A management approach to project appraisal and evaluation [antikvár]

PREFACE This publication on project appraisal/evaluation is addressed to Government officials in less developed countries and aid agencies who are concerned with the management of development activities. The goal of the book is to provide the necessary information to development managers so that they can set up their own appraisal/evaluation framework in a technically competent way. The book is based on the premise that appraisal/evaluation frameworks have to be adapted to the socio-economic situation of a given country. Each country has its own development path, its specific goals and its own management structure and hence needs its own tailormade appraisal/evaluation framework. The "manual" approach is therefore rejected. Rather than propose a specific and rigid framework, the book discusses the various concepts and frameworks proposed and attempts to highlight the factors that have to be taken into account when choosing and setting up an appraisal/evaluation framework. This approach explains the somewhat "scholarly" content of Part I and Part II of the publication. The book avoids setting up a readily applicable blue print for an evaluation framework. Rather than cook-book solutions, it attempts to discuss concepts that can and have to be adapted to the specific situation of a given country or development agency. What is required is a critical analysis by the development manager to identify his information needs and his capacity to use efficiently the information generated. For this reason, many of the terms used in the book need specification at the country or development agency level. For example, the terms project-, programme- and policy management can cover quite different entities in the various countries concerned. It is the task of the development manager to specify those concepts, so that they reflect the reality of the situation with which they are concerned. The outline of the publication reflects the purpose of the book: Part I discusses existing project appraisal methodologies. The first Chapter outlines the evolution of the concepts of development and the various terms used in project analysis. Chapter 2 defines the place of project analysis in the planning exercise. Chapter 3 discusses the various appraisal methodologies that are currently proposed in the literature. Part II outlines a management approach to development activities. The proposed iterative approach considers planning, policy formulation, poJcy execution and evaluation as an inter-related, circular search