ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an examination of the time spent by the design teams in discrete activities during project design. It discusses two key activities, information collection and collaboration with host country officials. The commitment of host country agencies to a project is as critical as the actual shaping of the project design. Early on in each Development Alternatives, Inc. design assignment it was necessary to reach agreement with key national agencies regarding the project goals and the development approach to be employed. The best illustrations of this process are provided by the two Tanzania projects and the Ethiopia Rehabilitation Project. The amount and type of information collected and analyzed for the design of the twelve projects differed according to the existing information base and the design team's mandate and resources. The degree of collaboration and the levels where it took place differed significantly in the twelve design efforts.
