PROJECT PLANNING
The key to a successful community activity is good planning. Time spent in planning is usually a good investment. The following six steps provide a useful guide.
Step 1: As a group set an aim, goals and targets
Firstly, consider why you want to undertake this project. What is it that you want to achieve? This is your aim. The aim might be “to make better use of our local green space”. Make sure you write your aim down and share it with others – it will help to keep you focussed and make sure that everyone is clear about your purpose.
As more and more people become involved, you might find that you are overwhelmed with ideas and ways of doing things. Having an explicit aim will help keep all of you on track and ensure that you don’t get distracted with new suggestions. Goals and targets are more specific. They give clear measures on what will be achieved for the project to be considered successful. For example, you might feel that you need at least 50 members of your community to tell you how they feel in order to gain a general opinion. You now have a goal to work towards.
When goal setting, consider SMART targets – Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Relevant and Timebound. This will help you produce targets that can be clearly monitored and evaluated. A word of caution – don’t give yourself an impossible target – consider what you feel is appropriate and work towards that.
Step 2: Devise and undertake activities
Now that you know what you want to achieve as a group, step two is about considering the most appropriate way to achieve the goals and targets you have set. Continuing with the example above, this might mean that you want to go door to door and survey people or hold a community meeting at a local venue to gain residents opinions.
Step 3: Monitor results
Once you have carried out Steps 1 and 2, your group can start the project in earnest. However, to ensure you stay on track it is important to monitor any results throughout, and to make sure you keep track of how well you are working towards your set targets.
Step 4: Compare results with targets
To identify if you are on schedule to achieve the targets you have set, and in the timescale you have specified, compare your results with your targets.
Step 5: Analyse any discrepancies
If you are behind your target think about the reasons why. Possible reasons could include your timescales were too tight, your targets were too ambitious, and for the worked example above, residents were not at home when you were visiting. If there are no discrepancies, the group should carry on with the project and to Step 6 of the model.
Step 6: Evaluation
Following these steps should allow anyone to plan and implement a successful project. However one final thing to do once you have completed your project is to evaluate it. Evaluating is looking back at what you did, how you did it and how your final result compared to the goals and targets you initially set. It is useful as a group to do this because:
Firstly, consider why you want to undertake this project. What is it that you want to achieve? This is your aim. The aim might be “to make better use of our local green space”. Make sure you write your aim down and share it with others – it will help to keep you focussed and make sure that everyone is clear about your purpose.
As more and more people become involved, you might find that you are overwhelmed with ideas and ways of doing things. Having an explicit aim will help keep all of you on track and ensure that you don’t get distracted with new suggestions. Goals and targets are more specific. They give clear measures on what will be achieved for the project to be considered successful. For example, you might feel that you need at least 50 members of your community to tell you how they feel in order to gain a general opinion. You now have a goal to work towards.
When goal setting, consider SMART targets – Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Relevant and Timebound. This will help you produce targets that can be clearly monitored and evaluated. A word of caution – don’t give yourself an impossible target – consider what you feel is appropriate and work towards that.
Step 2: Devise and undertake activities
Now that you know what you want to achieve as a group, step two is about considering the most appropriate way to achieve the goals and targets you have set. Continuing with the example above, this might mean that you want to go door to door and survey people or hold a community meeting at a local venue to gain residents opinions.
Step 3: Monitor results
Once you have carried out Steps 1 and 2, your group can start the project in earnest. However, to ensure you stay on track it is important to monitor any results throughout, and to make sure you keep track of how well you are working towards your set targets.
Step 4: Compare results with targets
To identify if you are on schedule to achieve the targets you have set, and in the timescale you have specified, compare your results with your targets.
Step 5: Analyse any discrepancies
If you are behind your target think about the reasons why. Possible reasons could include your timescales were too tight, your targets were too ambitious, and for the worked example above, residents were not at home when you were visiting. If there are no discrepancies, the group should carry on with the project and to Step 6 of the model.
Step 6: Evaluation
Following these steps should allow anyone to plan and implement a successful project. However one final thing to do once you have completed your project is to evaluate it. Evaluating is looking back at what you did, how you did it and how your final result compared to the goals and targets you initially set. It is useful as a group to do this because:
- The information can support future funding applications;
- You can understand if you have used your resources and time efficiently; and
- It helps you to identify whether you should do things differently in the future