ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the principal steps in project planning and activities. Project identification, an initial activity in project planning, is one of the outputs of macroeconomic planning whereby projects along with policies and institution building are the principal means central governments employ for implementing development plans. While institutional development is a legitimate goal of a central government, such development takes time and resources. Project planning at the central government level can be broken down into project identification, design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation. During project identification, design, and analysis, the planners will sometimes have either general or specific knowledge about how a project is to be implemented. Implementation requires knowing who the investors and operators of the project will be, requirements for institutional and policy support, and means for funding the project. International lending institutions often press for the beneficiaries of a project to pay as much of a project's cost as possible.
