Project Initiation – Gathering Lessons from Previous Projects

What worked

1. Asking people with a lot of experience organizing workcamps (I asked two guys who have lead a non-profit called UCF)
2. Asking “what questions should I ask?”
3. Including project management work, particularly gathering of lessons learned from similar project in the past, in my work breakdown structure
4. The experienced workcamp PM's having documentation (see below)
5. Having contacts with different expertise (e.g., my architect friend helped a lot in estimating the materials needed)

What I'll do next time (or now)

1. Paying forward—what I'm trying to do with this blog. The handbook, templates and notes of experience that UCF provided was extremely helpful. I'm hoping to share my lessons learned as well.

Documents

1. UCF Workcamp Organizer's Manual (An excellent document. Thank you Jun!)
2. Questions to ask the prospective hosts (compiled from the organizers manual and correspondences with UCF)
3. Sample letter to hosts (from UCF):

I am currently scouting for possible volunteering activity for Taiwanese and Hongkong Chinese volunteers on January 2008. The Taiwanese volunteers are organized by xxxx, while the Hongkong Chinese are organized by xxxx.

I would like to seek your assistance in exploring volunteering opportunities in Cebu. I am looking for organizations (NGOs, Pos, Community Orgs, LGUs) who are willing to host volunteers for a few weeks to help in their programs and projects. For your reference, mentioned below are the preferences of the volunteers:

1. Type of work: basic manual work not requiring specialized skills such as digging ditches, painting, basic construction work, etc.

2. The manual work should be part of a project of a local organization of any of the following kind:

a. Social projects for cultural minorities, children, and elderly people.

b. Environmental projects such as tree-nurseries, tree-planting, cleaning of rivers and the sea, construction of educational paths in protected areas.

c. Educational projects such as classroom repair and renovation in schools.

d. Reconstruction projects such as repair of public or community buildings destroyed by disasters.

e. Rural development and renovation projects such as community infrastructure work.

f. Low-cost housing for under-privileged families.

g. Cultural heritage preservation (with assistance from professional experts) such as renovation of historical structures, repair or renovation of churches/chapels.

3. Group accommodations for 10-15 boys of a dormitory-type. It could be a big room where they could lay their sleeping beds with toilet facilities.

4. Food could be prepared by local cooks for breakfast, lunch and supper.

5. Tap water for toilet use, preferably.

Please let me know of possible work activity (scope of work and estimated cost of materials). Then we can do an ocular site visit. During the site visit, negotiations could be made to identify the job description, cost of materials and other things.

University Center Foundation (UCF) is a private NGO based in Metro Manila. Among its programs is the International Volunteer Service Program (IVSP) where UCF coordinate with some foreign organizations to undertake volunteer projects that could benefit local communities. For more information, please visit our website, http:\\ucf.ph.

Thank you for your time and best regards.

Back to the table of contents