NZAID Tools Activity Cycle Tools 

Activity Design Guideline

Introduction to Activity Design

This guideline provides NZAID staff with an overview of the principles of Activity design and a general understanding of the important elements involved in designing a new Activity. It is orientated towards project-based Activities as these are likely to remain a significant delivery mechanism. Partners who are working with NZAID to develop broader programmes or SWAps (see NZAID Sector Wide Approach Guideline) may still need support in developing projects as components of these.

In addition to the Activity designs that are produced as a result of NZAID supported missions, NZAID often receives Activity designs that have already been formulated.

The key role of NZAID staff during the design stage is to facilitate the design process. This involves supporting a high level of partner ownership while ensuring NZAID’s own policy, quality assurance, and accountability requirements are met.

What is Activity Design?

Activity design is the process whereby all of the information gathered during the programming and identification stages, including information from past evaluative processes, is drawn together to produce an Activity design document (ADD). This should provide sufficient detail for a decision on whether to fund the Activity or not.

The ADD will become the base document for the implementation of the project. In many cases the original design documents will be modified at the inception phase of implementation when a new Activity implementation document (AID) will be produced and agreed. This may also be known as the project implementation document (PID). Both will usually include a detailed work-plan (see NZAID Activity Implementation Guideline).

The degree of detail in an ADD will depend on:

  • the financial scale, complexity, and level of risk of the activity
  • our partner’s and our own previous experience of working in the thematic and/or geographic/context
  • whether the intervention is building on previous work or is totally new
  • NZAID’s previous experience of working with the partner.

Activity Design Principles

Important Activity design principles include:

  • involving key stakeholders throughout the design process
  • careful analysis of the situation in which the Activity is going to be implemented
  • building on existing partner institutions and processes
  • allocating sufficient time and resources to project design processes, and
  • building in the capacity to adapt the design to changing circumstances at the implementation stage.

A balance needs to be struck between the relative effort that is put into the design and, especially, the inception and early implementation of an Activity. Activity design should provide support for careful monitoring in the early stages of implementation. Developing effective relationships with partners is vital to this.

Common elements of success in Activity design

There are a number of good practices that can be used to strengthen Activity design. Ensure that:

Before Activity design

  • there is clear demand for, and ownership of, the project
  • there is informed agreement between major stakeholders on a hierarchy of simple, clear, realistic and unambiguous objectives (goal, Activity objectives, and outputs)
  • adequate information is collected during the Identification stage to inform the design and subsequent evaluative processes
  • adequate resources are allocated to carrying out any feasibility or other studies needed to underpin the design process
  • the design process is participatory and follows the Logical Framework Approach

During Activity design

  • TOR for all studies, including design work, specify appropriate skill sets and time frames for those who are to carry out the work. (See NZAID Terms of Reference Guideline)
  • adequate time is allowed for partners to consider and review the final and any key interim design documents and/or decisions during the process
  • the design process is participatory and follows the Logical Framework Approach (LFA)
  • the timing of design work fits with the work priorities and schedules of other partners, including primary stakeholders
  • summaries of the key analyses described in the LFA are included as part of the ADD

After Activity design

  • during the inception phase the ADD will need to be revisited and refined. The ADD (and the Logical Framework Matrix (LFM)) is a living document and will need modifying to reflect new information and changing situations
  • an objective appraisal of the Activity design is carried out (see NZAID Activity Appraisal Guideline)
  • the up-dated LFM is used as a baseline document to help guide future evaluative processes
  • provisions in the design for stakeholder participation in management structures and processes are actually implemented.

If the Activity is likely to involve complex (or unusual) procurement or financial management arrangements it is important for NZAID programme staff to consult with Management Services Group staff early in the design process.

Developing an Activity Design Document

The ADD should summarise the information gathered by following the LFA and include an indicative work-plan and a resource schedule (see theNZAID Logical Framework Approach Guideline. The contents of a typical NZAID ADD are set out in Annex 1.

The level of detail in an ADD will vary. An ADD for a large multi-year Activity will usually include the following:

  • Executive summary
  • Activity context (based on situational analysis)
  • Activity description
  • Management arrangements
  • Monitoring
  • Risk management
  • Appendices (including LFM)

NZAID often receives ADDs that have been completed by partners using their own or sometimes other donors’ identification and design processes. We should always try to work with such documents, provided they contain sufficient information for our appraisal process and they have been developed using the general participatory and other analytical requirements of the LFA. If any key information appears to be missing, we should work with partners to fill such gaps without requiring the rewriting of the entire ADD. (This might take the form of a covering note to the original ADD, supported by a new annex and a modified LFM.)

Particular attention should be given to the design of Activity management arrangements. These should be integrated as closely as possible with local management processes and structures. While all Activities will need a management team drawn from people directly involved in their implementation, some may also require an Activity (or Project) Coordination Committee. This can be particularly useful when several departments are involved or where there is a need to reinforce beneficiary stakeholder participation in Activity management. However, care has to be taken not to displace or undermine local management and administration systems. See NZAID Activity Aprraisal Guidelines

When using others’ ADDs it is especially important to check that the situational and other analyses are still up to date, and whether any other donor agencies have already been approached to support the proposed Activity.

Activity Design Appraisal

The final step in the process of Activity design is to assess the completed design and decide whether to commit to implementation. The process of assessing the suitability of the concept should have already taken place at the end of the Identification stage.

Appraisal of an ADD should provide answers to the following key questions:

  • How relevant is the Activity?
  • Will it meet a clearly defined development problem or need?
  • How relevant is it to policies, stakeholders’ needs & capacities, previous experience (of both partners and NZAID), and any other Activities?
  • How effective is it likely to be?
    • Will it make a real difference to the target groups?
    • Will it be cost effective compared to other possible ways of delivering these benefits?
  • How efficient is the design?
    • Could fewer or different resources be used to achieve the same or better outputs?
    • How sustainable are Activity outcomes likely to be?
  • Are the recurrent costs likely to be met by the partner?
    • Is there provision for a transition strategy/exit phase?
  • Are the expected impacts realistic?
    • Is there a clear and realistic link between the objective/s and the overall goal?
  • Are management processes appropriate?
    • Has the project design process been managed appropriately?
    • Are the proposed Activity management arrangements clearly defined?

For further details on the appraisal process see the NZAID Activity Appraisal Guideline.

What Happens After Appraisal?

The appraisal process should result in:

  • agreement to proceed on the basis of the ADD, or
  • agreement that certain aspects of the design need to be better analysed before a final decision can be taken, or
  • a decision not to proceed with the Activity.

Before NZAID can agree to fund an Activity, the DPM must prepare an Activity Approval (AA). This summarises the ADD and provides the information needed by the person with the appropriate level of delegated financial authority to confirm the appraisal findings and formally approve the Activity.

Following approval of the AA, a covering letter and a copy of the ADD should be sent to our partner confirming NZAID’s agreement to support the Activity. The covering letter should briefly describe the Activity’s objectives, set out the indicative financing schedule and draw attention to any particularly important undertakings that may have been agreed during the design and appraisal processes. The partner should be asked to confirm, in writing, their receipt of the letter and ADD and their formal agreement for the Activity to proceed.

The ADD will then provide the basis for the inception and implementation stages of the Activity. See NZAID Activity Implementation Guideline.