My Communities

@NitinPant said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the factors which can go against the project. The project was to do a nation wide program under the aegis of the central government. The support from the central government was there but when we tried to implement the project at the state and departmental level, there was lack of acceptance and enthusiasm. Because of this we had to change our complete project approach.
If I may ask, what did you change the project approach to?

Just the if/then statements? I think risks go more than that when you are in the field carrying out a project. If/then statements can only give you a number of risks, but if you combine experience in similar projects, then you can identify more risks and assumptions.

To identify risk and assumptions, it is helpful to think about those things out of your control that might disrupt your plan and ask yourself , is there anything that might prevent me from providing inputs, outputs, outcomes and finally impacts? The answers you get are the risks and assumptions. Also, the if/then statements help us in writing project summary and also to spot risk and assumptions. For example, if condoms are provided and distributed then many youths 15-19 years will receive and use. If condoms are used, then STIs and unwanted pregnancy will reduce. But the question is what if low quality or expired condoms are provided distributed and used? would STIs and unwanted pregnancy be prevented? So to identify risk and assumptions it helpful to think about things that can go wrong, that might prevent you from achieving your goals.
My project is an imaginary project, i want to share an instance risk and assumptions can take us by surprise. In a situation when low quality condoms are provided by the donors of the organisation, without the notice about this low quality condoms, the organisation distributes them. The participants receive and use them.After a month or so, some participant are reported being infected by STI they never had. Test will be carried out for both the participant and the quality of condoms and it would be found that the condoms are low quality. The organisation will provide treatment for the affected participants, stop giving those condoms, communicates to Donors for good quality condoms replacement. The lesson learn here is to identify risks and assumption and test the quality of resources provided before sending it to the public. The a risk of the project was not identified at the inputs level before implementation .

You are correct, to identify risks and assumptions think about things out of your control

That reminds you to work on risk identification in a project before implementation.

I think risk assessment and its mitigation strategy is an on going process, periodic risk planning may not be helpful in such cases.

Before start of the activity, you may not assess its properly to minimize risk. It was a better idea to pay them electronically or through cheque payment whichever is possible. Due to little ignorance, it is cost to your organization.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:
Someone asked about how to get the peers assignment. Once you get to where you're supposed to review the peers assignment, just before you start to tick the boxes as to whether they are not satisfactory, good and needs improvement, there is a place just above it that asks u to like get your peers assignment, you click on it and it downloads the assignment for you to review.

I worked on a project to build 240 apartments in Zimpeto, it´s a satelite city of the capital city, the houses were build to youth employees and public servents, after completing building apartments no one applyed to buy the houses, because our target people couldn´t afford to buy them.

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

Exactly when we at the point of identifying risks & assumptions that would possibly hurt the project at any point we ought not to work indepedently we need ample time & expertise. This must be done objectively with an open mind to feedback & criticism. The use of past experience also is highly valuable because from it you will identify or locate gaps, needs or requirement that hurt past projects. Risks & assumptions can be set ahead but along the activities some refinement might be applied so that we can have real and data based risks and assumption that pose a real danger to the project activities.

@Omo4one said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

An assumption during one of our outings was that all our equipment were okay and functioning properly. unfortunately by the time we began our sensitization session, we realized the projector was bad and we had to go out to town to get a replacement. Time, energy and Money wasted.

learning point for us was to always check all equipment before embarking on our sensitization project.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.
Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.
Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?
Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

@LunaMichel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about what things can affect your project things out of your control. In my experience working with other organization its great but is always a risk to to trust complete in people, because sometimes what I expect in resources or things they will provided, is not what they process or what I expected. So having those things in mind helps me prepare better and make wise desicions.

That's great, that means you always identify risks and assumptions before they come and you always prepare for them.

@Thani said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Identifying risks and assumptions helps us plan for ways to overcome the possible hurdles. One of the risks that we foresee in our project is that people may not be eager to change their farming methods in favour of new and more robust ones as this may seem too difficult. Another risk and or assumption, would be that people may not be willing to part away with hard earned money into some savings group as this an unknown phenomena.
Since this project has just began, the way of learning from these risks and assumptions would be to show the local farmers by demonstration through two plots how much more yield they can get with new methods or farming approach. Secondly, a workshop which would include training and a testimonial on the value of village banking would abate the second risk.

You have already identify the risks that may come up and work on them. that's great.

I worked for a non-profit organisation overseeing three provinces and relationships across these sites.

The organisation worked in the sphere of youth citizenry, democratic participation and pathways to health-care. I managed project facilitators who worked with young people. One of the facilitators of the initiative had a sexual relationship with one of the youth participants.

Although we had planned to mitigate risk from an external point of view, we had neglected to scope out potential internal risks to the program. As a result, we fired the facilitator for unethical conduct, fortunately the youth participant was not a minor. The community however, caught wind and lost trust and faith in the initiative and grew weary of the intend objectives. Having lost trust of our stakeholders we closed down the program in that community.

We often assume threats emerge outside and fail to value internal risks.

Question: did you work with any local or community based organisations that supply condoms or conduct sexual reproductive health projects?

What contingency plans have you planned to mitigate future risks?

@ClaraEmmanuel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@LunaMichel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about what things can affect your project things out of your control. In my experience working with other organization its great but is always a risk to to trust complete in people, because sometimes what I expect in resources or things they will provided, is not what they process or what I expected. So having those things in mind helps me prepare better and make wise decisions.

That's great, that means you always identify risks and assumptions before they come and you always prepare for them.

@LunaMichel with the organisation you worked with, did you specify what kind of resources you required to advance the project. I find that specifying instruments of outcomes are imperative to ensure that there is no room for misinterpretation. In the world of partnerships if there are grey areas left unspecified it will lead to a disjointed vision. but well done and keep at it!

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about few reasons why the project design might not work as planned, that is what could go wrong at the design stage of the project before the project starts and if any of such is identified, a preventive measure should be put in place.

In my organization there was a time our Proposal's department estimated cost for vessel repair based on assumption using Scope of work received from client, after the repair work was completed the comparing the estimated cost was far less than the actual cost incurred for the repairs but unfortunately the organization had to bear the loss because the client already 100% upfront for the job.

Lesson learnt from this scenario, after the wrong assumption made, anytime proposal document is issued to client we ensure that we explain that estimated cost does not mean actual cost & that actual cost will be based on cost incurred on the job on completion of work and that is amount the client will pay.

Identifying a future event or condition as a risk allows you to put a proactive plan in place to manage the risk. Identifying it as an assumption let's everyone know that you did foresee the event, but you think that it will not be a factor. All of your risks and assumptions should be monitored and validated throughout the project to ensure that you continue to understand their nature.

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about few reasons why the project design might not work as planned, that is what could go wrong at the design stage of the project before the project starts and if any of such is identified, a preventive measure should be put in place.

In my organization there was a time our Proposal's department estimated cost for vessel repair based on assumption using Scope of work received from client, after the repair work was completed the comparing the estimated cost was far less than the actual cost incurred for the repairs but unfortunately the organization had to bear the loss because the client already 100% upfront for the job.

Lesson learnt from this scenario, after the wrong assumption made, anytime proposal document is issued to client we ensure that we explain that estimated cost does not mean actual cost & that actual cost will be based on cost incurred on the job on completion of work and that is amount the client will pay.

Identifying a future event or condition as a risk allows you to put a proactive plan in place to manage the risk. Identifying it as an assumption let's everyone know that you did foresee the event, but you think that it will not be a factor. All of your risks and assumptions should be monitored and validated throughout the project to ensure that you continue to understand their nature.

@AMAGAJU said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

once risks are identified, it is a better way to avoid all the negative impacts, so identifying risks is the crucial parts for the project to be successfull

Yes, I totally agree with you, once you are able to identify the risks & assumptions before a project starts, then you will know what and what to put in place to achieve a successful project.

@Umar007 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

While deciding on risk and assumptions it is important to think about all the negatives that come to mind

Agreed to that & all look for a way to either prevent or avoid it from happening.

@ClaraEmmanuel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@LunaMichel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about what things can affect your project things out of your control. In my experience working with other organization its great but is always a risk to to trust complete in people, because sometimes what I expect in resources or things they will provided, is not what they process or what I expected. So having those things in mind helps me prepare better and make wise desicions.

That's great, that means you always identify risks and assumptions before they come and you always prepare for them.

Yes, I agree to your point. Good one

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks an

To identify risks and assumptions it is helpful to think about political, legal, environmental, social/cultural and technological considerations at micro, meso and macro levels e.g. individual level assumptions maybe participation, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs within the local context; meso level community, local authorities or organisational factors which are required or will influence implementation and outcomes; and at a macro level the national landscape. Gaining the perspectives of intended beneficiaries is key to developing insightful risks and assumptions and mitigating against potential negative impacts.

@ClaraEmmanuel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@LunaMichel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about what things can affect your project things out of your control. In my experience working with other organization its great but is always a risk to to trust complete in people, because sometimes what I expect in resources or things they will provided, is not what they process or what I expected. So having those things in mind helps me prepare better and make wise decisions.

That's great, that means you always identify risks and assumptions before they come and you always prepare for them.

@LunaMichel with the organisation you worked with, did you specify what kind of resources you required to advance the project. I find that specifying instruments of outcomes are imperative to ensure that there is no room for misinterpretation. In the world of partnerships if there are grey areas left unspecified it will lead to a disjointed vision. but well done and keep at it!

At one point, we had started an initiative to give poor families some bags of millet flour. Unfortunately the number of families turned out to be more that the bags of flour.

This is my first time of understanding the concept of risk and assumption. Based on that I will be able to bring out Risk and Assumptions to my proposed project.

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I always believe in stakeholder engagement when designing a project. By so doing you get a clear understanding of all the risks and assumptions which may affect all parties involved in the project.

In my organization while designing the Youth Apprenticeship Project (YAP) where we wanted to turn fresh graduates into job creators we assumed that fresh graduates had the entrepreneurial ability. The risk we faced is that some graduates did not want to be entrepreneurs, they preferred to be employed and however much we called them to join this project, their mind set was different.

Nice job sir. But you know that mindset sometimes is our lives currency.. If they decided to join reluctantly and not willingly then your outcome and impact might not be fully achieved.

@jkurama said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

We hard a project to evaluate the influence of bribery to voters decision to vote a particular candidate. We went through all the approval processes, but in one of the districts, the district internal security officer even after meeting with him and the District police officer and all the district officials and all approved. After a few weeks of work he decided to withdraw his approval and chase us from the district. We went to other districts where were welcome but but he put announcements over the radio and called other security officers to chase us to.
After getting all the approvals we did not anticipate this, so we hard to recall our officers from the field and we hard fresh engagements with these officials and provided all the (un)necessary documentations that they wanted but the underlying issue was that he had engaged in bribing voters and he feared that he would be found out. we re-assured him that the information will be held in strict confidence and that we do not attache names in the data and we were allowed to continue with work.

Wow.... A very interesting project. I sincerely think next time when you are carrying this kind of survey, your team should have their own security officials to escort them... Because a man can go to any length to cover his dirty linen. Thanks

@apostledavid58 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

At that moment there wasn't much that we could do except offer apologies and promises of bringing more supplies. But we learnt from that and made sure that prior to every visit to any location in future before going there for programs implementation, sometimes depending on old data provided by your country's general statistics can prove fatal to the success of your programs implementation

i agree it important to source info from different places to make the right information

@udehrichmond said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I always believe in stakeholder engagement when designing a project. By so doing you get a clear understanding of all the risks and assumptions which may affect all parties involved in the project.

In my organization while designing the Youth Apprenticeship Project (YAP) where we wanted to turn fresh graduates into job creators we assumed that fresh graduates had the entrepreneurial ability. The risk we faced is that some graduates did not want to be entrepreneurs, they preferred to be employed and however much we called them to join this project, their mind set was different.

Nice job sir. But you know that mindset sometimes is our lives currency.. If they decided to join reluctantly and not willingly then your outcome and impact might not be fully achieved.

that was good but mostly its depends on the mind of the people and the surrounding they have been brought up in

@Bimpy said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@ClaraEmmanuel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@LunaMichel said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about what things can affect your project things out of your control. In my experience working with other organization its great but is always a risk to to trust complete in people, because sometimes what I expect in resources or things they will provided, is not what they process or what I expected. So having those things in mind helps me prepare better and make wise desicions.

That's great, that means you always identify risks and assumptions before they come and you always prepare for them.

Yes, I agree to your point. Good one

i agree totally

We are trying to set up a public library library, since we wanted they youth to have access to information that could help them, stay forced with the planing of studying. i organisation was looking at trying to help youths get access to information easily but setting up public library in main parts of the country but,
but after taking up the project we got to learn that even when the areas were along the line of rail there wear no built that were fit to support they equipments we took, and security was also not there

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@apostledavid58 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I was once part of a LoveLife Ngo tram and we headed to rural communities to distribute condoms and pass on some sex-health information...we had roughly estimated a turn up of less that 100 participants and the local community hall. But to pur Suprise we had ran out of Flyers and condom packs to give away....

So the your assumption that a few participants biased the project and made you run out of supplies? What exactly did you do to mitigate the risk?

That is great i totally agree

That was interesting, so you had to stop and restart that officer was bad. great lesson though

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.
Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.
Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?
Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

In one of our project in training youth to getting employment. We had a list of 125 candidates that were invited via email. Unfortunately on 25 candidates turned up, We had less people to carry out intended activities as against the 125 candidates planned for. To avoid our assumption of the candidates turning up, we could as well have given them a call to confirm attendance.

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all potential impact or activities that might negatively affect the activities and outcome of the project. It can be environmental factors, cultural factors, social factor or financial factors.

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.

Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

In one oof our project activities that focuses on training youths to gain employment, a total of 125 candidates were invited by email. unfortunately, only 25 candidates turned up for the session. we had less candid

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all of the potential imapact that more negatively affect the activities of the project . These can be environmental factors, social factors, influences and financial issues

In one of our project activities that focuses on training youths to gain employment, a total of 125 candidates were invited by email. unfortunately, only 25 candidates turned up for the session. we had less candidates to carry out the intended activities arranged for empowering them as against the 125 candidates prepared for. Lesson learnt from our assumption was that the candidates could have been contacted via telephone to confirm their attendance

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all of the potential impact that more negatively affect the activities of the project . These can be environmental factors, social factors, influences and financial issues.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the context. To identify the risk and the assumptions, it is necessary to examine the context in which the project will be implemented. I took the past from working in a fragile post-conflict environment where the government had banned funding for civil society organizations. Yet we should help poor people to take recourse against the kidnappers of their land. We then decided to collaborate with the Bar Associations which were not prohibited. But the risk was still to be feared that armed conflicts would occur and that the government would prevent the bars from accessing funding. The other hypothesis was the people's insecure expectations, such as increased poverty due to insecurity

To identify and risk and assumptions it may help you to take care about your project planning steps so you may not fail.

It was an external risk relative to top management that project unit is supposed to work with. We learned that we should form a strong team and we deals with suppliers to carry out our activities

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the context. To identify the risk and the assumptions, it is necessary to examine the context in which the project will be implemented. I took the past from working in a fragile post-conflict environment where the government had banned funding for civil society organizations. Yet we should help poor people to take recourse against the kidnappers of their land. We then decided to collaborate with the Bar Associations which were not prohibited. But the risk was still to be feared that armed conflicts would occur and that the government would prevent the bars from accessing funding. The other hypothesis was the people's insecure expectations, such as increased poverty due to insecurity

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

Am still learning and want to understand more, do risks have to affect a project negatively? For instance what if you make assumptions which can help the project to save time and money. What will that be classified as?

What I had learned, what should not be limited to identifying the risks and assumptions for a project,

It was an external risk relative to top management that project unit is supposed to work with. We learned that we should form a strong team and we deals with suppliers to carry out our activities

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the context. To identify the risk and the assumptions, it is necessary to examine the context in which the project will be implemented. I took the past from working in a fragile post-conflict environment where the government had banned funding for civil society organizations. Yet we should help poor people to take recourse against the kidnappers of their land. We then decided to collaborate with the Bar Associations which were not prohibited. But the risk was still to be feared that armed conflicts would occur and that the government would prevent the bars from accessing funding. The other hypothesis was the people's insecure expectations, such as increased poverty due to insecurity

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

Am still learning and want to understand more, do risks have to affect a project negatively? For instance what if you make assumptions which can help the project to save time and money. What will that be classified as?

@Cishugi said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the context. To identify the risk and the assumptions, it is necessary to examine the context in which the project will be implemented. I took the past from working in a fragile post-conflict environment where the government had banned funding for civil society organizations. Yet we should help poor people to take recourse against the kidnappers of their land. We then decided to collaborate with the Bar Associations which were not prohibited. But the risk was still to be feared that armed conflicts would occur and that the government would prevent the bars from accessing funding. The other hypothesis was the people's insecure expectations, such as increased poverty due to insecurity

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

Am still learning and want to understand more, do risks have to affect a project negatively? For instance what if you make assumptions which can help the project to save time and money. What will that be classified as?

What I had learned, what should not be limited to identifying the risks and assumptions for a project,

@Cishugi said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the context. To identify the risk and the assumptions, it is necessary to examine the context in which the project will be implemented. I took the past from working in a fragile post-conflict environment where the government had banned funding for civil society organizations. Yet we should help poor people to take recourse against the kidnappers of their land. We then decided to collaborate with the Bar Associations which were not prohibited. But the risk was still to be feared that armed conflicts would occur and that the government would prevent the bars from accessing funding. The other hypothesis was the people's insecure expectations, such as increased poverty due to insecurity

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

Am still learning and want to understand more, do risks have to affect a project negatively? For instance what if you make assumptions which can help the project to save time and money. What will that be classified as?

What I had learned, what should not be limited to identifying the risks and assumptions for a project,

This is a risk.

@Midee said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@apostledavid58 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I was once part of a LoveLife Ngo tram and we headed to rural communities to distribute condoms and pass on some sex-health information...we had roughly estimated a turn up of less that 100 participants and the local community hall. But to pur Suprise we had ran out of Flyers and condom packs to give away....

So the your assumption that a few participants biased the project and made you run out of supplies? What exactly did you do to mitigate the risk?

That is great i totally agree

Good. The risks are unpredictable. One can try to provide answers for Assumptions because they are supposed in advance, but this is not often the bag for risks that are unpredictable and surprising

It is very important to look at the possible failures of a project. This helps you to take a closer look before implementation. Stakeholder and community involvement is very necessary when designing projects as it mitigates this

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.

Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

It's very important to do an assessment before engaging a new project to avoid failure. This entails that stakeholders and the community are engaged first.

Risk /Assumption: There might not be enough quality seed supplies on the market.

During our planning, we did not foresee that seed for maize would become very scanty after the attacks on crops by army worm. in the season that followed the maize seed became scarce and expensive, not falling within the farmers' budgets. Farmers had to reduce acreage.

Risk /Assumption: There might not be enough quality seed supplies on the market.

During our planning, we did not foresee that seed for maize would become very scanty after the attacks on crops by army worm. in the season that followed the maize seed became scarce and expensive, not falling within the farmers' budgets. Farmers had to reduce acreage.

Many times we do not give much importance to these columns of the logical framework, until the risk happens. To foresee is cheaper to happen, we had this experience with the change of government authorities that hindered the development of one of the projects.

tips
That we must see the risk as a threat that may or may not occur, that if in case of happening that in case of happening it would have a negative impact on the continuity of the project.

The assumption is the necessary condition for the adequate attainment of an objective or activity

I could remember some few years back my organization went for a campaign on Girl Child Education in some rural villages. We were assured by the ward and village representatives that all is set and that the villagers are ready to welcome and accept the campaign but on reaching the villages, not a single person came out to hear from us. The worst of it all is that, the village heads on hearing that we arrived, boldly came out and told us that they would not accept such a campaign and we were asked to go back

@apostledavid58 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I was once part of a LoveLife Ngo tram and we headed to rural communities to distribute condoms and pass on some sex-health information...we had roughly estimated a turn up of less that 100 participants and the local community hall. But to pur Suprise we had ran out of Flyers and condom packs to give away....

The organization did not plan for risks and assumptions adequately ahead of time. so it negatively affects the implementation of the program.

@Abdallah said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

if beneficiaries have low patronage of business and has no innovation creatives to convinces customer then business is going to melt down

well, risks and assumptions can also be identified through prior examination of cultures,historical events, environmental changes as well political landscape. some unforeseen circumstances can arise offset the project track away from the plan.

@Manasseh said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I could remember some few years back my organization went for a campaign on Girl Child Education in some rural villages. We were assured by the ward and village representatives that all is set and that the villagers are ready to welcome and accept the campaign but on reaching the villages, not a single person came out to hear from us. The worst of it all is that, the village heads on hearing that we arrived, boldly came out and told us that they would not accept such a campaign and we were asked to go back

Wowwww. I could imagine how you felt.
In the future, i guess you can always send representative of yours to the project site (like a set up thing) and be sure that things are going according to plan so, that you don't End up putting some inputs and and no outcomes are achieved.

@marcomathanda said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I worked on a project to build 240 apartments in Zimpeto, it´s a satelite city of the capital city, the houses were build to youth employees and public servents, after completing building apartments no one applyed to buy the houses, because our target people couldn´t afford to buy them.

Wow.. Very nice initiative.
But what did you do to solve this issue and what measures will you put in place to mitigate the risk of future occurence?

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Can your organization also improve by adopting risk management into its daily routine? According to risk management expert Mike Clayton, the answer is a resounding, Yes! He notes that as a project manager you can help move your organization towards a stronger risk management culture through incorporating organizational learning from your previous projects.

Building a risk management protocol into your organization’s culture by creating a consistent set of standard tools and templates, with training, can reduce overhead over time. That way, each time you start a new project, it won’t be like having to reinvent the wheel. You’ll have a head start and a path already in place to more efficiently and quickly address the specific risks of your individual project.

Things such as your organization’s records and history are an archive of knowledge that can help you learn from that experience when approaching risk in a new project. Also, by adapting the attitudes and values of your organization to become more aware of risk, means your organization can develop a better sense of the nature of uncertainty as a core business issue. With improved governance comes better planing, strategy, policy and decisions.

“There are plenty of benefits to be gained from embedding risk management into the day-to-day practices of your organization,” Clayton writes. “These compound one-another to have an increasing effect on the overall health and performance of your organization.”

@yahayasaleem said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Can your organization also improve by adopting risk management into its daily routine? According to risk management expert Mike Clayton, the answer is a resounding, Yes! He notes that as a project manager you can help move your organization towards a stronger risk management culture through incorporating organizational learning from your previous projects.

Building a risk management protocol into your organization’s culture by creating a consistent set of standard tools and templates, with training, can reduce overhead over time. That way, each time you start a new project, it won’t be like having to reinvent the wheel. You’ll have a head start and a path already in place to more efficiently and quickly address the specific risks of your individual project.

Things such as your organization’s records and history are an archive of knowledge that can help you learn from that experience when approaching risk in a new project. Also, by adapting the attitudes and values of your organization to become more aware of risk, means your organization can develop a better sense of the nature of uncertainty as a core business issue. With improved governance comes better planing, strategy, policy and decisions.

“There are plenty of benefits to be gained from embedding risk management into the day-to-day practices of your organization,” Clayton writes. “These compound one-another to have an increasing effect on the overall health and performance of your organization.”

great answer

@Romes said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

It was an external risk relative to top management that project unit is supposed to work with. We learned that we should form a strong team and we deals with suppliers to carry out our activities

agreed

@yinkaariba1 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

In one of our project activities that focuses on training youths to gain employment, a total of 125 candidates were invited by email. unfortunately, only 25 candidates turned up for the session. we had less candidates to carry out the intended activities arranged for empowering them as against the 125 candidates prepared for. Lesson learnt from our assumption was that the candidates could have been contacted via telephone to confirm their attendance

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all of the potential impact that more negatively affect the activities of the project . These can be environmental factors, social factors, influences and financial issues.

sure

Going through he risk and assumption section is an opportunity for a team to self reflect on what they have taken for granted and the realities on the ground. I am particularly interested in the application of users as explained in the formative research.
Having key stakeholders as part of the risk assessment process helps the project team not find themselves in sudden distress.
I worked on a project for the construction of local communication towers to help the local population access internet. While we thought this was always a good thing, the local population thought the people doing the construction on the ground served as informants on the locals activities. It took lots of meetings, patient listening and reassurance to convince the locals and let the workers access the work grounds. As a result, the project was delayed by months, more funds then expected were disbursed and the reputation of the organization had to be managed.

@yahayasaleem said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Can your organization also improve by adopting risk management into its daily routine? According to risk management expert Mike Clayton, the answer is a resounding, Yes! He notes that as a project manager you can help move your organization towards a stronger risk management culture through incorporating organizational learning from your previous projects.

Building a risk management protocol into your organization’s culture by creating a consistent set of standard tools and templates, with training, can reduce overhead over time. That way, each time you start a new project, it won’t be like having to reinvent the wheel. You’ll have a head start and a path already in place to more efficiently and quickly address the specific risks of your individual project.

Things such as your organization’s records and history are an archive of knowledge that can help you learn from that experience when approaching risk in a new project. Also, by adapting the attitudes and values of your organization to become more aware of risk, means your organization can develop a better sense of the nature of uncertainty as a core business issue. With improved governance comes better planing, strategy, policy and decisions.

“There are plenty of benefits to be gained from embedding risk management into the day-to-day practices of your organization,” Clayton writes. “These compound one-another to have an increasing effect on the overall health and performance of your organization.”

I totally agree that having a risk management protocol into the organizations systems be a great addition to the organization. Especially one which takes time to look into previous lessons from other projects. After reading many project failures, I have come to an intuition that the most difficult risk to account for a cultural risk. On a daily routine, it is hard to include that as it requires consulting groups of divers people. Those cultural assumptions we have about our local society, which we have never questioned could sometimes be the most difficult to identify. An assumption as "everyone wants fast internet" could be taken for granted by many, but be detrimental in a specific region

It is very important to identify risk on time as well known assumptions. This will in future allow for risk transfer, elimination or third party acceptance

@aochei said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

It is very important to identify risk on time as well known assumptions. This will in future allow for risk transfer, elimination or third party acceptance

@Umar007 said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

While deciding on risk and assumptions it is important to think about all the negatives that come to mind

I agree to your point, in addition is not only to think about the negative effect on the project but also to put properly prevention or corrective measures in place, in case of any.

Hi
To identify the risks and assumptions, it Paramount to think about the objective of your project and possible obstacles that may arise along. In the first place my organization has to do with the Mass literacy and and Adult and Non-Formal Education and we mostly deal with women and these women are mostly married and housewifes, here our risk and assumptions are that there is tendency of men not accepting their wives to attend learning centres and there could are failure from the side of women.
From the point of view, we have to go back to the drawing table to plan how to tackle the problems so that we would not waste resources, we decided to go for mobilization through FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION with partnering of Local Head to sensitize the men in our target communities, it works.

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

My observation is there is need to State the objective of your organization, for clear understanding of the risks and assumptions.
For the introduction is well alright that the possible obstacles may be social, political, economical, or even natural. But the most common risks comes from social factors

Risk and assumptions are critical to project design, once you can not quickly identify the risk involve in the project with possible assumptions, then your project should expect surprises.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.

Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

In the Reading Club project there is a high risk of not being able to monitor the results due to the remoteness of the communities. We assume that trained facilitators can do the job of opening a club, and training others in their own language.

@nafulasmamai said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about situations which are either conducive
to the achievement of the project’s objectives, or which are adverse, and the project has to find its own ways of dealing with them adequately.

Literature Review of previous similar projects is yet another strategic method one can use to identify risks and assumptions.

Identifying risks and assumptions is very important in projects since they can make or break a project even before starting.
By identifying risks and assumptions is leads to identifying factors that might lead to failure of project. It provides a way forwards of combating uncertainties and biases and hence a successful project.

There was a time in my organization when we had planned to train people how to use the Google suite. The training was scheduled for a Saturday being a work-free day for all staff. Little did we remember to consider if the internet connection would be available all throughout the training.
The training commenced as planned but mid-way into its implementation, we had issues connecting to to internet. After intense trouble-shooting of the network, with no solution, we decided to call our ISP to find out if all was well from their end only to find out that some of their equipment had been vandalized and would take about 24 hours to restore the connection. Even the mentioned 24 hours was a tentative assumption, it was not certain.
We did not plan for such kind of interruption. We only planned for power outage which never too place. We were caught by surprise. We had to post-pone the training because trying to make alternative connection for over 80 systems when the training was already in progress was not feasible.

I feel your discussion is inconclusive. So how did you handle the situation? You started well, but the conclusion could be better.

@Loraini said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about all possibilities of what will negatively affect the outputs, inputs and outcome of your project. It can vary from natural, social, political, cultural, financial causes. In one of our project, one of the risks that the project had to deal with was the unpredicted category 5 cyclone that encountered the project just when the project had started making it difficult for communities to commit because they were faced with problems that needed urgent attention such as improving social services, health and basic needs. The project had to spend some money to unplanned activities to help these communities back on their feet.

This is a nice post with real life example of risks and assumptions.
Thank you.

@OscarBMwaibabile said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Identifying risks and assumptions is very important in projects since they can make or break a project even before starting.
By identifying risks and assumptions is leads to identifying factors that might lead to failure of project. It provides a way forwards of combating uncertainties and biases and hence a successful project.

Sir, you did not share any experience with us. You appear to re-iterate some facts in the course mentioned in module 2. By the way, your post appears to have some grammatical errors. It could be better. Kindly go through it again. Thank you.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.

Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

During project design it is very important to consider and identify risks in carrying out project activities in the intervention area keeping in mind the political unrest, conditions, etc. In one of our project intervention area, a mega camp for health services was planned in a tribal community. On the day of the camp, when the vehicle was going to the area with medical instruments, medicines, etc., the team came to know that just half an hour before naxalities had shot a vehicle in that route so our vehicle had to take another route and reached the venue late. This created lot of tension in the area, and hence, people could not come out freely to avail health services. These conditions are beyond our control in the area. However, the no. of beneficiaries accessing health services were met by organizing special service sessions in the community in small scale.

@Course_Operations said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.

Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.

Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?

Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

To identify risks and assumptions,it is helpful to think about results of projects.

I head a small community based organization (CBO) to help rural parents to provide learning materials for their kids through agriculture. We provided seedlings, fertilizer and financial support for work. We started a pilot project in one community with ten households. We provided them with funds for bush clearing, tilling the land and seedlings for planting. One of the main problems we faced was to get these people whenever an activity is to take place. We started the struggle with the planting where few people shown up.

During fertilizer application, only one member was available out of ten members to do the job. In order to achieve our goal, we have to do the work by ourselves. We overcome the risk by doing the work by ourselves.

The second challenge was funding. We started the project and we ran out of funds and I personally have to sacrifices my money in order to continue the work.

Unfortunately, since the challenges were many on the side of the leader, we could not achieved the desired result.

@Ragow said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

Respond to this prompt after completing the content in Module 2.
Correctly identifying assumptions and risks ahead of time is one of the most difficult parts of project design.
Share one instance from your organization when a risk or assumption took the team by surprise. What did you learn from this experience? What tips for identifying risks and assumptions can you share with your peers?
Sample Post: To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about _______ .

To identify risk and assumption it is important on defining relevance inputs and outputs in order to get clear picture of outputs and impact as well. We had a project of installation of computer Labs to a number of Secondary schools in order to help student and Teaches to easily study ICT. So we assumed that we will find Local ISP who will provide internet connectivity with minimal price. The risk is that local ISP are charging Internet connectivity with high prices which schools cannot afford to pay.

@Tiga said in Module 2 Discussion: Risks and Assumptions:

I always believe in stakeholder engagement when designing a project. By so doing you get a clear understanding of all the risks and assumptions which may affect all parties involved in the project.

In my organization while designing the Youth Apprenticeship Project (YAP) where we wanted to turn fresh graduates into job creators we assumed that fresh graduates had the entrepreneurial ability. The risk we faced is that some graduates did not want to be entrepreneurs, they preferred to be employed and however much we called them to join this project, their mind set was different.

True. One thing I realized is that mindset is a key aspect to consider when we want people to adapt to new projects.

Over the years, my organization had executed an annual event without mishaps. It was an outside event so we considered weather elements in our planning and had things in place in case there was rain, etc. We had not taken into consideration any major event that would clash with us, however, and it so happened that the unthinkable happened one year. An international comedian announced a tour for the same weekend. When our marketing and promotions team became aware of this it was too late to change the date so we went ahead. The turn out was significantly affected that year.
We learned an important lesson that year. When planing for anything, all assumptions and risks must be considered. An assumption that we made was that for the particular date, our event was the main event on everyone's calendar especially to our loyal patrons over the years

To identify risks and assumptions, it is helpful to think about the unforeseen circumstances that surround your project. I can remember once I work on a Oil Palm project and some key risk and or Assumption were not consider which took our entire project Team by surprise and thus causing our target for the Quarter not met. we first place a seeds on Nursery and after sis months then we do transplanting. It was on one of our beneficiaries farm that rats and rodents ate the seedlings on nursery before the time for transplanting, but if this kinds of risk were identify at the early stage measures could have been put into place to prevent it from happening

I am Abigail Jesse From Nigeria

I think Amina can gain several benefits such as;

1. can build a better relationship and trust between and the stakeholders most especially the government.
2. Create more impacts
3. Also give her publicity and total acceptance.