HOW TO USE THE KIT

Introduction to Prototype Test Version
The present prototype website has been produced by the Inter-Departmental Task Force for Development of an FAO Project Formulation Toolkit. Project formulators at FAO headquarters and field offices are encouraged to use the Kit as much as possible during the current testing period (February to August 2002). Staff are asked to provide their feedback to their technical units for forwarding to their Department Toolkit Focal Point below in Rome:

  • Agriculture Department (AG) - Nico VanLeeuwen
  • Economic and Social Department (ES) - David Marshall
  • Fisheries Department (FI) - Jorge Gonzalez de la Rocha
  • Forestry Department (FO) - Merilio Morell
  • Sustainable Development Department (SD) - John Rouse

Testers should bear in mind that the Kit is currently only for internal use and is not seeking to produce standardized and detailed blueprints. It aims to assist both the inexperienced and experienced project formulator by facilitating access electronically to useful support material and current project guidelines. The website is designed to be an evolving process that will grow and change as needed by users. More topics, such as training on project formulation, are likely to be included in future. Staff are therefore encouraged to propose additional material that could be useful to others in preparing FAO projects, including more normative frameworks, "best practice" project examples and examples of useful unit costs for project inputs. Suggestions are also welcome regarding country data, including from other institutions dealing with food and agriculture, as well as observations on project formulation and implementation experience that could be of general application. These should be reviewed by the Technical Division concerned and forwarded to the Department Toolkit Focal Point.

The Investment Centre Division (TCI) will continue to act as the focal point for development and management of the Toolkit during its testing phase. Technical queries concerning the website structure and contents may be addressed to TC-Toolkit@fao.org.

Using the Toolkit
The content of the Toolkit is organized into five clusters, each with distinct characteristics:

A wide variety of project documents are contained in the Toolkit that can be searched for under the Project Categories, TeleFood Special Fund and SPFS pages. A full list of Toolkit Project Documents is also included so that users may look for an applicable document under the originating Department or Unit or by title. All documents are linked to relevant information pages in the Kit.

Project Categories
When a category is selected, specific technical disciplines will be displayed. Under each discipline, a selected list of relevant normative frameworks and "best practice" project examples are provided that can viewed on-line or downloaded as a Word file. Normative frameworks are conceptually well-structured, annotated outlines aimed to assist the preparation of FAO-supported technical assistance projects. The "best practice" project examples have been chosen from among most frequently encountered types of projects that can be adapted to specific project conditions.

The normative frameworks have been developed by FAO staff to facilitate preparation of commonly requested types of projects, following the guidelines set by the main FAO funding sources. They address project rationale, design considerations, project sites, objectives, outputs, activities, inputs, the work plan and budget, implementation arrangements, required reporting and common annexes. Under each section, examples of data needs and data sources are noted. Data needs typically refer to the: (i) existing situation of the sub-sector, project area or relevant institution concerned; (ii) constraints to be addressed; (iii) relevant government policies; and (iv) to detailed features of the project. Corresponding data sources cover: (i) national public sources (Government, parastatal entities, etc.); (ii) national private sources (producers, traders, suppliers of equipment, etc.); (iii) FAO sources (Department/Division concerned, FAOR, Regional/Subregional Office); and (iv) development partner sources (multilateral and bilateral, international NGOs, etc.).

Funding Sources
This section of the Toolkit contains information on the different types of funding available for FAO projects and their particular coverage and requirements, with supporting material. Each page links to the funding source's main website and to key documents such as "Guidelines for Projects under the Technical Cooperation Programme" and "Guidelines for the Preparation of Trust Fund Projects". The "TeleFood Special Fund" page provides access to its guidelines for formulating TeleFood projects with sample normative frameworks that list "data needs" and "data sources", supported with "best practice" examples of TeleFood projects. This section also provides information on "SPFS Funding Arrangements" for SPFS projects.

Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS)
This special sub-site assumes a prominent role in the Toolkit. Specific features of the Special Programme, from Phase I and Extension of Phase I to Phase II, are described for project formulators. Under Phase I, users can access normative frameworks and project examples covering the SPFS components: "Water Control", "Intensification of Crop Production Systems" and "Diversification of Production Systems". This sub-site also includes common project elements such as "Terms of Reference" for national and international experts. Under "South-South Cooperation", there is a link to a Draft Sample Tripartite Agreement between the Government of the "Host Country", the Government of the "Cooperating Country" and FAO.

Useful Information and References
This section provides access to various project formulation tools, including pages on authoritative country data, ranges of unit costs for typical project inputs, and covers main features of techniques used in project work such as "Stakeholder Analysis", "Rapid Rural Appraisal" and logical framework analysis ("Logframe Analysis"). Under "Editing Tools", there are also links to a "Toolkit Glossary" and a list of "Common Abbreviations and Acronyms" found in project documents, which will be reviewed and updated periodically.

Country Data. This page provides links to primary FAO websites and databases containing country profile and geographic information, and to general FAO sources of country and region-specific data. These links will be regularly reviewed and updated. Preliminary external links are provided to GDP and other economic and social indicators under the World Bank's page "Data and Maps" and to representative exchange rates for major currencies under "IMF Finances".

Unit Costs. A general range of unit costs for project inputs such as office equipment, vehicles or agricultural chemicals has been provided by FAO's Procurement Service, supplemented by illustrative examples from recent TCI missions. In the present prototype test version of the Toolkit, these costs are limited to examples from Africa, but will be gradually supplemented by data from other regions.

Lessons Learned
Under this section, the user will find material developed with input from FAO's Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation on critical aspects of project formulation. "Lessons learned" draw attention, for example, to main weaknesses in project design that have been identified through past evaluation work by the Organization. The lessons provided are intended to act as a checklist as well as a source of knowledge and ideas. In this way, the Toolkit aims to help anticipate questions that will be asked in the course of project evaluation.