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There are big differences between goal and objective in a proposal even though they sound similar in English. A project goal is a long-term aim that you want to accomplish but could never reach by only one or a few projects. For example, the goal of democracy and good governance in our countries may take ten to twenty years or even one generation to reach. But the objective(s) are concrete attainments or specific targets that we could reach or achieve in one project, and well-defined and practical objectives will enhance the chance of the proposal to be funded. There is only one goal usually in one project, but there could be multiple objectives that we want to achieve at the end of each stage or each project. A standard practice for developing objectives is to keep them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Here are the main differences.
- A project goal is long term and general, while the objectives are short term and practical.
- There is only one goal, but there are a couple of objectives in one proposal or project.
- A project goal cannot be reached but the objectives are needed to be reached within one project.
To give an example, as in the proposal of “Improving the Governmental Policy Decision Making in Mumbai”, the project goal is to reach good governance in Mumbai one day in the future, but we do not know when that time will come, and thus we all need to work hard towards the long term goal. On the other hand, the objectives of the proposal are specific and defined to be reached by the applicants. They could be “to obtain the analyzed results of local people’s opinions of the policy making procedures”, “to encourage the involvement of policy making of community members”, “to improve the policy decision making transparency”, and “to achieve the conversations between the Mumbai government and the local populations”, etc.
