Design of Rule of Law Programs and Proposal Preparation
This course will build the understanding and skills of students in project design and the preparation of written proposals related to rule of law assistance, which can be carried out either in the context of an internationally financed assistance arrangement or as a nationally-driven and self-financed initiative. Building on the needs assessments PROLAW course, the course will position project design as it fits into the overall project lifecycle, as well as its relationship with results-based management. The course will allow the student to understand the theory behind and the methods for conducting problem, stakeholder and risk analyses, designing a logical intervention including project objectives, outcomes, outputs and activities, setting a budget, performance indicators, and means of measuring project progress, and applying theory of change and other logical framework tools. In the second half of the course students will out their newly acquired knowledge and skills to use by preparing a full written project proposal. The course will examine donor thinking behind requirements and how to respond to them, examine current thinking concerning the effectiveness of the project approach to rule of law reform and consider the meaning of innovation, such as problem-driven iterative approaches.