Application of the PROJECT CYCLE MANAGEMENT in Piedmont Region

Starting point: the First Round of Equal The bad surprise (and the bad practices) - July 2001 The regional staff involved in the evaluation of the projects presented on the first round of Equal realized that almost all the projects were strewn with the defeats listed below, so common to be considered a real bad practice: poor involvement of the beneficiaries in the aid process poor diagnosis of the problems the beneficiaries are affected by confusion between objectives and activities no measurable indicators for objectives poor identification of assumptions At that very moment, the Piedmont Region Department for Vocational Training and Labour – responsible for Equal in Piedmont Region – invited the retained Development Partnerships to re-design their projects according to the PCM methodology. The Department set up a task force in order to place support at DPs disposal, trying to make them aware of the advantages of the challenge either for the beneficiaries or for the DPs themselves. Just few of them accepted to be gone along with the methodology. The results are in! Those projects turned out better. This is not just what the regional Equal staff says; the Commission chose them as examples to be shown at international conferences and seminars.

Self - strengthening the regional department responsible for Equal. The three Matrixes of PCM The whole of the regional efforts in spreading PCM over the DPs would probably turn out to be not such a challenge if the regional Equal Unit did not strengthen itself in order to support the Development Partnerships in a more effective way. That means there are various Logical Framework matrixes for different institutional levels: the WHAT matrix for service delivery to the final beneficiaries (the matrix of the project) the HOW matrix for implementing organisations as service deliverers (the matrix of Equal Development Partnerships, in our case) the SUPPORT matrix for the Project Management Unit, responsible for the co-ordination of the DPs (the matrix of the Equal Unit in Piedmont Region).

WHAT Matrix HOW Matrix Implementing Agencies SUPPORT Matrix Project Management Unit DONORS Overall Objectives (Why is the support important to the society) Assumptions Purpose (Why do the beneficiaries need the support) Results 1, 2, 3, 4 (Which services will be received by the beneficiaries) Activities 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc… (What will be done) Pre-conditions WHAT, HOW and SUPPORT matrixes Overall Objectives: implementing the activities Management Purpose; professional functioning organisation (Why the staff of organisation A needs the support) Results 1, 2, 3, 4 (internal organisational environment) (The services that will be received by the staff) Activities 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc… (internal capacity building) (What will be done) Overall Objectives: providing effective support to implementing agencies Management Purpose; professional functioning support organisation (Why the staff of Project Management Unit needs the support) Results 1, 2, 3, 4 (internal organisational environment) (The services that will be received by the staff) Activities 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc… (internal capacity building) The WHAT Logical Framework matrix describes what should happen to support the beneficiaries in alleviating their suffering The HOW matrixes describe for each implementing organisation HOW the respective activities in the WHAT matrix are going to be organised internally The SUPPORT matrix describes the internal strengthening of the project support organisation (e.g. partnership or project management)

The WHAT matrix as a logical framework describing what should happen to support the beneficiaries in alleviating their pain can be considered as the final result of two other matrixes: the Project Management Unit Matrix (SUPPORT Unit Matrix) and the Implementing Organisations Matrix (HOW Matrix). In short, - any support organisation (the Equal Unit in Piedmont Region) has to identify elements that need to be strengthened in order to provide adequate support to strengthen the implementing organisation (Equal DPs). Overall Objectives, Management Purpose, Results and Activities can be organised in a Matrix: the SUPPORT UNIT MATRIX; - each implementing organisation (Equal DPs, in our case) has to identify elements needed to create a professional organisation with competence and capability to implement the project. All these elements have to be organised in the HOW MATRIX, describing how the activities in the WHAT matrix are going to be organized internally in order to manage the project in the most effective way.

The Piedmont Region SUPPORT UNIT MATRIX About Piedmont Region, the Equal Unit has been operating in the Department for Vocational Training and Labour from The Equal Unit is the support organisation that needs to be strengthened in order to strengthen the Equal DPs running projects on Piedmont territory. Its Matrix: Overall Objective: effective support to strengthen Equal DPs provided. Management Purpose: Professional functioning support organisation.

The QUESTION the regional Department responsible for Equal has to ask itself is: Why does the Equal Unit Staff need the support?. The ANSWER is: Because the staff needs to have the CAPACITIES, COMPETENCES and CAPABILITIES listed below: advisory capacity: project evaluation, consultancy on PCM, support of the running projects competence on organisational capacity procedures and guidelines: the staff must be able to realize an effective guideline, to set up clear procedures quality control: mission, priority setting, deadline setting, reflection on effectiveness and impact finance: capability in supporting DPs for any financial matter: expense certifications, statements, accounts, financial reports co-ordination: communication lines and mechanisms for internal and external co-ordination evaluation of the quality of the projects public relations, promotion monitoring: mechanism, system, organisation In the Support Unit Matrix, the Results - intended as the services that will be received by the staff - contribute to realize an internal organisational environment, while the Activities contribute to realize the internal capacity building.

THE TWO MAIN RESULTS 1.Into Equal. The DPs that adopted/have been adopting PCM have been/are more effective in managing projects able to create new and better jobs for men and women who have difficulty in being integrated or re-integrated into a labour market and to enforce stable employment for those suffering from unequal treatment at work 2.Outside Equal. Innovative instruments, tools, products, methodologies, skills of professional operating in the labour and social field that have demonstrated to be effective in Equal have been driven/will be driven into the regional Catalogue of Services and Tools and into the Matrix of the Skills of the professionals operating in the work and social fields.

Leading the EQUAL DPs A TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE SERVICE

AREA OF ACTIVITY 1: Supporting Equal Partnerships in improving the projects by applying the PCMs matrixes AREA OF ACTIVITY 2: Organization of working groups with the Development Partnerships AREA OF ACTIVITY 3: Support the application of the self-organization and self-strengthening matrixes of the Equal Regional Unit and the Partnership AREA OF ACTIVITY 4: Support the identification of outputs of the Equal projects and of their role in the context of the strategies of the future Structural Funds