility. It's much easier - and much safer - to follow the plan, stick to the budget, and tick all the boxes. And if the project outcome isn't achieved, at least it's all tidy.

But What Is Responsibility Anyway?

Let's talk about stakeholders.
 
After all, they are the most important part of any project. As development workers we are service providers, and our most important stakeholders are the end users of our services - the target communities we serve, whoever they may be - mothers, IDPs, girl children ...

It's a tough environment out there.

Funding is in many areas declining, and donors are expecting more value-for-money. It's a results-focused environment, and every development dollar has to count.

So, How Do We Identify Projects That Donors Will Support?