TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM DESIGN

AEI is currently supporting three different program development processes, while also contributing to mid-term reviews and course corrections for others. Our current program development and review portfolio includes resilience, graduation from poverty, homegrown school feeding, and private sector engagement in agricultural value chains. One of our strengths is that we work in various sectors and types of clients, which means we have experience with program development from many different angles. Despite this variety, the lessons are essentially the same:

Start Early and Be Focused

The best programs are data and documentation-driven and responsive to local, contextualized needs. This means that program development, especially if responding to a call for proposals, should start long before a proposal is due. Ensuring your team has the correct data and documentation is critical for narrowing the focus of any assessments. Field visits and stakeholder consultations should be used to validate design thinking and verify any assumptions that the team has made.

Design, Validate, Design

In our experience, there is a tendency to “start from scratch.” In most contexts, this is unnecessary. Using data and documentation, the design team should make initial, informed decisions about design. If your organization already has programming in the area/country, existing project learning and reports are critical to any design decisions. Then, those initial ideas should be validated with stakeholders, including communities, ecosystem actors, and government. Their feedback should then lead to the next design iteration.

Process is Important

We’ve seen organizations start early but then fail to adequately involve stakeholders or, in many cases, start early and then get tripped up by a convoluted and opaque process. Complex program design processes should be organized into “work streams,” with different work streams organized to develop logically and chronologically. For example, a literature review should come before a theory of change. Data collection should come before targeting, and so on.

Clarify Your Differentiators

Along with starting early, checking in with stakeholders on design decisions, having a transparent process, and understanding – and articulating – what makes your organization or approach unique is critical. Not just to secure funding but also to engage with stakeholders meaningfully. Often, organizations don’t think critically about what makes them different. This is true for non-profits as well as private-sector companies. Know who you are, what you offer, and why it’s valuable for the communities you serve and the stakeholders who will hold you accountable.

Author:

Jocelyn Farrington is AEI’s co-founder and Senior Expert, renowned for her expertise in Strategic and Landscape Analysis and Technical Advisory Services, particularly in program design. Her impressive track record includes over 20 years of executive-level experience in development organizations in West Africa, where she has successfully raised more than 500 million dollars for her clients.