Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 4, Session 4: The Project Cycle | Page 50 of 91
- Read aloud the story in Trainer Material 1: The Sports Equipment Project. Say:
“Listen to this story about how some young people made a big change by working on a project at their
school.”
- After reading the story aloud to the participants, ask:
“What are some things the organizing students did to be successful with their project?”
- Listen to a few answers to get some preliminary thoughts from the participants. Then divide people into
teams of three to five and give each team a copy of Handout 1: Steps of the Project Cycle, cut into five
pieces. Also distribute at least one copy of Handout 2: The Sports Equipment Story to each group. Say:
“In the story, the students at Abbasaya School carried out a successful project to have sports equipment
at their school. Part of their success was a result of their ability to design and manage a project.
“I would like you to think about all the things they did from start to finish. I have given your team slips
of paper with a word on them that names a specific step of designing and running a project. I would like
you to give one slip of paper to each member of your team (some members will have two slips if a team
has fewer than five members). Are there any questions about what these terms mean?”
- Answer any questions, then say:
“Take a few moments in your group to decide the order of the planning steps. Think about what the
students in the story did and use that as a guide. You can refer to your team’s copy of the story in
Handout 2.
“When I give the signal, I want the individuals on your team to arrange themselves so that the steps of
the project cycle they are holding will be in the correct order.”
- Wait three or four minutes for team members to confer, then give the signal. Compare and contrast
the order for the steps that the teams determined. Ask teams to explain the order they made,
especially where teams have different opinions. Show Flip chart 1: The Project Cycle, then say:
“There are many ways to design a project so it will be successful. This chart shows the basic steps.
Notice that the steps form a circle that begins with ‘Identifying’ and comes around to the top again.
That’s because once a project is completed, people often think of another project they want to do.”
- Ask participants to give examples from the story about sports equipment for each stage of the project
cycle. (The stages are identified in Trainer Material 1. Each of the five paragraphs of the story fits with
a step of the planning cycle, beginning with Identifying.)
Note: There may be other ways of interpreting the story so be sure to ask participants to clarify any differences between
the order they have for the steps and the order of the steps on Flip chart 1. Also, in most projects, the progress from one
step to another is not always as clear as the example in Trainer Material 1. If necessary, you can point this out to
participants who have project management experience. However, in most cases it will be enough to help people
understand the five basic steps of a project.
