Standard 6: Early transition and start-up planning (including pre-award).

• Primary responsible: Project manager/chief of party (PM/CoP)
  • The PM/CoP, or acting PM/CoP, works with the SMT to establish the governance structure and shares information with the members of the governance structure for decision-making from start-up through close-out.

• Others involved: Country representative (CR); country program senior management team (SMT); partner senior leadership; other stakeholders as appropriate
  • The CR and SMT support the PM/CoP to determine what type of governance structure is most appropriate for the project;
  • The CR supports the PM/CoP as needed in outreach to partners or other stakeholders who may be part of the governance structure;
  • CRS and partner senior leadership and other stakeholders who are members of the project governance structure contribute to the finalization of the governance structure.

Ensure staff with appropriate experience and seniority lead governance structure set-up: If the governance structure is set up before the PM/CoP is in place, country program senior managers should take responsibility for this key action if the individual designated as acting PM/CoP is not highly experienced.

Set up the governance structure so that it is operational within the first month after project approval.

• For externally funded projects, set up the structure no later than three weeks after learning of the donor’s intent to fund.
• For other projects, within three weeks of project start-up.

Defining governance structures during project design phase: For complex projects, donors may require a description of the project governance structure in the project proposal. Defining a preliminary governance structure during project design may also be useful for other projects (e.g., multi-country projects). In these cases, during start-up, the focus is on refining and launching the previously defined structure.

Follow these steps to set up the project governance structure, telescoping as needed depending on project complexity:

1. The PM/CoP, acting PM/CoP, or country program SMT reviews the project proposal to confirm what information, if any, was included about the project governance structure.
2. Building on information in the project proposal, the PM/CoP works with the country program SMT to decide on or confirm the most appropriate project governance structure, which will vary depending on project size, complexity and risk.

• For smaller projects with one, or only a few, partners, a small, flexible governance structure, comprised of CRS senior management and key leadership from partner organizations, may suffice. For projects of limited scope and complexity, the governance structure could even consist of only the PM/CoP plus a single individual named as “project sponsorThe project sponsor is the individual or group that provides support for the project, and is accountable for enabling success. ” (e.g., the head of programming or CR).  
• For large, multi-partner, and/or multi-country projects, an appropriate governance structure may include a project board representing a variety of stakeholder perspectives (CRS senior management, partners’ senior leadership, community representatives, government, and possibly donors).

Multi-country projects and project governance structures: Multi-country projects often have many layered and/or parallel project organizational structures. Clarity on project governance and decision-making authority is especially important for such projects, whether they are supported through CRS discretionary resources or external donor funding. Identify appropriate governance structure roles for individual country program senior leadership, regional staff, and headquarters (HQ) staff as applicable. A project charterA project charter is a document that formalizes the project governance structure including the roles, responsibilities, and norms of the governance structure, and establishes project tolerances and decision-making authority.  that documents agreed project governance roles, norms, and decision-making authority is an essential reference for these types of projects, especially during staff transition.   

3. For a small, flexible governance structure, membership will likely be clear. It is nonetheless good practice for the PM/CoP to convene a start-up meeting with members of the small governance structure (e.g., PM/CoP, CR, partner director(s)). Address the following points in the meeting:

• Identify and document tolerances Project tolerances set clear parameters within which a project manager/chief of party (PM/CoP) can act autonomously—and make it clear when the PM/CoP needs to seek approval. Project tolerances describe the approved ranges of variation that a PM/CoP is authorized to oversee without seeking the endorsement of members of the project governance structure. Tolerances may relate to such things as budget and project timeframe, project scope and quality. For example, a project tolerance might describe the percent by which a project, or line items in a project, can over- or under-spend without the approval of members of the project governance structure; or the acceptable number of days of delay in the implementation schedule before approval from the project governance structure is required.  and norms, including who can make which decisions and how decisions will be made:
  
  • Which decisions is the PM/CoP is authorized to make directly?
  • Which decisions must be brought to the other members of the governance structure?
  • Will the senior CRS representative make the final decision after considering recommendations from any other members of the governance structure, or will decisions be made through another process?
• Establish a schedule for governance structure meetings to review project status, risks and issues.
• Use the Project Charter Template to develop a simple project charterA project charter is a document that formalizes the project governance structure including the roles, responsibilities, and norms of the governance structure, and establishes project tolerances and decision-making authority. .

TIP: Though it was designed with complex structures in mind, the Sample Agenda: Meeting to Establish a Project Governance Structure may provide useful ideas even for simpler governance structures.

4. If a more complex project governance structure is required, the PM/CoP, or CR if needed, works with partner senior leadership to confirm appropriate partner representatives for the governance structure. Keep the following in mind:

• Be clear on the required profiles of governance structure members. Members must have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their respective organizations
• Carefully analyze the dynamics of the proposed governance structure and its members, keeping in mind that collaboration and decision-making is usually easier with smaller groups.

5. For a more complex project governance structure, the PM/CoP convenes a formal kick-off meeting of the members of the governance structure to establish tolerances Project tolerances set clear parameters within which a project manager/chief of party (PM/CoP) can act autonomously—and make it clear when the PM/CoP needs to seek approval. Project tolerances describe the approved ranges of variation that a PM/CoP is authorized to oversee without seeking the endorsement of members of the project governance structure. Tolerances may relate to such things as budget and project timeframe, project scope and quality. For example, a project tolerance might describe the percent by which a project, or line items in a project, can over- or under-spend without the approval of members of the project governance structure; or the acceptable number of days of delay in the implementation schedule before approval from the project governance structure is required.  and working norms.

• Use the Sample Agenda: Meeting to Establish a Project Governance Structure as a starting point.
• Work with members of the governance structure to formalize decision-making processes and the PM's or CoP's decision-making scope and authority.
• Good practice is to document governance structure norms and tolerances in a project charterA project charter is a document that formalizes the project governance structure including the roles, responsibilities, and norms of the governance structure, and establishes project tolerances and decision-making authority.  – see the Project Charter Template. 

TIP: Consider organizing the governance structure kick-off meeting or first regular meeting around the time of the project start-up workshop, to take advantage of stakeholders’ likely participation in that workshop.

6. The PM/CoP convenes the first regular meeting of the governance structure (see Sample Project Governance Standing Meeting Agenda), per the schedule and norms agreed in the kick-off meeting and documented in the project charter. These meetings continue during the implementation phase, and through project close-out.

• Consider organizing regular governance structure meetings around quarterly and annual project review meetings.

7. The PM/CoP ensures that he/she, or a designated note-taker, documents each meeting and key decisions made; shares the minutes per the agreed norms; and posts them to Gateway.