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Standard 11: Evidence based, action-oriented project management.

Make collaborative, timely, and informed decisions to ensure that project activities deliver intended impact to participants within the approved time, scope, and budget.

Phase: 
Implementation
Category: 
Operations and program planning and management
Key Action 1 Promote and facilitate intentional project reflection, learning, and adaptation.
Who

Project manager or chief of party; head of programming; country representative; CRS and partner project team; technical advisors (country program, regional, and global); country program and regional business development staff; IDEA staff; Program Impact and Quality Assurance (PIQA) communications team
When
  • Ongoing throughout project implementation.
  • Aim to hold at least one project learning event per year.
Key Action 2 Identify and address project implementation issues and risks in a timely manner.
Who

Project manager or chief of party; CRS and partner project staff (program and operations); country program senior management team; members of the project governance structure
When
  • Throughout project implementation
    • Use regular (daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the project context) project team meetings to identify and analyze new risks and issues, and to review the status of critical issues and risks requiring active management.
    • Use quarterly and annual planning and review meetings to comprehensively review project risks and issues.
Key Action 4 Organize cross-disciplinary, evidence-based project review and planning meetings, in line with CRS MEAL policies and procedures.
Who

Project manager or chief of party and project MEAL coordinator; CRS and partner project team members (program and operations); sectoral technical advisors; country program senior management team (SMT) and partner senior management as needed; any other members of the project governance structure
When
  • Quarterly (or other regular frequency) review and planning meetings: Organize 1- to 3- day meetings focused on lower-level project results (activities, output, possibly intermediate results), community feedback and changes in context, to inform quarterly planning and reporting.
  • Annual review and planning meetings: Organize 3- to 5-day annual meetings focused on higher-level project results (e.g. intermediate results (IRs) and strategic objectives (SOs)), progress and lessons learned, to inform strategic decisions and longer-term planning, and update the MEAL system as needed. Use the annual review and planning meeting heading into the project’s final year to begin developing the comprehensive project close-out plan (see Standard 16).
Key Action 5 Proactively manage and review partner relationships.
Who

Project manager or chief of party; programming staff, including partnership point person (if one exists) and other project staff (project officers, project assistants); finance and other operations staff; country representative; head of programming; head of operations
When
  • Ongoing throughout project implementation.
  • Annually for Partnership Scorecard and Partnership Reflections (as needed and agreed).