A project proposal is divided into different parts to make the proposal clear, organized, and easily understandable. Each section plays a specific role in conveying the purpose, scope, and feasibility of the proposed project. In this guide, we go through each section of the proposal and explain the relevance and method of writing it.
A standard project proposal comprises the following:
- Project Title
- Project Summary
- Organizational Background
- Project Rationale
- Project Narrative or Project Description
- Goals and Objectives
- Personnel
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Sustainability
- Logical Framework
- Budget
1. Project Title
The project title is the first piece of information someone will encounter about your project. It’s a brief, concise, and clear statement that sums up what your project is about. It is the first chance to make a good impression and get your project noticed.
The importance of a good project title includes:
- Engagement: It grabs the attention of readers or reviewers, encouraging them to learn more about the project.
- Clarity: It gives a clear, succinct overview of what the project is about, so anyone reading it can understand its focus.
- Context: It positions the project in the wider field or subject area, giving an immediate indication of the topics or issues it will address.
Coming up with an effective title involves balancing brevity and detail, ensuring it is specific enough to be meaningful but not so detailed it becomes confusing or unwieldy.
An example of a project title related to human rights might be:
“Enhancing Access to Legal Services for Marginalized Communities in Urban Areas”
2. Project Summary
This title succinctly indicates that the project is about improving access to legal services, and it also specifies the target group (marginalized communities) and the location (urban areas). It’s clear, precise, and directly related to a human rights issue – access to justice.
A project summary, also known as an executive summary, is a brief overview of the entire proposal. It is typically a few paragraphs long and includes the project’s main objectives, methods, and expected outcomes.
The summary allows readers to quickly understand the main points of the project without having to go through the entire proposal. It is particularly useful for busy reviewers or stakeholders who need to understand the proposal’s gist in a short time.
It can serve as a deciding factor for whether the project gets approved or rejected. Reviewers may decide based on the summary if the project is worth further consideration.
Here’s an example of a project summary for a project related to child education:
“Project ‘Bright Futures’: An Initiative to Improve Literacy Rates Among Rural Children”
“Project ‘Bright Futures’ aims to address the persistently low literacy rates among children aged 6-14 in the underserved rural regions of [area]. This initiative proposes an innovative three-pronged approach: enhancing classroom instruction by providing teacher training programs, establishing community reading clubs to cultivate a culture of reading, and distributing age-appropriate books to schools and families. We intend to collaborate with local educational authorities, parents, and community leaders to ensure the success and sustainability of the program. The ultimate goal of this project is to raise literacy rates by at least 20% over the next five years, empowering these children with the fundamental skills necessary for their educational and life success.”
3. Organizational Background
Presenting your organization’s background in a project proposal involves highlighting your organization’s history, mission, values, and key achievements, especially those relevant to the project you’re proposing. This information should demonstrate your organization’s ability and experience to successfully carry out the project. Here’s a guideline:
- Introduction: Start by introducing your organization, stating its name, the year it was founded, and its mission. This sets the stage and gives the reader a brief overview of your organization.
- History and Accomplishments: Briefly outline the history of your organization. Highlight key accomplishments that demonstrate your organization’s experience and success in managing similar projects or working on similar causes. These could include successful projects you’ve completed, awards you’ve received, or significant impacts you’ve made.
- Core Values and Principles: Describe the core values and principles that guide your organization. This helps to showcase your organization’s ethos and its commitment to its mission.
- Skills and Expertise: Highlight the skills, expertise, and resources your organization possesses that will be crucial for the project. These could include your staff’s skills, your organization’s technical abilities, or unique resources you have access to.
- Relevance: Clearly explain how your organization’s experience and competencies make it well-suited to carry out the proposed project. This is your opportunity to convince the reader that your organization is the right fit for the project.
Remember to keep this section concise and focused on the most pertinent information. The goal is to build trust and credibility, showing that your organization has the capacity and the track record to successfully implement the project you’re proposing.
Example:
“Founded in 2002, XYZ Nonprofit is a committed advocate for quality education in underserved communities. Our mission is to empower children through access to quality education, providing them with opportunities to fulfill their potential. Over the past two decades, we have implemented over 50 successful projects, directly impacting over 10,000 children and indirectly benefiting their families and communities.
Our core values of equality, integrity, and sustainable development guide our efforts. We pride ourselves on our skilled and dedicated team of education experts and community organizers who are passionate about making a difference.
Our extensive experience in education advocacy, project management, and working closely with local communities positions us uniquely for the proposed project ‘Bright Futures.’ We are confident in our ability to make a significant positive impact on the literacy rates among rural children.”
4. Project Rationale
A project rationale, also known as a problem statement, is a crucial part of a project proposal. It outlines the need for the project by highlighting the problem or challenges that your project aims to address. Here are steps to help you write a convincing project rationale:
- Identify the Problem: Clearly define the issue that your project seeks to address. Be as specific as possible, describing the nature of the problem, who it affects, and its scope or extent. Use data or evidence where possible to highlight the severity or urgency of the problem.
- Explain the Context: Give some background information that helps explain why this problem exists. This could include social, political, economic, or environmental factors that contribute to the problem.
- State the Consequences: Describe the negative effects or consequences if the problem is not addressed. This helps to convey the urgency of the issue and the importance of your project.
- Present Your Solution: Briefly describe how your project will address this problem. This doesn’t need to go into detail (as that will come later in the proposal), but it should give a general idea of what your project will do.
- Explain the Benefits: Highlight the expected benefits of your project. Explain how addressing this problem will improve the situation for the individuals, communities, or environments affected.
5. Project Narrative or Project Description
A project narrative is the heart of your project proposal, describing in detail what the project is about, how it will be implemented, who it will benefit, and what outcomes are expected. You can explain the methodology or approach that will be used to achieve the objectives. This might include the specific activities that will be undertaken, who will be responsible for them, and how they will be managed and coordinated.
The project narrative is further broken down into goals, objectives, strategy, activities and sustainability which are discussed separately below.
6. Goals and Objectives
Goals and objectives are critical components of a project proposal because they clearly define what the project aims to achieve.
Goals are broad, general, intangible, and abstract statements that provide an overarching direction for the project. They represent the long-term outcomes and the ultimate vision of the project. They answer the question, “What is our aim or end point?”
Objectives are more specific, tangible, measurable, and concrete than goals. Objectives are the steps you will take to reach your goal. They are often defined using SMART criteria, meaning they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. They answer the question, “What steps will we take to achieve our goal?”
Example:
In a project aimed at improving literacy rates in rural communities:
The goal might be: “Improve educational outcomes and future opportunities for children in rural communities.”
The objectives could include:
“Train 50 teachers in effective literacy instruction techniques by the end of year one.”
“Establish 10 community reading clubs serving 500 children by the end of year two.”
“Distribute 1,000 age-appropriate books to families in the community by the end of year three.”
“Achieve a 20% improvement in literacy rates among children aged 6-14 by the end of year three.”
7. Personnel
When describing the personnel involved in your project in a proposal, you should provide information about the key team members who will be working on the project, their roles and responsibilities, and why they are uniquely qualified to help make the project a success.
Here are some guidelines for writing about personnel in a project proposal:
- Key Personnel: Start by identifying the key personnel who will be directly involved in the project’s implementation. This could include the project manager, project team members, consultants, or partners.
- Roles and Responsibilities: For each person or group, clearly describe their role in the project and their specific responsibilities. This helps to show how the work of the project will be distributed and managed.
- Qualifications and Experience: Highlight the relevant qualifications, skills, and experience of the key personnel. This could include their educational background, previous work experience, technical skills, or other relevant expertise. This is your opportunity to show that your team has the necessary skills and experience to successfully implement the project.
- Time Commitment: Indicate how much time each person or group will be dedicating to the project. This might be expressed as a percentage of their time (for example, the project manager might be dedicating 50% of their time to the project) or in terms of hours per week. This helps to show that the project has adequate human resources to carry out the planned activities.
Here’s an example of how you might write about personnel in a project proposal for a project aimed at improving literacy rates:
“Our Project Manager, Jane Doe, will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the project, from planning and coordination to monitoring and evaluation. Jane holds a master’s degree in education and has over 10 years of experience managing similar education projects, demonstrating her capability to lead this project successfully.
John Smith, our Lead Education Consultant, will provide technical advice and guidance for the project. He will also be responsible for designing and delivering the teacher training programs. John is a certified teacher trainer with a PhD in education and 15 years of experience in literacy instruction.
Our Project Team, comprising of five experienced community organizers, will be responsible for setting up the community reading clubs and distributing books. Each team member will be dedicating approximately 20 hours per week to the project, ensuring adequate support for our planned activities.
Finally, our local partner organization, XYZ Nonprofit, will provide on-the-ground support and facilitate our engagement with the local communities. They have extensive experience working in the target communities and a strong track record in community development work.”
By carefully detailing your team’s capabilities and roles, you can effectively demonstrate that your project is in capable hands and is likely to succeed.
8. Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) are important components of any project proposal. They are critical for ensuring a project’s success and for measuring its impact.
Monitoring is the ongoing process of collecting and analyzing data to assess how well a project is being implemented. It tracks progress against planned activities, outputs, and timelines, and identifies any problems that need to be addressed. Monitoring helps in making informed decisions about the project’s direction and making adjustments as necessary.
Key elements of monitoring include:
- Identifying key indicators to track (such as the number of teacher training programs delivered, the number of community reading clubs established, or the number of books distributed).
- Setting up systems to collect and analyze data on these indicators.
- Regularly reviewing this data to assess progress and identify any issues that need to be addressed.
Evaluation, on the other hand, is a systematic assessment that takes place at specific points in time (typically mid-term and/or at the end of the project). It determines the project’s effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. It assesses whether the project achieved its objectives and the impact of the project on the target population and wider community.
Key elements of evaluation include:
- Defining the criteria for evaluating the project’s success (for instance, improvements in literacy rates).
- Designing methods to collect and analyze data to assess these criteria (such as pre- and post-project assessments of literacy skills).
- Conducting the evaluation at specified times (for example, at the end of the project) and using the findings to assess the project’s impact and inform future projects.
In a project proposal, the M&E section should clearly describe your plans for both monitoring and evaluation. It should identify the key indicators you’ll track, explain how you’ll collect and analyze data, and outline when and how the evaluation will take place.
For example:
“Our project will have a robust M&E system to ensure we achieve our objectives and can measure our impact.
For monitoring, we will track indicators such as the number of teachers trained, the number of reading clubs established, and the number of books distributed. Our Project Manager will review this data on a monthly basis to assess progress and make any necessary adjustments.
For evaluation, we will assess improvements in literacy rates among children aged 6-14 in the target communities. We will conduct a baseline assessment at the start of the project and follow-up assessments at the end of each year. These evaluations will help us to measure our impact and inform the future direction of our work.”
In this way, a thorough M&E plan not only ensures accountability to donors and stakeholders, but also helps in learning and improving the effectiveness of the project’s strategies and interventions.
Sustainability
Sustainability in a project proposal is crucial as it assures that the benefits and impacts of the project will continue to be felt even after the project’s active implementation phase is over, or once the initial funding has been exhausted.
A sustainable project can continue to deliver benefits to the target community over the long term, not just during the project’s active phase. It ensures that the resources invested into the project, such as time, money, and effort, lead to durable and long-lasting outcomes rather than temporary change. Sustainable projects often involve building capacities within the community and fostering community ownership of the project. This can lead to increased community engagement and empowerment.
Funders often prefer to support projects that demonstrate sustainability, as it indicates that their investment is likely to have a long-term impact. Scalability and Replicability: If a project is designed sustainably, there’s potential for it to be scaled up or replicated in other locations, thereby amplifying its impact.
In your project proposal, it’s important to explain how your project will be sustainable. This could involve aspects such as capacity building (training people within the community who can continue the work), creating or strengthening systems or infrastructure that will last beyond the project, or developing strategies for securing ongoing funding or support.
For instance, in a project aimed at improving literacy, sustainability might be achieved by training local teachers who will continue teaching literacy skills long after the project has ended, establishing community reading clubs that will continue to operate independently, and fostering a culture of reading within families and the broader community.
Logical Framework
A Logical Framework Analysis (LFA), also known as a LogFrame, is a tool used in project planning and management. It’s often included in project proposals to provide a clear, concise, and visual representation of the project’s objectives, activities, expected outcomes, and indicators for success.
A typical Logical Framework Analysis consists of a matrix with four columns and usually four or more rows:
- The first column describes the project’s objectives at different levels (activities, outputs, outcomes, and goal).
- The second column lists the indicators that will be used to measure progress towards each objective.
- The third column defines the means of verification or how these indicators will be measured.
- The fourth column outlines the assumptions and risks associated with each level of objectives.
An LFA is a valuable tool for both planning and managing a project, as well as for communicating the project’s design and plan to stakeholders. It provides a roadmap for project implementation and a framework for monitoring and evaluation.
By clarifying the project’s structure and identifying indicators for success, an LFA helps to ensure that the project is well-planned, achievable, and focused on delivering meaningful outcomes.
Budget
A budget provides a detailed estimation of the resources required to execute the project successfully. This includes direct costs like staff salaries, equipment, materials, and travel and indirect costs like overhead or administration fees.
It outlines how the project’s funds will be allocated and spent. This helps in the effective and efficient management of resources.
The budget demonstrates to funders how their money will be used, promoting transparency and accountability. This can help to build trust with funders and other stakeholders.
The budget also serves as a tool for monitoring and evaluating the project’s financial performance. By comparing the budgeted amounts with actual expenditures, project managers can identify any discrepancies and take corrective action as needed.
Overall, a well-prepared budget not only demonstrates careful planning and consideration, but also helps ensure the project’s feasibility and financial sustainability. It shows that the project team understands the financial implications of the project and has a plan for managing resources effectively.