Project Family Tree

Development Plan

Agricultural Programme Health Programme Roads Programme Other Programme

Wheat Project

Potato Project

Fertilizer Project

Livestock Project

Other Projects

Plan Five-Year Plan

Programme Health Programme

Project Hospital Construction

Work Package Electrification Package

Activity/ Task Preparation of Drawing

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 1. Overview of Project
1.1 Concept and Definition of Project
Projects are the specific schemes or action units designated for the investment of given
resources and skills with an aim of attaining some predetermined objectives. A project starts
from the scratch. It has a specific objective. It has a well-defined life span divided into a life
cycle. It involves a set of activities within a schedule and budget. It integrates human and non
human resources.
According to Harold Kerzner: A project is any series of activities and tasks that:
have a specific objective to be completed within certain specifications
have defined start and end dates
have funding limits, and
consume resources.
A project is one-time job that has defined starting and ending dates, a clearly specified objective,
or scope of work to be performed, a pre-defined budget, and usually a temporary organization
that is dismantled once the project is complete ( The project Manager’s desk Reference, James
Lewis)
A group of multiple interdependent activities that require people and resources is the Project.

Projects generally originate from plans. They serve as the building blocks for development
planning. A Plan, Programme and Project are different concepts yet complementary to one
another.

PLAN
A plan is an image, map or vision to represent the forms and/or features of desired
situation(s). It is a process of setting future goals for country or organization and choosing the
actions to achieve these goals. Plans may be Community Development Plan, District
Development Plan or Regional Development Plan depending upon the area it serves
and its magnitude. Similarly, depending upon different sectors (agriculture, education, Health
and so on) there may be different sector-specific plans known as Sectoral Development Plan.
And finally, we have the National Development Plan.
In Plan document, we can find only the level or sector-specific Broad Decisions
indicating what and how much is to be achieved with the investment of given resources. A plan
itself is static. In other words, a plan representing only an imagination or vision will have no
meaning unless it is put into operation to achieve its set objective/s.
A Plan is a set of Programmes.
PROGRAMME
A Programme is the extensive and consistent set of action units stating the needs of
interrelated activities to achieve the plan’s objectives and goal. There could be several
programmes within a plan or development plan.
PROJECT
A project is a unique group of tasks designed to attain a specific objective within the
constraints of time, cost and quality based on planning and control through the use of a variety of
resources in a dynamic environment.