ADMAPM: Agricultural Project Planning and Management in Developing Countries

Module code: ADMAPM

Module provider: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Chittur Srinivasan, email: C.S.Srinivasan@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 20 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

• Identify and explain the key challenges in the design and implementation of agricultural and developmental projects and demonstrate useful tools and techniques for project planning.  
• Introduce central issues and principles of managing agricultural projects and development programmes in the developing world, and in particular to demonstrate the perspectives of the contingency school of management; and, 
• Make participants aware of project management skills relevant for different stages of the project cycle – from project identification and design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.  
• Make participants aware of systems and procedures for project management activities such as budgeting and procurement. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Understand the project planning cycle – the blueprint and learning process perspectives on developmental  project planning and implementation. 
2. Understand the concepts, issues, tools and techniques relevant for project management at different stages of the project cycle  
3. Understand systems and procedures for project management. 
4. Understand management and organisation theory and approaches to management of agricultural and rural development projects in the context of developing countries.  

Module content

Lectures: 

• Introduction to Agricultural Development Projects: Project Cycles and Project Failure 
• Project Design – Stakeholder Analysis, Problem Trees and Logical Frameworks 
• Project Monitoring and Evaluation 
• Project Implementation – Work Planning, Budgeting and Control 
• Scheduling 
• Procurement 
• Management Theories – Nature of Agricultural Development Projects – Contingency Theories of Management 
• Perspectives on Organisations: Organisation Theory and Culture 
• Perspectives on Organisations: Motivation, Roles and Conflict in Organisations 

Group Exercises: 

• Problem Tree Exercise 
• Logical Framework Exercise 
• Breakeven Analysis, Marginal Principles and Budgetary Control (Variance Analysis) 
• Scheduling (PERT/CPM) Exercise 
• Exercise on Organisational Culture 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module topics will be covered through lectures supported by pre-recorded screencasts and student independent study for each week supported by readings/reading lists and learning materials on Blackboard. There will also be weekly tutorial/practical exercise sessions for application of project management techniques covered in the module and for discussions on topics covered in the lectures.  

Study hours

At least 44 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs