Health Promotion Switzerland

quint-essenz for small projects

Are you planning a smaller project and asking yourself how the many aspects and tools can also be taken into account in small projects? We recommend starting with the project draft in the project management tool. Alternatively, you can use the templates under “The essentials” to:

  • describe the project idea: project draft template
  • specify the objectives and measures: planning chart
  • visualize the actors and their involvement in the project: structured organization chart
  • reflect on the project quality: quality criteria lists

You can expand the project draft into a project plan at a later date. When implementing the project, the interactive schedule and to-do list in particular are very good for smaller projects. When closing the project, the final report can either be written directly in the project management tool or using a Word template.

Criteria

Even when planning a small project that is still at the drafting level, the list of quality criteria is useful to help you think through your ideas in a critical and systematic way. The list is useful in the following ways: you are able to adhere more closely to the principles of health promotion; you can improve the justification for your project; you will gain more insight into the planning and implementation; you ensure that all important stakeholders are included; you organize your project in a way that, during the whole process, nothing will get out of hand; and finally it will help you demonstrate the project’s success. It is therefore not a question of “fulfilling” the criteria, but of recognizing a project’s strengths, weaknesses and potential for improvement.

Tools

  • This document provides information on the aspects that need to be developed in some depths when submitting a idea or draft. A list of such elements is also provided as a Microsoft Word document.

    Instructions (pdf) | Template (doc.zip)

  • This document provides information about the elements that should be mentioned in a draft. A list of such elements is provided in Word format and can be completed directly or printed out.

    Instructions (pdf) | Template (doc.zip)

  • At the conclusion of a project/program, the time is now to give an account of the project’s success, to reflect on the implementation and to document findings and lessons learned.

    This guideline will inform you about the aspects that should be covered and discussed in some detail in a final report. The list of items is also available as a Word template.

    Instructions (pdf) | Template (doc.zip)

  • Ideally, the structure of a project is established in the initial planning phase. It will need to be completed and adjusted along the way. Its function is:

    • to illustrate the institutional embedding of the project as well as the project environment (networks)
    • to determine the best possible structure for the project
    • to determine clearly who will be involved in the project and who might have a positive or negative influence on its success
    • to determine the role and responsibilities of all concerned
    • to detect potential and real conflicts
    • to identify structural changes and use them to improve the project.

    Organization chart

    Instructions (pdf) | Template (pptx.zip)

  • The planning chart is the most important and central tool for the planning of a project. Its function is:

    • to separate visions, aims and objectives (effects/results) from strategies and measures (activities)
    • to specify and to clarify project aims and objectives
    • to define indicators for success and desired target values
    • to decide on strategies
    • to break down the project into distinct stages marked by 'milestones'

    Planning chart

    Instructions (pdf) | Template (doc.zip)

  • Criteria are required for a systematic projectand program quality assessment. The criteria that are presented in this document have been developed for intervention projects in health promotion and prevention but can be applied to other projects.

    Ackermann & Studer (2006) (pdf) Evaluation Profile (projects) (doc.zip) | Ackermann & Studer (2006) (pdf)

Questions for critical reflection

  • How did you ensure that your small project will have some lasting effect after completion and not simply dry up?
  • Are you sure that a small project is indeed the right answer for the complex questions and challenges of health promotion?
  • Is the project part of a broader strategy with a longer-term vision?
  • In a small project, are there any elements that are less important than they would be in a bigger one, or do some aspects become particularly important?
  • How do you recognize the quality of a small project?

Key terms

  • Reinforcement of the ability of individuals or groups to make decisions and have control over decisions and actions affecting their health, including opportunities to shape their own environments and the conditions which have an impact on health.
    Glossary
  • Equity in health means that all people, irrespective of ethnic or socio-economic status, sex or age, have equal opportunity to develop and maintain health through fair and just access to resources for health.
    Glossary
  • Contrary to a normative need, a felt need is the subjective need that members of a certain setting or population group feel and sometimes express (the users' perspective).
    Glossary
  • Need defined by experts or professionals, usually on the grounds of a scientifically substantiated deficiency in certain settings or population groups (the experts' perspective).
    Glossary
  • Collaboration across the boundaries of sectors, disciplines, hierarchies, institutions and projects.
    Glossary
  • Active involvement of individuals and groups in the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions (projects) concerning their living conditions and their lifestyles.
    Glossary
  • A structured and unique undertaking proposing to achieve defined objectives within a given time-scale.
    Glossary
  • Structured summary of first ideas and investigations for a planned project.
    Glossary
  • The state of a particular system desired by the end of a project.
    Glossary
  • A project plan is a binding planning document. It contains the justification for the project, describes its goals, the way how the project will be implemented and what resources are necessary.
    Glossary
  • In contrast to pathogenesis, salutogenesis refers to the process of creating and maintaining health.
    Glossary
  • A clearly defined place or social context (e.g. work-place, school, hospital, youth centre, family).
    Glossary
Last modification: 16 April, 2014 11:46