20278 - PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND FUNDING OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

Management knowledge is mainly based on an organizational view: activities run by permanent organizations pursuing institutional goals. However, private and public organizations activities are increasingly managed according to projects pursuing specific purposes, by the means of defined sets of activities, in a given period of time. From a management perspective, policies, and their enacting strategies, are increasingly implemented through programs conceived as organized groups of projects enacted by public or private actors. The course exposes students to the main systems used to fund and evaluate projects conceived by companies, non-governmental organization and public institutions. Students also learn how to design and manage projects in a variety of challenging contexts (e.g. in poor countries after natural disasters, as well as in mature economies affected by social challenges).

The course is organized around three logical blocks:

1. International actors and their policies.
2. Projects design and management.
3. Projects evaluation.

1. The first block presents the relevance of projects and project management in the field of international economic and social cooperation and development policies. Instructors present the main international institutions (EU, UN, international financial institutions) and private organizations (philanthropic foundations, NGOs) and the way they operate to fund, monitor and evaluate projects.
2. The second block focuses on how to design and implement projects by providing students consolidated managerial approaches and techniques (project management, project cycle management, logframe, theory of change, crisis management, project budgeting and reporting).
3. The third block provides students with applied analytical tools to assess project costs and benefits.

At the end of the course students will:

• Know and understand the importance of projects in today’s public and private international organizations’ activities.
• Acquire practical skills about planning, implementing and managing projects.
• Know main project evaluation techniques.

• Interpret international organization policy implementation strategies.
• Identify effective approaches to work with calls for proposals and tenders issued by international organizations.
• Write a project proposal.
• Assess and evaluate a project.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments

• Instructors use case studies or incidents to present real situations and activate class discussions.
• The individual assigment consists of a critical appraisal of a Cost-Benefit Analysis submitted to the European Commision.
• The Group assigment ask students to face a real-world situation where they are required to design a project in order to answer a call for proposal.

• Individual assignment (30%)
• Group assignment (30%).
• Written exam (40%).

Attendance is valid for all exam sessions of the academic year. The course is designed to keep involved also those students who cannot attend classes. In case of partial attendance, due to internship or other academic commitments, it is recommended to contact the instructors to arrange the participation to class' activities (even at a distance) and course evaluation.

• Not attending students are required to take a written exam on all the topics covered during the course.

Attendance is valid for all exam sessions of the academic year. The course is designed to keep involved also those students who cannot attend classes. In case of partial attendance, due to internship or other academic commitments, it is recommended to contact the instructors to arrange the participation to class' activities (even at a distance) and course evaluation.

• Materials available on Bboard and listed in the syllabus.
• V. VECCHI, EU funds: Strategy and Management, Egea, 2012 (book).
• One of the following book is strongly recommended:
• E. JAQUES, The Winning Bid: A Practical Guide to Successful Bid Management, Kogan Page, 2013.
• H. LEWIS, Bids, Tenders and Proposals: Winning business through best practice, Kogan Page, 2015.