The Project Initiation

This is the first stage in the project after the NGO recognized the need to embark on the project to help develop marketing and bookkeeping skills of a group of twenty dress-making women. This includes the process of recruiting the project manager who was tasked to help in defining the main objectives of the project, defining the initial scope of the project, identifying the stakeholders, as well as collecting the requirements of the project. The project was to last for one month. The objective was to train the group on good bookkeeping as well as how to effectively market their product. The project team was made up of a group of volunteers from across the world having accounting and marketing background and participating in the NGO’s professional internship program in Ghana.

9.2.1. Identification of stakeholders

The project stakeholders were individuals and organizations that were actively involved in the project, or had interest in the result of project. As discussed in the theoretical part of the thesis, there are three major steps in doing project stakeholders analysis: identification of all stakeholders in the project, classification of these identified stakeholders in the stakeholder

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power/interest grid in order to know the most important stakeholders, and finally the Project Manager’s understanding of the key stakeholders requirements and their likely reactions to the project as well as how to manage those needs to get their support for the project.

The stakeholders in this project included the NGO itself, which is also the sponsor of the project, the group of twenty dress-making women, who were the main beneficiaries of the project, the project fund contributors which was made up of private individuals, institutions, organizations, and other companies that were interested in the project, the suppliers who supplied the needed materials and facilities for the execution of the project, the government of Ghana which is interested in seeing its citizens strengthen their businesses so that they pay taxes for national development, the media: report on the project, other dress-making women who were interested in the project and would also like to benefit from the same project in the future, as well as the general public. See the table below for the various stakeholders in this project.

Table 2. Project stakeholders

Project stakeholder Stakeholder’s role Classification

1. The NOG To help the women acquire the

necessary skills for their businesses

It is an internal key

stakeholder in the project and the brain behind the project.

2. The project team To impact good bookkeeping

and marketing skills on the women

Internally key stakeholder.

3. The trainees To receive the ever needed

knowledge they require to

undertaking their business

activities.

Internal key stakeholders, they are the main beneficiaries of the project

4. Fund contributors To provide the funds needed

to enable the project to be effected.

They are core external

stakeholders; They are

responsible for the financing aspect of the project.

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and materials available for the project.

stakeholders; they are

responsible for the project supplies.

6. Government (local and national)

To provide the enabling

environment for the project to take place and is interested in its citizens acquiring the needed skills to carry out their business activities so as to create jobs as well as pay taxes.

Rest of the world.

7. The media To cover the project and make

it result and impact public.

Potential core external

stakeholder, it will broadcast the news about the project.

8. Other dress-making

women

They want to see the success of the project and would like to benefit from same in future.

Rest of the world

9. The general public The public is interested in the success of trainees which will enhance their business thereby creating more jobs.

Rest of the world

Source: http://www.womeninprogress.org/

9.2.2. The Project Requirements Collection

The requirements are those things that define deliverables and that they should be identified before the project planning phase. It helps define the service that constitutes the deliverable of the project and is the basis to determine what really the needs of the project are. In this project the requirements were collected by the project manager who was also one of the main founders of the NGO which was undertaking the project and her team in collaboration with the NGO, the Trainees and other stakeholders. Taking into account the scarcity of financial resources in the

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project, the requirements were limited to the very things that were to help finishing the project in the most effective and efficient way, according to the project report.

These requirements included: renting of an internet café, where the training was to take place, a projector for power point presentation of the prepared topics by the trainers, hand written note books, markers, and pens for the trainees and trainers, determination of topics to be covered in the training, registration of trainees, the number of days and hours that the training was to last in a week, how a trainee will be given a makeup training in case of absent due to ill health for example, as well as certificates to be awarded to trainees after the training period.

The project manager and her team were expected to Designed, Planned, organize, coordinate, monitor, and evaluate the project, as well as report to the sponsor on weekly bases regarding the progress of the project. Project manager was also expected to efficiently utilize the resources committed in the project in order to successfully achieve the goal of the project.

Sponsor was required to solicit and make funds and other resources available on time for a successful completion of the project. Trainers and trainees were expected to fully participate in the project throughout the duration in order to fully cover the topics to be discussed in the project. Trainees were expected to know how to document details of transactions of their business activities using excel application at the end of the project.

The training was conducted in the form of lectures and discussions with trainees giving the opportunity to ask questions. Tools used in the requirements collections included brainstorming among team members, group decision making among appropriate stakeholders, as well as expect judgment by the project manager and her team.