Community Project Design Handout   Page 1 of 10

Community Project Design 

Description and worksheet

Once you have worked with the community to identify the priority issues it wants to address (i.e., desires to

fulfill, needs to meet, problems to solve), then you are ready to help them plan a project around a selected

priority issue. The first major part of the planning process is creating what we call the  basic design  or broad

framework for the project plan. The design is built around six important questions (see box below) that you and

your community work together to answer.

On the following pages is a worksheet for drafting a project design for one of your community's development

priorities. Use it as a practice tool during the PDM workshop and then adapt it as appropriate for use with your

community project design team. Your trainer will provide you with one or two sample designs to help you see

how the process works.

Project Design

(Starting point community or group has selected a major priority issue, e.g., mother child heath, girls' education,

soil conservation, or other.)

Questions

Steps

1. What is our preferred dream or vision of the

Dream or vision statement describing a preferred

 future?

future

2. What are our existing assets that will help us

List of assets, best resources

reach our vision? (sometimes done before and

after  the visioning)

3. How can we make our vision happen?

List of possible strategies/opportunities; ranking

 and selection of best strategies.

4. What are the long term and short term results

Project goals and objectives

we want?

5. How will we know if our project has been

Signs of success or achievement

successful?

6. How feasible is our project?

Feasibility analysis

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