What is Project Selection

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Project Selection is a process to assess each project idea and select the project with the highest priority. Projects are still just suggestions at this stage, so the selection is often made based on only brief descriptions of the project. As some projects will only be ideas, you may need to write a brief description of each project before conducting the selection process. Selection of projects is based on: Benefits: A measure of the positive outcomes of the project. These are often described as "the reasons why you are undertaking the project". The types of benefits of eradication projects include:

Biodiversity

Economic

Social and cultural

Fulfilling commitments made as part of national, regional or international plans and agreements. Feasibility: A measure of the likelihood of the project being a success, i.e. achieving its objectives. Projects vary greatly in complexity and risk. By considering feasibility when selecting projects it means the easiest projects with the greatest benefits are given priority. Note: A detailed review of a project's feasibility is conducted in the Feasibility Study Stage.

Why Do Project Selection?

Often you will have a number of suggested projects but not enough resources, money or time to undertake all of the projects. The ideas for eradication projects may have come from many sources including: the community, funders, local and national governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). You will therefore need a way of deciding on a priority order and choosing a project. If your organisation has limited experience in conducting eradications then it is recommended to concentrate on a small number of projects, ideally one project at a time, until the people in your organisation have developed the skills and experience. Grow capacity and build up to undertaking multiple projects at any one time. Do the easy projects first. Work towards the most difficult and rewarding projects. Use the easy projects to help answer questions/solve issues for the more difficult projects. Use the best opportunities to learn.

You may have a mix of straight forward and difficult eradication projects and do not know where to start. The Project Selection Stage will assist you by providing a process to compare the importance of the projects and select the most suitable project to undertake. By following the Project Selection Stage you will follow a step by step objective method for prioritizing projects - this can be used to explain to stakeholders the reasoning behind why you selected a particular project. The benefits of completing the Project Selection are: a transparent and documented record of why a particular project was selected a priority order for projects, that takes into account their importance and how achievable the project is

When to Do?

Undertake a Project Selection when you have more ideas than the number of projects you can undertake and need to select the project that should be given priority. Note: If you only have 1 project, it may still be useful to score the project against a set of criteria to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the project. The results may be useful later in the Feasibility Study Stage.

Who Should Be Involved?

Agency Management:

Set selection criteria to ensure the selection process aligns with agency strategies. Selection processes are often run as a management initiative before the implementing Project Manager is assigned.

Stakeholders:

Stakeholder participation at the start of a project creates strong community ownership and support, and increases the chances of a successful outcome. Stakeholder input should be included at the ideas stage; consult widely as you are developing the ideas for projects as the community will be the source of many of the best project ideas. Stakeholders must be informed of the outcome of the Project Selection Stage.

Project Manager:

Involving the Project Manager in the Project Selection process will help build ownership in the project and support a successful project in the long run.