Program Development Project Management (PDPM)

Syllabus
Program Development/Project Management (PDPM) will provide students with the
opportunity to gain a systematic and comprehensive understanding of key concepts and skills
essential to effective program development and project management in international affairs. By
examining the project cycle using potential Practicum projects, students will learn techniques
and tools used in formulating and managing projects and programs for desired impact.

By course end, students will be familiar with aid and development project work, language and
terminology used, different project structures, implementation practices, and strategies to address
potential conflicts and obstacles. More importantly, students will have developed skills -
strategic design, needs assessment, implementation, proposal and report writing, budgeting,
monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, and others - that practitioners need to be effective in a
range of professional contexts. In addition, one cannot speak about international work without
addressing cultural sensitivity, ethics, and socio-cultural, political and economic dilemmas.

For those continuing to the Practicum in International Affairs course, PDPM is the prerequisite
to the PIA course, which must be taken in the final semester.

PDPM and the Practicum in International Affairs (PIA): With proposed Spring 2012
Practicum projects as focal points, the course will use readings, discussions and class exercises to
practice skills, applying them to the respective project, as well as, to the degree possible,
initiating baseline research on which the Practicum will build. Students choose a project based
on interest. (You are not, however, locked into the same project for the Practicum; if you wish to
change to another you will be free to do so. Whether the project actually becomes a Practicum
depends on continued student interest.)

As part of comprehensive preparation for the Practicum, students by end of semester will prepare
an analytical and operational concept note that demonstrates:

1. Comprehensive understanding of the context in which they will work, including socio-
political, economic, and cultural aspects.

2. Understanding of the issue they will work on, the causes, and its variations across contexts.

3. Strategies that have been used to tackle the problem(s) - the usual ones, and innovative ones.
Students can introduce also other possible solutions worth exploring.

4. The concept note will also include a work plan with timeline to be completed during PIA.

Course Philosophy: This is a seminar course that will utilize experiential learning techniques to
provide students with opportunities to practice and process what they learn. This course attempts
to cover skills that are relevant and current in international program work. It is a survey course
that will move quickly. Hopefully, you will leave feeling you have knowledge of the different
skills and strategies used in the international program workplace; you may not feel "expert" in
any of the skills (that would take an entire semester on each), but you should feel that you know
the terminology and how to use them at a basic level.

Learning Objectives: By course end students will be able to, within the above-stated
limitations:

1) Conduct a basic needs assessment for a proposed project

2) Develop a project proposal

3) Develop a logical framework

4) Develop measureable indicators

5) Have ability to insert Monitoring and Evaluation into a project

6) Develop a grant proposal

7) Develop a project budget

Additional Expectations:

Deadlines: Each week's assignment (unless otherwise stated) is due one hour prior to
class (that means 3:00pm Tuesdays for this section). Late assignments will affect
(negatively) your grade. For each 24-hour period an assignment is late, the grade will go
down one letter -
o Between 3pm on due date and 3pm next day - ½ grade
o Later than 24 hours from due time - 1 full letter grade
o More than 48 hours late will receive acknowledgement that completed assignment
without grade
All assignments must be completed to pass the course.
No eating in class (unless sharing a class snack). Drinking water, coffee or tea is
permitted.

Attendance: As this is a skills course, you must attend class to understand the work and
assignments. If you miss a class, you miss that week's skill. If you must miss a class, it is your
responsibility to get lecture notes and assignment from a teammate. Some lectures will be posted
online, some will not. All assignments will be posted online. If work obligations make it difficult
to be in class on time, perhaps you should not take this section, or take PDPM this semester.

§ University policy states that after two absences, the instructor must report any student
receiving financial aid, as there are attendance issues involved when a student is using
government-sponsored educational loan/financial aid.
§ Course policy is that three class absences mandate reduction of one letter grade for the course.
For significant lateness, the instructor may consider tardiness as an absence for the day.

§ With four absences, the instructor may consider that the student is failing the course, and the
student should think about Withdrawal from the course.

§ Extenuating circumstances could be the following:

- An extended illness requiring hospitalization or visit to a physician (with documentation)

- Family emergency, e.g. serious illness (with written explanation)

- Observance of a religious holiday

Attendance and lateness policies are enforced as of the first day of classes for all registered
students. If registered during the first week of the add/drop period, the student is responsible for
any missed assignments and coursework.

Teamwork: Everyone will be on a team based on potential Practicum project interest,

and a substantial part of the course will be team work. Working on a team can be
difficult. Ideally you will get along with the other members of your team, but that may
not always be true. Recognize that this is a professional rather than personal relationship.
If you are not getting along with a team member, try to use the opportunity to problem-
solve. If it gets to the point that project work is disrupted, bring it to instructor's attention.
Keep it professional.
Current events: Some class discussion will focus on events occurring in the world. As
graduate international affairs students, you should be well-informed on what is happening
in the world.

Readings and Assignments: There will be occasional reading, and students should be ready to
discuss on the day they are due. Reading and work assignments will be posted on the class
group-page of gpia.info.

Class Communications: Blackboard will be used as the primary mode of communication. All
readings will be posted on our Blackboard course page, unless otherwise specified.

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's words or ideas as one's own in all
forms of academic endeavor (essays, theses, examinations, research data, creative projects, etc),
without proper acknowledgment, intentional or unintentional. Plagiarized material may be
derived from a variety of sources, such as books, journals, internet postings, student or faculty
papers. The New School Writing Center also provides useful online resources to help students
understand and avoid plagiarism, at http://www.newschool.edu/admin/writingcenter. As per
university guidelines, a student who plagiarizes an assignment will receive a failing grade on that
assignment or for the course, at the instructor's discretion, and the Dean's office will be
notified. The instructor may also ask the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to convene the
academic standards committee to consider additional penalties, including university dismissal.
Course Requirements and Grading: Classes will be a mixture of lecture, student presentations,
and activities and exercises. There will be weekly assignments on each skill, some by team and
some individual. Your grade will therefore reflect both your team and individual work. There
will be many writing assignments. There will be much class discussion.

Students will be graded on:

10% Participation in class discussions and assigned readings

10% Paired Capacity Building Work
20% Team weekly assignments
10% Individual weekly assignments (3) + (1) Pass/Fail
25% Mid-term examination
25% Final team Concept Note with accompanying project presentation

Course Guideline:

The Course, and Introductory Concepts - Understanding course structure, grading

requirements and reading materials. Discussion of PDPM-Practicum project selection process
and the projects themselves. Lecture on International program work, and the different types of
organizations and sectors involved. Introduction to the "Project and Program Cycle."

Project and Program Cycle - Many organizations approach problems through a "cycle," from
which an organization or individual can frame a comprehensive approach to solving a problem
through a broad program or targeted project.

Needs Assessments - The first steps in initiating a project are to fully understand the problem
and actors involved. The needs assessment process involves using tools to reach that
understanding, including stakeholder analysis, qualitative and quantitative methods, interviews
and other tools.

Project Design for Results - Beginning an implementation plan for the project by designing
project work with a long-term goal and shorter-term objectives in mind. Introduction to logical
framework.

The Logical Framework and Monitoring and Evaluation - Further develop a logical
framework as the basis for enabling monitoring and evaluation into your project plan. Work will
continue on a basic framework, with goals, objectives, implementation strategies, and indicators
for monitoring success, failures, effectiveness and progress of the project.

Activity-Based Budgeting, and Basic Accounting - Introduce activity-based budgeting for a

project. Understanding categories and terms, including personnel, benefits, consultants, project
expenses, travel and direct versus indirect costs. Basic accounting will be introduced through an
exercise in which students keep a budget diary for their personal household for one week.

Writing and Editing - Writing is a major activity in the field of international affairs, and should
therefore be a priority skill in one's toolbox. This lecture focuses on writing reports, memos and
correspondence that are succinct, active, informative and readable; learning to edit your own
writing; to be conscious of adherence to style and avoiding mistakes.

Grant Proposal Writing - An overview of formatting and writing a basic grant proposal for
funding of a project.

In-Class Midterm Examination

Simulation

Advocacy - Introducing different advocacy strategies to promote project / program activities.

Evaluation, and Program Enhancement - Evaluating your project, and analyzing the
evaluation and making program corrections. When should your program scale up, and when
should it scale down and close?

Teams also begin preparing a presentation on the team's project.

Final Group Presentations - Final submission of team project, and final presentation to class.