Assignment 2

1.      As Project Manager how will you lead your team? How will you participate as a member of this team and simultaneously maintain your authority?

As the program manager, I will be charged with the responsibility of developing the work plan and designing all of the project activities to suit the school systems. I will also be responsible for the allocation of the available resources to the different schools and project activities to ensure the smooth running of all the project activities so we can achieve the project activities. I also hope to assign the different roles to the different project staff members and provide each with clear guidelines of what is expected of them as they help implement the project in the schools. I will also be responsible for ensuring that all the project activities go according to plan and always make the critical decisions whenever something does not go as planned to ensure that the project goes according to plan.

I will also be available at the start/launch of all the different project activities at the different schools to keep the students motivated e.g. I will be available at the distribution of the trash cans at the different schools, at the spreading out at different points in the schools, at the collecting of the filled trash cans and computation of the total plastics collected to sell them to the collection centers and also at the sharing of these experiences with the other students in the world through the YouthCaN forums. I also hope to participate fully in all the community outreach programs that the students will be having at their schools.

And at the end of each of the project we hope to always ask the students to evaluate themselves on what they have learnt from each of the project activities they have been part of and how they hope such knowledge could be useful to them. This will teach the students to always evaluate themselves every after they do something.

2.      Draw up a timeline for your project. Include the major tasks people will carry out and identify the ‘milestones’ that mark the completion of key activities. Don’t forget to plan the training sessions you expect staff and volunteers to take part in, and who will conduct these training sessions.

Task	Quantity	Duration	Who
Talks at School Assemblies	1 for each school at the beginning of each term.	15 minutes	Project team staff
Purchase of trash cans	3-5 for each school		Finance manager
Distribution of trash cans at schools	3-5 for each school		Project team staff
Design of posters and painting of the trash cans	15 – 20 posters and painting the 3-5 trash cans	1 week	Project team staff together with students
In-school canteen outreaches to fellow students	Once a week	Every week of the school term	School student project members
Collection of plastics gather from the different trash cans	End of the week	1 hour over the weekend	School student project members
Community Outreaches	Once a term	3 hours	Project team staff, Lead teacher, School student project members and any other school members.
Sharing experiences on the online forums	Once a week	2 hours per week	School student project members
Team meetings	Once a week	1 hour	Project team staff

3.      Who will be responsible for the management of finances (money) for the project? What are the basic principles you have adopted for managing the funds for the project? (Bank account, signatories, petty cash float, receipting, cashbook and ledger entries, etc.)

There will be a contact teacher at each of the schools who will be responsible for handling finances provided to the school to carry out the project activities at each of the different schools. The project will also have a volunteer specifically responsible for handling all the financial obligations related to the project and will always work in liaison with the project manager to ensure proper accountability of project money. All the project money will be stored on a bank account and withdrawal of money from the account would require a signed cheque by both the project manager and the finance manager.  All purchases made using project money will require a receipt as evidence for the purchase and the profits made from the sales of plastics collected from each of the schools will all be documented. This will help keep track of all the money flowing in and out of the project so we can proper plan the project’s expansion and continuity. Project financial vouchers will always need to first be signed by the person requesting for the money, the financial manager and the project manager before the money is provided. All project staff members will always work together with the financial manager and project manager to ensure proper financial reporting of the project activities.

4.      Does your organization have in place some basic principles for managing people? If yes, how will you make sure that volunteers are aware of the principles that affect them? If not, what do you believe are the basic principles for managing people? What steps will you take to monitor the effectiveness of specific project team members? How will you ensure that there are rewards, especially for volunteers in the project team? And how will you know that they have been effective?

The organization will have a staff code of conduct document, clearly outlining each person’s roles and responsibilities in the organization, sick days and leave days etc. We will also be having team meetings every two weeks where each of the team members will share with us what they are currently working on, what help they may need and how they think other team members can help them out and since the students will be sharing their experiences and what they have learnt in the iEARN YouthCaN forums we can easily keep track of how schools and students are participating in the project activities and how they are benefiting from them. All volunteers including the teachers, students and project members will be awarded with certificates at the end of each term of successful project work. Volunteers will also always be provided with transport and accommodation allowances whenever the need to move to the different schools arises and a stipend for their work at the end of each term.

5.      What are the key areas of your project (like Communications, Finance, Volunteer Coordinator, etc.)? Choose one of these areas and develop a job description for it, if you don’t already have one. (A job description usually has an introductory statement about the project, a list of responsibilities for the person overseeing that particular area and a statement about the time commitment required. Finally, it has a list of the knowledge/skills that the person would be expected to have to carry out the function effectively.) If you already have job descriptions, you should review and update them to ensure that they will be useful to you as the Project Manager and to the person carrying out the function. Include one here, but make sure to develop job descriptions for each of the key areas of your project.

The key areas of my project include project management, finance, IT and/or Communications, Schools (Lead Contact Teacher and student leader).

Job Description

Position: Lead Contact Teacher

Responsibilities include:  Helping implement project activities at the schools and ensuring that all activities are carried out as planned. Advising project staff on what is feasible and works in your schools’ context. Be the link between the students carrying out the project activities, the school’s administration and the project staff. Ensure continuity of the project activities every term at the school. Reporting of progress of project activities to project staff.

The Lead Contact Teacher should be: highly motivated and willing to carryout project activities at the school, computer literate with good knowledge of internet usage for communication, student friendly but also have a good standing with the school administration, interested in project based learning (not a must), have a strong passion for environmental conservation and studies.

Reward: Certificate for recognition of contribution to project activities and a $80 stipend per term.

6. Create a Project timeline for your project/ venture/ enterprise, making reference to the template attached for your consideration.

Activity	Period/Duration	Expected Duration	Indicators of Achievement	Partners or stakeholders involved	Cost in US Dollars	Responsible
Team meetings	Once every week	1 hour	What the team members share, No. of attendees	None	----	Meeting facilitator (One of the Project team staff)
Sharing experiences on the online forums	After each project activity	2 hours per week	No. of postings on the online forum	iEARN YouthCaN Project	-------	Lead contact teacher and student leader.
Community Outreaches	One per term	3 hours	Actual carrying out of activity, plastics collected.	Local community leaders and members	------	Project team staff, Lead contact teacher and student leader.
Purchase and distribution of trash cans	3 -5 trash cans per school	---------	Purchase and distribution of the trash cans	-------------	$450	Finance Manager
Talks at School Assemblies	Once at the beginning of each term	15 mins	Response of students to talk	Project team staff and environmental specialists.	-------	Project team staff and Representative from environmental Non profit.
Mid-term review meeting and training	In the middle of the term	2 hours	Responses from training participants	environmental specialists.	$500	Project team staff and Representative from environmental Non profit.

7. Create a budget for your entire project/venture/enterprise cost, highlight all the costs for the project, but certain elements of your project might not need a budget but human resource etc.

Total budget = $9741

Activity/Item	Unit/quantity	Unit cost (US Dollars)	Total (US Dollars)
Purchase of trash cans	5 trash cans for each of 3 schools	25*5 = 125	375
Project truck	1 truck	3,000	3,000
Fuel for truck for distribution of trash cans	To 3 schools	30	90
		Subtotal	3465
Mid-term review meeting and training	Once per term
Training facilitators	2 trainers	500	1000
Stationary	48 books and pens	1 dozen of books - 15 1 dozen of pens - 8	82
			1082
	For the (3 terms) whole year	Sub total	1082 * 3 = 3246
Staff member stipends	Per term
Project Manager	1	200	200
Project Assistant	1	150	150
Financial Manager	1	100	100
Lead contact teacher	1 per school	80	160
Transport and accommodation allowances for each project team staff member			300
			1010
	For the (3 terms) whole year	Sub total	1010 * 3 = 3030
		TOTAL	9741