2.7. Reasons for Top-Down Project Failures : -

Usually, projects designed under top-down approach are experienced to face failure from a number of reasons. Some of the key reasons  for their failures are as follows :

Ambiguous project objectives set on the basis of insufficient information and unreliable data while planning the project and designing its M &E system;

Conflicts in set objectives of different projects that are working to achieve the common goal of a program-me;

Absence of field-based experienced and/or qualified personnel to design and carry out projects;

Lack of proper communication between project planning (central) and project implementing (local) agencies;

corruption at higher levels  in the name of  local level development;

No timely release of budget from the cent-re;

2.6. Project Approach in Planning : -

It has been already said above that a plan is a representation of vision and projects are the real action units undertaken in order to achieve the goal envisioned in the plan. Hence a plan vision may be based either on top-down or bottom-up approach.
The practice of formulating plan, program-mes and projects at central level and pushed down to the field level for its implementation is known as top-down approach. Here the requirements and interest of local people while selecting and implementing projects are not taken into consideration, in general. Local people, in such case become just onlookers rather than the actors in doing development works.

2.5. Project Characteristics in Common : -

Despite the different types and natures of projects we observe in different sectors and in different levels, all of those necessarily reflect a set of common characteristics.

Common Characteristics of all Projects

Objective 
each and every project needs to be guided to achieve an objective or a set of objectives.

Investment  
every project requires certain investment of resources  (money, material, time, information or technology, manpower,etc.)

Space        
Every project needs space be it physical, aerial, aesthetic, political, cultural etc

System      
all projects need to undergo a system of inputs- process - outputs.

Cycle        
every project will have its own phase-based cycle. In other words, every project starts from its identification and ends up with evaluation. Depending upon the type and scale of a project, phases of project cycle may vary from project to project.

Project Cycle Phase : An Example

Project A
Phase I Identification
Phase II Formulation
Phase III Implementation M & E

Project B
Phase I Identification
Phase II Formulation
Phase III Appraisal
Phase IV Implementation M & E

In the above project cycle example, there are only three phases in project ''A'' whereas there are four phases in project ''B''. In other cases there may be many more phases as well. All this largely depends upon the type and nature of a project. However, in general context, we can say that every project will have invariably three phases and they are:

• Pre-project  implementation phase (including all activities starting from project identification to project appraisal);
• Project implementation phase (including monitoring and on-going evaluation; and
• Post-project implementation phase (conducting impact evaluation).

2.4. Type and Nature of Projects : -

In broad, for a simple understanding, categorization of different types and natures of projects can be done on the following basis. However, it should not be taken as a comprehensive or complete classification.

Classification of Projects

Type and Nature of Projects

Sector
non-industrial or industrial
Ownership   
private or public
Output
goods producing or service providing
Motto
profit or non-profit oriented
Scale  
small, medium, large (depends on definition)

   

                              

2.3. Project : -

Projects are the specific schemes or action units designated for the investment of given resources and skills with an aim of attaining some predetermined objective/s. Projects involve real actions as per the direction of program-me outlines. So, a program-me may consist of several projects.
In other words, projects are the specific action units within the framework of a program-me and program-mes are the integrated blocks of development plan. Therefore, proper formulation of sector-specific plan, program-me and project necessarily indicate the pace and direction of development process of any community, district, and thereby of an economy. Projects remain themselves at the bottom level of any plan.

Interrelationship between Plan, Program-me & Project 

Plan  

Development or Sectoral Plans 

  Broad Decisions

Program-mes 

 Action Outlines

Project 

Action Execution

There may be several types and natures of projects functioning in any community or country. All of  such projects are tied up, in one or another way, to their respective program-mes. Likewise, there may be several program-mes within a plan designed to fit into the set goal of a plan.

2.2. Programme : -

A program-me is the extensive and consistent set of action units stating the needs of interrelated activities to achieve the plan's objectives and goal. There could be several program-mes within a plan or a development plan.

In fact, the success of a PLAN necessarily depends upon the accuracy and clarity shown in its program formulation followed by clear action outlines on one hand and the establishment of inter-sectoral and inter-organizational sound coordination and cooperation mechanisms, on the other.

2. Project Proposal : Theoretical Background

2.1. Plan : -

A plan is an image, map, or vision to represent the forms and/or features of desired situation(s). "It is a means to build a constituency for change. It is also evidence of an explicit allocation of resources to the task- and the means to mobilize additional, external resources" (UNDP, 2000). It is equally applicable in terms of understanding the 'concept of plan' be it in community or national level context.

Of course, a plan prepared to develop a certain community is understood as Community Development Plan whereas a plan prepared to develop a district or region is called the District Development Plan or the Regional Development Plan. On the other hand, depending upon different sectors (agriculture, education, forestry, health and so on) there may be different sector-specific plans and we call each of them ' Sectoral Development Plan'. And finally, we have the National Development Plan, which should be understood as an integration of all levels, and sector-based development plans.

In a plan document, we can find only the level or sector-specific broad decisions indicating what and how much is to be achieved with the investment of given resources ( finance, human, time, technology etc.).

A plan itself is static. In other words, a plan representing only an imagination or vision will have no meaning unless it is put into operation to achieve its set objective/s.

Planning, on the other hand, is a process to formulate a plan and also an action drive to put the plan into operation in order to produce the targeted results. It involves a pre-consideration of resource commitment ( finance, human, time, technology etc.) required for the implementation of plan. It is dynamic.

There is a mutual dependence between a plan's vision and the materialization of its goal. So, much of the success of a plan depends upon the following circumstances.

• How clearly and realistically the planners formulate the plan?
• How far the plan implementing agencies coincide with the vision of planners?
• How far the programmes and projects approved to execute are in line with the plan objective/s?

Things to Remember - If the above said considerations do not follow the same direction, it will be something like some valuable musical instruments but played without coordination.