Exploring project success in humanitarian aid

摘要

Every year billions of dollars are spent on social development. The heterogeneity of the players and the amounts involved generate a debate about the efficacy of the aid industry considering: first that too much money go to international development; second that very few positive effects are achieved; and finally that the amounts of aid matter less than how it is given. Clearly, there is a need to find better ways for planning, financing, governing and executing humanitarian projects taking into account their various impacts and the interests of the multiple stakeholders involved. This paper focuses on the importance of the project initiating phase. The first project phase in the corporate sector is the translation of an idea into a business case. This idea will turn ultimately into the project charter. Humanitarian projects, however, are based on needs assessment developed with the future beneficiaries, ending up with the logical framework development. Strong project justification helps demonstrate why a project makes solid sense to the organization, the donor, and the beneficiary communities. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the importance of a correct problem framing by a thoughtful conception of project purpose, the benefits to be delivered, the future state resulting from the transformation as a way of reducing uncertainties along the project. If value.