PROJECT DESIGN

CERTIFICATION
PROGRAMME

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Overview
This tutor-based online certification
programme provides a practical approach
to project design, helping professionals
reach their long-term goals. It brings
together experts in project management
and resource mobilization as well as
creative thinkers, in a collaborative and
instructive online space.

Are you ready to become a certified

project design professional?

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Why a project design certification programme?
Organizations require their staff to develop and implement projects in their respective areas of
specialization. These professionals are often highly specialized in their technical area, but lack the
competencies needed to design well-structured and complete projects.

This certification programme contributes to closing this skills gap and enhancing the candidates’
personal skills and this way strengthening their capacity to design successful projects and to mobilize
resources.

After all, a well-written project document

• is the first step in ensuring project success, and

• is the best entry point for fundraising and partnership building.

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 What will I be able to do?
• Identify project opportunities for an
organization
• Use a set of tools and techniques to
identify, design, plan, and budget projects
• Develop a project document and mobilize
resources
• Identify potential partnerships for
development cooperation
is the best entry point for fundraising and
partnership building

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 What certification will
I get as a successful
candidate?
• You will obtain a certificate of achievement
once you have completed successfully the
programme requirements.
• This certificate will demonstrate that you
possess the right knowledge, skills and
attitudes to design development projects.
• At the end of the programme, you will
have designed and completed a project
document as part of the certification
programme - a great addition to your CV!

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Why should I join?
This course is delivered through distance learning and deployed on the ITCILO e-campus. It frees
you from the classroom and gives you the flexibility to complete the learning modules at your own
pace and to fit the weekly assignments and the project within your own schedule.

• Project design skills are essential to professionals working in development.

• Employers that sponsor participants obtain project documents ready for use.
• Participants receive a professional certification attesting their capacity to design projects.
• The programme was developed and is implemented by project management experts and
practitioners.
• Participatory activities include self-guided modules, an online forum, practical assignments,
coaching and tutoring.
• Participants get permanent access to the project design toolkit.

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 Who takes this course?
• Development cooperation professionals
• Technical specialists active in the
development sector
• Resource mobilization officers
• Project managers and assistants
• Programming and planning officials

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What are the programme objectives?
At the end of the programme, you will:

• Have demonstrated that you can apply project identification, design and planning processes and
use management tools and techniques to design effectively projects.
• Have understood the social complexity of development project and acknowledged the importance
of stakeholders’ participation in project design.
• Have produced a complete project document using recognized international norms under guided
supervision.

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 What does the programme contain?
The programme is divided into 12 modules which require 5 – 7 hours of effort from candidates per
week. On a weekly basis, learning modules are deployed.

1. Introduction to Project Cycle Management

2. The project document
3. Situation analysis: stakeholder and target group analysis
4. Situation analysis: problem analysis
5. Strategic planning and assessment of alternatives
6. The logical framework, the results chain and the theory of change
7. Assumptions and risk management
8. Project indicators, monitoring and evaluation
9. Operational planning and budgeting
10. Institutional project arrangements and implementation modalities
11. Project funding sources and mechanisms
12. Soft skills

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Module 1
Introduction to project cycle management

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 What approach and methodology is used to deliver the online

1. For each module, participants SKILLS

must first acquire knowledge of Practical supervised assignment
the subject matter through an 1-3 hour per week
interactive self-guided learning
module that mixes readings,
questions, quizzes, films, lectures
and tools. 2. When participants
feel comfortable with
the knowledge they
MODULE 1 have acquired, they
are required to take
a knowledge test
3. Once participants have acquired the
to ensure that they
knowledge, successfully passed the knowledge
have grasped all the
test, they can put it into practice. This next step
central elements of
is where the participants practice their new skills
KNOWLEDGE the learning module
concretely by building a component of their own
Self-guided learning module deployed.
2-4 hours per week project under the supervision of a coach.

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course?
Assessing the certification
programme candidates
4. Through each module, the candidates
are also led to reflect on the human, • Each week, participants build a component
ethical and moral aspects, in other words
the attitudes to adopt, in order to design
of their project document, these single
projects that will be firmly anchored in pieces are assessed and graded all along the
the institutions and that will succeed. implementation of the programme.

NEXT • Nevertheless, to assess the coherence and

MODULE relevance of the project proposal built
piece-by-piece throughout the 12 modules,
participants are ultimately required to
assemble all elements to complete and write
an entire project document in its light version.
ATTITUDES
Reflectionsand discussions • It is through the project document that
1 hour per week
programme assessors can ultimately perform
the certification of project designers.
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 The 12 modules
Module 1 Module 2 Module 3
Introduction to project Project Situation analysis:
cycle management documents stakeholder analysis

KNOWLEDGE: To demonstrate knowledge about project KNOWLEDGE: To differentiate the types of project KNOWLEDGE: To remember and to explain the
cycle management fundamentals design documents and to recall which tools relates to stakeholder analysis process: its inputs, tools and
which sections techniques and outputs
SKILLS: To identify and formulate a project idea and to
determine its key parameters SKILLS: To collect data and information to support the SKILLS: To identify, analyse and categorize project
project identification process stakeholders
ATTITUDES: To judge whether the personal factors and
reasons to justify a project idea are valid ATTITUDES: To accept that writing is an essential ATTITUDES: To value the importance of being genuine
prerequisite to cope with the complexity of project design and authentic in interacting with project stakeholders

Module 4 Module 5 Module 6

Situation analysis: Strategic and The logical framework,
problem analysis assessment of the results chain and the
alternative options theory of change

KNOWLEDGE: To remember and to visualize the problem KNOWLEDGE: To remember and to explain the KNOWLEDGE: To remember and to explain the logical
analysis process: its inputs, tools and techniques and alternative analysis process: its inputs, tools and framework approach: its inputs, tools and techniques
outputs techniques and outputs and outputs

SKILLS: To deconstruct a problem using SKILLS: To formulate project objectives and to assess SKILLS: To create the first component of the project
cause-and-effect relationships different project strategies using multi-criterion analysis logical framework: the results chain

ATTITUDES: To acknowledge the conscious and ATTITUDES: To give attention to the importance of ATTITUDES: To commit to gender-mainstreaming and to
unconscious biases in identifying problems and solutions justifying the use of public funds and donations evidence-based management in project design

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Module 7 Module 8 Module 9
Assumptions Project indicators, Operational planning
and risk monitoring and and budgeting
management evaluation

KNOWLEDGE: To distinguish risks and assumptions and KNOWLEDGE: To demonstrate knowledge about KNOWLEDGE: To explain the importance of project
to recall the five key phases of project risk management monitoring and evaluation fundamentals operational planning and its use to plan, report and
control
SKILLS: To define assumptions and to manage risks as SKILLS: To design a project monitoring and evaluation
part of project design system based on performance indicators SKILLS: To create a project operational work plan and
budget
ATTITUDES: To accept the relationship between ATTITUDES: To free from paradigms and to embrace the
stakeholder engagement in project design and the risk of diversity of theories, thoughts, approaches that populate ATTITUDES: To show loyalty to the authors and
low ownership and sustainability the monitoring and evaluation world designers of the project

Module 10 Module 11 Module12

Project institutional Project funding Soft-skills
arrangements and sources and for project
implementation modalities mechanisms management

KNOWLEDGE: To distinguish three types of project KNOWLEDGE: To identify potential sources of funding KNOWLEDGE: To explain the fundamentals of
organizational structures: functional, projectized and and to explain the most common types of funding communication, negotiation and the art of influencing
matrix structures mechanisms used
SKILLS: To plan for effective presentation and elevator
SKILLS: To design a project organization and establish SKILLS: To map donors and to align your project pitch
institutional arrangements proposal to their requirements
ATTITUDES: To acknowledge the importance of
ATTITUDES: To accept that a development project forms ATTITUDES: To acknowledge that without mutual communication in all project phases: particularly in the
a partnership between institutions benefits partnerships are impossible project design phases

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 Who is behind the
programme?
The content experts behind this course are ITCILO
staff, project management consultants/experts and
e-learning firms who collaborate with the ITCILO.

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Conditions to participate

What are the technical requirements needed?

For an interactive and successful learning experience, you need
a computer with a good internet connection and speakers, as this
course uses multimedia often.

How to apply?
https://www.itcilo.org/courses/project-design-certification-programme-online

How much does it cost?

Tuition: Euros 960

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 INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE OF THE ILO
Organizational Development and Project Services Programme (ODPS)
Viale Maestri del Lavoro, 10
10127 Turin – Italy
[email protected]

Design and layout by the International Training Centre of the ILO, Turin – Italy

Cover photo: Cover photo: Unsplash