International development tends to be heavy on planning and documentation. There are concept notes and proposals to write, logframes and monitoring and evaluation systems to prepare, quarterly progress reports to submit, and baseline and endline surveys to measure the impact. All this planning works well when you know how to …

A social enterprise is a business that aims to achieve a particular public or community mission (social, environmental, cultural or economic), and reinvests the majority of its profits into achieving that mission. This template can be used to write a business plan for a social enterprise that describes both the …

Template Before you start the tutorial, download this M&E framework template and example: Download the M&E Framework Template Download the M&E Framework Example Then watch the following videos to learn how to complete the template in five steps. Step 1: Getting started This first video explains what you will need to …

Social enterprises have become increasingly popular as part of international development programs. A social enterprise is a business that aims to achieve a particular public or community mission (social, environmental, cultural or economic), and reinvests the majority of its profits into achieving that mission. Features of a social enterprise To …

Special thanks to Raizel Albano for suggesting this post, and for providing a case study on conducting research with indigenous communities in the Philippines. If you’re planning to conduct any type of research (qualitative or quantitative), it is essential that you first get informed consent from the participants. If someone gives informed consent …

Stakeholder analysis (also called stakeholder mapping) is an important step in designing a new program. Stakeholders include individuals, community leaders, groups and other organisations who will be impacted by the program, or who could influence the outcome. They can be internal or external. This template can be used to identify the stakeholders for …

The answer to this question is almost certainly ‘yes’. Any organisation that comes into contact with children directly or indirectly should have a child protection policy, including most organisations working in international development / aid, not just organisations that focus on children’s activities. Direct contact with children includes activities where children are …

Many people in international development / aid work in multiple countries. Some people (like consultants and grant managers) may visit dozens of different countries each year. Other people changes countries every few years as projects they’re working on finish or they pursue new opportunities and move to different places. It …

A policy implementation matrix (also called an action plan matrix) shows how each item in a policy will be implemented in practice. This type of matrix can be used for the implementation of national or organisational policies. Download the Policy Implementation Matrix template This template is appropriate when: You want to show …

I work at the bottom of the development food chain, on the ground where people benefit from the money that donors give. Some days I feel sorry for the donors because I see their money being wasted, stolen or misused. On other days I am frustrated by donor policies which make it very difficult to run …