How to Lead an International Development Project
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Revision as of 18:08, 30 July 2007
Contents |
Overview
This is a guide for all development project leaders in Nourish International. Leading an international development project requires a large time commitment. Projects are selected during the fall semester and planning the project often takes the entire spring semester. We recommend that project leaders start planning as soon as possible.
Project leaders are responsible for recruiting and managing the team of students who go on the trip. They are also responsible for managing the relationship with our partner agency on the ground. last but not least, project leaders are responsible for communicating what happened on the trip to our supporters and the general community. This is a lot to handle, but we promise the experience will be rewarding. What you put in is what you get out.
Recruiting
The importance of recruiting cannot be stressed enough. Recruiting should begin the second a project is selected. Students require ample time to decide whether or not they want to go on a trip, and the more time they have, the better. Time is everything here. If students decide to go earlier, they can apply for more grants. The earlier they know about a project, the more likely they are to go because they have not formalized plans for the summer and they will therefore be more flexible.
So the first step is to start early. The second step is to aggregate all of the necessary information for the project that students need to know in order to make a good decision about going on the project. There will be an online platform to do this on our website. This is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2007. This is where students can get all the essential information they need about the project. If anyone has questions about the project, you should be able to direct them to this site to answer all of their major, pertinent questionf they have a pressing question that the site does not answer, then you should update the site to fill that need.
Next, stop by Nourish committee meetings and pitch the project. Hold an international projects meeting where the project is the focus, and invite the whole chapter.
Caveat: recruit specific people who you think are needed on the trip. If you need a documentarian, recruit the video person heavily.
Caveat 2: Remember that Nourish is a network of chapters. Students from all chapters can go on the trips. Contact International Projects chairs at other chapters to expose their members to the project.
Leadership Positions
Carlos
Logistics
Carlos
Partner Relationship
As trite as it sounds, the key is communication. Every failure we've had with partners in the past can be attributed to a lapse in communication. The project leader should be in touch with the partner on a weekly basis, even if it is a short email to ensure that everything is on pace and nothing more is needed from our end.
Examples of communication breakdowns in the past:
The Full Belly Project, 2007 -- we entered the Carolina Challenge business plan competition with the Full Belly Project and did not lay out specific terms for what we would do with the prize money if we were to win the competition. We proceeded to win the competition which was a huge success; however we then spent many conversations debating how to spend the money. The debate strained the relationship. We were able to compromise and complete the project; however, we wasted energy in the process.
Community Enterprise Solutions, 2007 -- they did not have the money to begin construction of El Centro Explorativo early enough, so our volunteers were not able to accomplish all of the work that was originally planned. We had the money and could have gotten it to them much earlier. This was a breakdown of communication between both parties. If CES had requested the money earlier, construction would have begun earlier, and our volunteers would have been more productive.
We must be proactive and discuss the project details with our partners as soon as the project is chosen.
Caveats
Keep these thoughts in mind, and 99% of any potential problems will be avoided:
1. What will the students be doing while they are there? How can they be useful? How can we avoid being a burden? What skills do you need? What do we need to do to prepare? Are there any safety issues we should be aware of?
2. Money. When do you need the money? When do you need to start the project so we can be useful while we are there?
Above and Beyond
Carlos
Leverage Your Project!
We should never forget that our projects are, well....pretty bad ass. We spend the entire year generating funds and planning the project. It is the peak result of the summation of thousands of hours of hard work your chapter has committed all year. Since this is the case, you want to make sure you get as much bang for your buck as possible.
====Newspapers==== Write a press release for the project and send it to your campus newspaper and any local newspapers.
====Blog==== Set up a blog for the project through our website and tell all of your family and friends about it. Get the rest of the project team to post and tell their friends and family as well.
====Progress Report==== You can update your project on the website by adding information in the progress report tab for your project.
Policies
1. Nourish members must act in accordance with their native country's travel laws.
2. Nourish members must act in accordance with the laws of the destination country.
3. Students are responsible for their own travel expenses.
4. Nourish members must sign the standard Nourish International liability waiver to participate on a project
5. Project leaders are responsible for getting project members to sign the standard Nourish International liability waiver
Guidelines -- see Travel Guide
Preparing Your Team
Carlos
