Training Workshop on Project Planning

and Management and Monitoring and

Evaluation
7TH - 13TH December, 2020
ADAMA

Report Writing
 Introduction
• As PM, you are responsible for demonstrating
progress and results achieved in project
implementation for different stakeholders
• Reports are the dominant mechanism for
demonstrating progress and results
• Information transferred on your project
performance through any method, including
reports has to be correct, timely, relevant,
reliable and sensible to the receiver in order to
achieve its objectives
• Report writing needs knowledge & skill
What is a report?
• A report
• is a document prepared for the purpose of:
• Conveying information
• Reporting findings
• Putting ideas forward 
• Making recommendations
• Is a tool through which organizations know what happened or
what was achieved from activities undertaken
• Is an official record of a given period in the life of a project that
presents a summary of project implementation and performance
reporting
• Reporting, on the other hand, is a systematic activity of
processing and distributing information to partners, based on the
type of information required
 Steps & methods of report writing
• If you are asked to produce a report;
• How do you react?
• Where do you start?
• What are you looking for?
• What will you say?
• What message will you put across?
• How will you condense it?
• What will you use?
• Where do you get the information?
• How will you pull it all together?
• What are the bear traps to avoid?
• For most people, report writing is a ‘necessary evil’
• If you adopt some simple actions and steps
 you can reduce the headache of report writing
 You will generate better reports quicker, and with less effort.

• Steps such as the one shown below can help to

write reports more effectively.
Report Writing Steps
Step I  :  Planning and Designing
(purpose, scope &
preparation)
Step II:  Writing (draft)  
Step III: Formatting (draft)

Step IV: Editing and Finalizing

(check & deliver/submit)
Step I: Planning & designing of a report
Preparation for writing
•The purpose of the report
•The reporting process
•The role of the writer and the editor
•Planning the report
•Collecting information for the report
Why report?
• Reporting enables the assessment of progress and
achievements and helps focus audiences on the results
of activities, enabling the improvement of subsequent
work plans.
• Helps form the basis for decision-making and learning
at the program level.
• Communicates how effectively and efficiently an
organization is meeting its objectives.
• Facilitate the replenishment of funds by donors.
• Helps ensure that the funding for your project continues
and that there is adequate funding for future projects.
The Reporting Process
• The donor expects all subsequent reports on the project to
reflect how project activities are leading to the objectives
set out in the initial project proposal.
• Donors have chosen to support the project based on the
project description, and they expect the project to proceed
as promised.
• Reports must be delivered according to the schedule set
by the donor/stakeholders.
• Each report should describe activities and results
according to that schedule, so the donor can clearly see
what progress has been made since the previous report.
• Keep careful, ongoing records of all aspects of your
project so you can write your report on schedule.
 The Roles of the Writer and the Editor
• As writer, you are the one who drafts your report. You
should make sure it has the correct content, the right
language, and the right format. However, no matter
how good a writer you are, you still need an editor.
• The editor is someone who reads your document
carefully and makes sure that it is clear and that it
meets the standards for grammar, punctuation, and
style.
• The editor is your second set of eyes. The editorial
job is to make corrections and changes to your report
to ensure that it is delivering your message clearly.
 Role of Writer
• Use the given template or format
to organize content
• Provide all required information for
each section
• Include the results as well as the
activities to show progress toward
the project’s objectives
• Provide details to support,
enhance and clarify information
• Use language that is appropriate
for the audience
• Read the completed report
carefully before turning it in and
make changes if necessary
• Meet the writing deadline
Role of Editor
• Read the document carefully
• Correct errors of spelling,
grammar and punctuation
• Ensure the information is clear
and complete
• Ensure language reflects
organization’s format and style
• Ensure language is appropriate
for the audience
• Verify information, facts, data
when necessary
• Rewrite words or phrases for
clarification and accuracy
• Ask the writer questions when
needed
• Meet the editing deadline
Planning the Report
• Purpose — Why am I writing this report?
• Audience — Who will be reading this report?
• Format — What does the report need to look like?
• Deadline — When do I have to turn the report in?
Purpose

• To identify your purpose, you must ask your

self at least one of the following question:
• What are you trying to achieve from the report?

• What effect/outcome do you expect?

• What do you wish to change in the readers

mind or knowledge, or attitude?

• Are you trying to inform, instruct, describe,

persuade, convenience, sell, plead, analyze,
evaluate, provoke or what?
Audience

• Also clearly know/understand:

• Who your audiences are i.e. who will read the report and what are they
looking for?
• What will happen as a result of the report? Or what are they going to do
with the information they are looking for?
• What their vocabulary is?
• What their intellectual skills are?
• Put yourself in the shoes of the report's intended
audience
• A report submitted to the beneficiary community is
entirely different from that of a report submitted to a
donor or other partner organizations
Audience Analysis:
•Level 1 reader(s): approving authority (non-
technical) – information need: brevity
•Level 2 reader(s): technical/subject matter expert
– information need: accuracy
•Level 3 reader(s): implementer/functionary –
information need: specificity
Collecting Information for the Report
• Report Information Checklist — Helps you plan
the report and make sure you have the
information you need before you start
• Report Template — Shows the format you will
need to follow to write a basic donor report
• Project Tracking Form — Provides a way to track
project progress during the reporting period so
you will have the information readily available
when it is time to write the report
Report Information Checklist
• Date report due:
• Name of the project:
• Name of the donor: Amount:
• Dates of project period report covers:
• Location of project activities:
• Goal of the project:
• Project objectives:
• Relationship of this project and its objectives with the overall program and its
objectives (if applicable):
• Description of total target participants of the project (direct and indirect):
• Background information (on country/needs/participants):
• Background Documents, photos, stories:-
.√ Background documents needed:
 Original project description / proposal to donor
 Previous reports(s) to this donor on this project
 Photos
 stories
 DO’S DON’TS
• Record project • Don’t begin writing without
information on an ongoing knowing the document
basis criteria
• Know the purpose, • Don’t wait until it is time to
audience, format, and write the report before
deadline before writing
recording information on the
• Use a checklist to ensure
project
you have the needed
information • Don’t turn in the report
• Follow the appropriate without reading it carefully
style and format • Don’t miss your deadlines
Step II: Writing the report
• In writing the report the main factor to consider is
the Style.
• A writer’s style is a reflection of his or her personality, unique
voice, and way of approaching the audience and readers
• Forget the myth of the perfect first draft and
remember always as multiple drafts lead to better
reports depending on the urgency and the type of
report we are writing
• Writing is a simple process (But no one said it
was easy)
• To complete the process of writing, you have to
plan the time to write
• This process consists 3 major activities
• Pre writing
• Writing and
• Rewriting
 Pre-writing
• Before you start writing in detail:
• Jot down all the ideas and thoughts to be included on to
paper
• Bring together related ideas
• Sort ideas into topics
• Arrange them into a logical order
• Gather your data (primary , secondary or both) and
supplementary materials
• Write a preliminary summary (the “elevator” exercise)
• Organize your data
• What defines the issue?
• What describes what was done?
• What shows the results and the impact?
• Make notes on what you want to say
Writing
• Before writing the actual report
• Decide the structure (anatomy) of the report.

• A good structure can help the reader digest and the

writer to organize and present issues logically.

• You can follow the following generic structure to

write a report.
Sections of the report
• Introduction
• Project Activities and Objectives
• Successes and Key Results
• Challenges and Lessons Learned
• Next Steps
• Human Interest Story
• Photos
• Expenditure Report
• Conclusion
• Work Plan
• Title Page
• Content
• The Report Specifics
• The summary
• The Introduction/background
• The objectives
• The methodology
• The Report Statement/the main body
• What was done (activities performed)
• Results & Impacts (if any)
• Other issues
• Conclusion & recommendation (if necessary)
• Attachments/appendix (if necessary)
• References (if necessary)
• Guiding principles which would help you to
produce readable and concise reports are:
1. Use active verbs
2. Be specific
3. Be Direct
4. Avoid Jargon
5. Avoid redundancy
6. Drop unnecessary details
7. Tighten up
8. Use Graphics
• How do you understand these principles?
 Active Verbs
• are clearer and do not hide the doer and its achievements
in the brush at the end of the sentence.
• are more direct and penetrate the reader’s mind more
easily.
Examples: -
• The latrines were built by the community. (passive)
• The community built the latrines. (active)
• A total of 35 field visits were carried out by staff during this
six month period. (passive)
• The staff carried out a total of 35 field visits during this six
month period. (active)
Specific
•Use definite and specific subjects, not vague, generalized ones, and

•Minimize or avoid catch-all nouns.

•The patient had a high fever.
•The patient had a fever of 103˚F.
Be Direct
•Many report writers take pages to clear and fill in background which is in
most cases unnecessary.
•We need to go directly to the main points in the report.
Avoid Jargon
• Jargon is specialized, often technical, language used
by an organization or in a specific field of work. It is
best to avoid these terms because, most likely, the
reader (and the editor!) will not be as familiar with
them as you are. If you do use jargon, define the
terms.
• unnecessary technical or word jargons which is not
agreeable or convenient to the reader. For instance
words like “utilize”, and “problematic”, can be
replaced with simple words like “use” and ‘difficult”.
Avoid redundancy
Writers always say the same thing in several
different ways
In preparing a report, we should decide as which
is best express our thought and remove out
redundant parts.
Drop Unnecessary Details
Otherwise we are unnecessarily inflate the size
and content of our report
Never offer more details than you need to
achieve your purpose or than your audience cares
about.
Tighten Up

• Make your report sentences and phrases

concise.
• Example 1. “If the local community might be
impacted by this project …”
“If this project affect the local community …”
• Example 2. “ The initiative of … has made
considerable progress on raising income level
of many women”
“ The initiative of …has raised income level of
“x” women”.
Use Graphics
• Include in reports :
- the real pictures & photographs,
- drawings,
- graphs,
- tables and
- lists.

• Photographs and drawings are supposedly

each the equivalent of a thousand words.
Re-writing
• Set your report in order
• Read it out loud and listen for awkward sections
• Ask yourself, “Does this report answers the 3
questions?”
• Who cares? (your audience need)
• So what? (your purpose)
• What have you done and achieved? (your activities
and results)
Re-writing…
 Edit for 1st time readers and check the content

 Rewrite for content remembering to:

 Shorten
 Simplify
 Show results
 Proof read for grammar and spelling errors

 Have another person check it over as well

Step III & IV
Step III: Formatting
•Make your final arrangement of content
•Develop and add all visuals, charts & illustrations
properly
•Add final content (if necessary)
Step IV: Editing and Finalizing
•Make a cursory examination of your draft as a whole
•Consider the title, table of contents, introduction,
discussion/main body and conclusion in relation to one
another
•Send it /submit it to internal and external stakeholders
Discussion Questions
1. What are the types of reports produced by
your Organization?

2. Who is responsible to produce these reports?

3. What do you think are the qualities and gaps

of these reports? How did you identify these
gaps?

4. What do you suggest to improve these gaps ?

Types of reports
Funders often require four types of communication, in
addition to regular financial information:
•Events and incident reports
•Written progress reports (quarterly and annual)
•Evaluation reports (baseline, midterm, and end line)
•Final performance report
Use the following steps to determine the most
appropriate communication tools for your organization
or project’s needs.
1.Identify your audiences’ information needs. For each
audience, ask yourself what key information you want
to communicate.
2.Determine how you will report to each audience by
selecting a tool/format that best suits the information
you want to convey. Think about their primary interest
in the organization/project to help you decide on the
data to report.
3.Review your information database and identify what
data you have to address that interest.
Reporting Schedule
Type of Person Time Informatio Reviewe Submitter Submitted
report writing frame n source rs to
the
report
M & E Reports

M & E reports are tools through which we know

what happened (the progress) or what we got
from program/project activities (achievements).

• Monitoring report focuses on what goes into a

project/program, the process undertaken and its
out puts

• Evaluation report focuses on what we got from

the development intervention (performance &
achievements attained)
Qualities of M & E Reports
• well planned,
• systematic and
• presented in simple, clear and logical
manner
PROGRESS/MONITORING REPORT
 Whoever approved your project will want to keep
informed regularly.

 Progress reports are probably the most common

and most important format an organization has for
conveying information about a project to its donor,
partners and other important stakeholders.
 A monitoring report is used primarily to
communicate with the senior management about
the status of the project.
 It is especially important to provide early warning
signals on any significant current or potential
implementation issues and concerns and to get
attention, support and response for things that are
succeeding and those where difficulties are
arising
When do we prepare progress reports?

• The reporting time depends on the type of recipient

and initial agreement

• In most cases progress reports are prepared on

quarterly and annual basis (rarely on monthly basis)
Scope & Layout of Progress
Reports
• Progress reports should focus on presenting in a concise
format the advances (or lack thereof) made on a project
during a specific quarter.

• What do you think are the major components of progress

reports?
Generic Outline for Quarterly and Annual Progress
Reports

1. Executive summary or highlights

2. Introduction/program background
3. Key achievements (qualitative progress)
4. Key achievements (quantitative progress)
5. Other performance monitoring updates
6. Constraints, opportunities, and lessons
learned
7. Administrative review
8. Progress on funder priorities
9. Following quarter’s work plan
 A good report:
• Focuses on results and accomplishments within the
context of the project
• Assesses performance over the past reporting period,
using established indicators, schedules, baselines, and
targets
• States explicitly whether and how much progress or
results surpassed, met, or fell short of expectations and
why
• Specifies actions to overcome problems and accelerate
performance, where necessary
• Explains the influence of comparative performance by
objectives on the resources needed
• Identifies the need to adjust resource allocations,
indicators, or targets, where necessary
• Discusses the way forward for programming
FINANCIAL REPORTS
 1. OBJECTIVES OF FINANCIAL
REPORTS
• Measuring tool: to evaluate effectiveness in resource
usage
• Basis for planning: to plan for the future
• Decision making tool: to make informed decision
making
• Communication tool: to communicate/exchange
information with stakeholders
• Evidence of compliance: to abide with donor/legal
requirements
 2. CLASSIFICATION OF FINANCIAL
REPORTS
• Financial performance
• Revenue & Expenditure Report
• Budget utilization report
• Financial position of an organization
• Balance Sheet
• Status reports
• Cash position
• Bank reconciliation
 3. CLASSIFICATION OF FINANCIAL RPORTS
• Timeframe
• Interim Financial Reports (IFRs)
• Project oriented
• Formats depend on user requirements
• Non-standardized
• Annual/Audited financial reports
• Standardized – IFRS/FASB…
• To be audited by public accountant
4. WHO NEEDS FINANCIAL
REPORTS?
• WHY?
4. WHO NEEDS FINANCIAL REPORTS?
Who needs
Why do they need it?
information?
Project staff • To know how much resources are available and what
has been spent so far
Executives • Keep an eye on whether project funds are being used as
planned
• To help plan for the future
Finance Staff • To make sure that there is enough money to run
programs
Board • To assess overall financial performance
Donors • To make sure grants are being used as agreed and
project objectives are being fulfilled
• To decide whether to fund the organization in the future
 4. WHO NEEDS FINANCIAL REPORTS?
Who needs
Why do they need it?
information?
Government • To make sure that the NGO does not abuse it status as a
Institutions ‘not for profit’ organisation.

Project • To know what it costs to provide the services they are

Beneficiaries benefiting from and to decide if this is good value for their
community.

The general • To know what the NGO raises and spends during the year
public and what the money is used for
 5. CHARACTERISTICS OF FINANCIAL
REPORTS
QUALITATIVE
•Relevance
•Understandability
•Reliability
•Verifiability
•Timeliness
•Comparability
•Consistency
6. FINANCIAL REPORTS
HOW TO READ A FINANCIAL REPORT
•Tips to understand financial reports:
• Read/see summary reports before the details
• Understand the report headings
• Name of reporting unit
• Project name
• Type of report
• Period
• Determine your expectation based on the heading
• Understand the body structure
• Carefully read column and row headings
• Focus on rounded figures rather than the details
• Read narrative/activity reports along with the financial report
6. FINANCIAL REPORTS

• Common types of financial reports

• Expenditure forecast and cash requirement
• Sources and uses of fund statement
• Actual expenditure vs. budget reports
• Budget utilization report
• Notes to financial reports
 THANK YOU!

ANY QUESTIONS?