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• What is a Project?

• What is a Grant?

• How to Create a Project Idea?

• Things to Consider While Preparing a Project

• Project Terms You Should Know

• How to Find Grant Support?

• Things to Consider in the Grant Application Guidelines

• What are the Project Success Criteria?

• What is Project Cycle Management?

• Project Management Cycle Stages | PCM

• What is PRAGUE? | The Practical Guide

• What is a Budget?

• What is Sustainability?

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What is a Project?

What is a Project?

If you have a creative idea, if you want to improve your institutional capacity and find a solution to a social and economic problem by drawing attention to it, you should start by getting information about the "project". First of all, “what is a project?” Answering the question will be the first step to determine your roadmap.

In short, the project is to ensure that a new idea aiming at change, progress, yields results as a product, service or system.

Initiatives that can contribute to social progress, unique and covering a certain period of time are the elements that make up the project. Considering the priorities of the society you live in, you can prepare your project by organizing your ideas that will create added value, which are applicable, with the right planning.

The project idea should be developed by designing the start and end time. You can determine the feasibility of your project by taking into account the research and analysis in order to measure whether you can reach your goal within the specified time. In addition, you should create your budget, keeping in mind that you will benefit from limited resources in your project.

In your projects;

• Your goals must be practical. Knowing the environment and society you live in and approaching the problem realistically will ensure the success of your project.

• The activities you envision should benefit the subject and purpose of your project. In order to achieve the desired result, you must determine your activities correctly during the project.

• You must have sufficient human resources, infrastructure and financial resources to sustain operations.

After all, projects are the development phase of a “new” idea. Project preparation is shaped by 5W1K (What, Where, When, How, Why, Who), which is the golden rule in communication. Your idea, which you develop with the right methods, will also contribute to social life and ensure that you get successful results with your project as an entrepreneur.

What is a Grant?

What is a Grant?

The non-refundable support provided by national and international institutions and organizations to finance the projects you develop is called a fund, in other words a grant. Grant programs are open to projects prepared by universities, non-governmental organizations, public institutions and organizations, local governments, companies and sometimes even individuals or groups.

Many national and international institutions and organizations periodically make grant program announcements based on social and economic priorities. Announced grant programs are published by the institution announcing the grant, along with documents such as application guidelines, regulations, application principles, etc., that guide the people and institutions that prepared the project. Thus, the institution or organization to which you will apply for the grant will send you the application dates and documents in this guide and other documents. The guide for each grant program is not the same, so the guide for grant application should be carefully examined and the project should be prepared according to the directions.

The project programs for which you can get grant support are very diverse;

• Promoting agricultural investments

• Increasing employment

• Developing institutional capacity

• Solutions for the problems of disadvantaged groups

• Innovative projects for marketing

• Development of the tourism industry

• Increasing technological possibilities, developing innovative ideas

• Solutions for the needs of SMEs

• Elimination of environmental problems and taking preventive measures

• Recycling, improving the waste cycle

• Developing the activities of local governments

• Based on issues such as increasing technological and scientific studies at universities, grant supports are provided for the sector, social problems and needs in a wide variety of subjects.

There are no predetermined dates for the announcement of the grant programs during the year. For this reason, you should follow national and international institutions and organizations regularly for grant applications. Do not forget to follow the social media channels to follow the announcements of national and international institutions and organizations that provide financial support.  

How to Create a Project Idea?

How to Create a Project Idea?

Ideas that you identify as "problems or needs" related to your work area or the environment you live in are the basis of your project. If there is a problem or a need, we can say that the idea comes with it. Asking and answering questions is a good way to come up with the project idea. What do you see as a "problem" in the environment you live in? What are the issues that need to be improved and developed in social and economic life? What are the priority areas of activity? The answers to their questions will help you in creating the project idea. The 5W1K rule is one of the methods that can be followed at this stage. What, When, Where, How, Why and Who questions provide the basis of the project process.

The most basic starting point for creating the project idea is to follow current events, examine recent research, and follow the technological developments related to your field of work. You can start to identify regional and sectoral needs by doing research in your field of study.

How to Create a Project Idea?

Area of Expertise, Industry

What are your field of work, vision, priorities, and experiences? Making definitions about your field of activity provides a specific framework for you to develop the project idea.

Capacity Assessment

What are your limits as a project implementer? Are your financial resources sufficient? Do you have human resources to carry out your project? Can you form the necessary partnerships? Is your social network sufficient to make your project widespread?… The answers to the questions will enable you to see more clearly what you can and cannot do in your project.

Problem and Need Determination

What is the “problem, deficiency” you have identified by considering the sector you work in, your area of expertise and the environment you live in? Are social priorities and the “problem, deficiency” you identified related to each other? What kind of contributions can your aim make to the sector and the country? You can base your findings by asking questions.

Narrow Your Project Topic From General to Specific

For example; When “youth unemployment” is identified as a problem, this general framework should be narrowed and a project topic should be created. When "reducing youth unemployment" is mentioned, this title again draws a general framework and cannot be successful in project implementations with a certain time limit. Therefore, the subject of the project should address a specific problem whenever possible. By saying "Reducing Youth Unemployment in the Central Anatolia Region", you can narrow down your project within the scope of the region and define it as "Reducing Youth Unemployment in Ankara Province". You can go one step further and limit your topic as “Reducing Youth Unemployment in Çankaya District of Ankara”.  In summary, you can limit your project subject depending on features such as geographical region, province, district, age, education level, gender.

The idea you come up with for the project may seem realistic at first, but when you start to analyze the problems you may encounter, you may find that your project is not viable. For this reason, you should determine whether the project idea is realistic or not by doing research and evaluating the current situation.

After you have created your project idea, you can follow the grant announcements and apply to the organizations where you can get financial support. At this point, instead of preparing a project according to the grant announcement, you should wait for the grant announcement according to your project. Since your application process for the grant announcement is limited, having your project idea and basic preparation before the announcement allows you to manage the application process more successfully.

When you create the project idea, you have taken the first step, but you need to make a more detailed planning in order to carry out the project preparation process at the standards requested from you in the grant guide. For this reason, it will be an advantage for you to have your idea and purpose ready before the grant application announcements.