Evaluating the Programs and Procedures of Project Planning and Management: the Case of Ethiopia Red Cross Society

The central purpose of the study is to evaluate the programs, project planning and management in Ethiopian Red Cross society and its comparison with procedures of project planning and management system. The study found that Ethiopian Red Cross society has been working on a lot of community development projects in Ethiopia for several decades. Most projects were principally emphasized on disaster and risk reduction. Different organizations use diverse project procedures to achieve the anticipated objectives. This also true for the Ethiopian Red Cross society projects. The Ethiopian Red Cross society had integrated some unique style of project planning and management system in its project. Thus, there was no total departure in the whole system of project development phases. Every cycle of the project life spans are used beginning from the point of concept initiation to final implementation and closure phases.


Background of the Study
The Red Cross originated on an Italian battlefield in 1859. A travelling Swiss business man, Henry Dunant, came across the carnage remaining from the battle and garnered the support of local villagers to care for all the wounded. He outlined the poor conditions and treatment of the war-wounded in his book a memory of Solferino and advocated for neutral volunteer medical personnel to supplement army medical services. A conference in 1863 promoted the protection of those who care for the wounded and it was the time Red Cross was born when he set up the international committee for relief to the wounded that later became the international committee of the Red Cross. The first Geneva Convention offering care for the wounded, and defining medical services as neutral on the battle field (history of red cross: https://www.roteskreuz.at pdf accessed 15/3/2016).
The concept of Red Cross societies was soon adopted by other countries in 1919 in the after math of World War I five national societies: Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States, founded the international federation. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The ICRC also endeavors to prevent suffering by strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. It is originated in Geneva conventions and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. It directs and coordinates the international activities conducted by the movement in armed conflicts and other situations of violence (Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, 2008).
The efforts to establish national Society in Ethiopia was traced back to the Battle of Adwa; Ethio-Italian war of 1896. However, the Geneva Convention was not being ratified by the government of Ethiopia. There were serious concerns among friendly European countries that there would be large number of wounded Ethiopian soldiers in need of medical assistance during the course of the battle due to the unbalanced power and lack of basic first aid services.
The Russian Red Cross medical team arrived in Ethiopia on 5th August 1896 and cared for about 250 wounded returnee soldiers. These humanitarian acts inspired the establishment of Ethiopian Red Cross Doctors Society in 1896 with Empress Taitu Bitul (Ethiopian Red Cross Society ERCS, 2010).
The League of Red Cross Societies (now International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent /IFRC) and British Red Cross Society made various attempts to establish a national society in Ethiopia without much success until the Wal Wal incident of 1934. Before the Wal Wal incident, a few public spirited and far sighted Ethiopians with humanitarian motivation and British nationals living in Addis Ababa had been advising the Ethiopian government on the necessity of establishing a national society. The IFRC recognizing the dangers faced by the Ethiopian armed forces urged the government to ratify the Geneva Convention promptly (Ethiopian Red Cross Society ERCS, 2010).
Establishing a national society for Ethiopia was initiated by Emperor Haile Selassie I before the League of Nations. Due to local initiatives and foreign concerns, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) was established on 8 July 1935 in Addis Ababa. The Society began its involvement in humanitarian services by training and deploying first aid providers and ambulances service to various war fronts.
The ERCS is an independent organization established and recognized by law. It is constituted through a national charter; first charter was enacted in the Negarit Gazzetta in 1947. Since then it is revised and adopted by the Parliament in 1999. This means that the ERCS provides support and plays a supplementary role to the government's humanitarian efforts in alleviating the vulnerability of the people. The President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia is the Patron of the national society (Ethiopian Red Cross Society ERCS, 2010).
As a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, it benefits from partnerships at national and international level through mobilization of resources. The ERCS is governed by its President, Vice-President and 551 other board members. Its national headquarter is situated in Addis Ababa where the secretarygeneral, deputy secretary-generals, program directors, heads of departments, program coordinators, and other support staff members plan, manage and execute the policies and decisions made by the governing board. It has a decentralized structure through regional, Zone, woreda branches and kebele grass root committee throughout the country. Also, religious leaders, youth, women and other community members are included in this office (Ethiopian Red Cross Society ERCS, 2010). The aim of this paper is to review the programs and procedures of project planning and management in Ethiopian Red cross society.

Objectives of the Study
The general objective of the study is to evaluate the programs and procedures of project planning and management in Ethiopia Red Cross Society.
The study specifically intended to:  Analyze main project components in the study area;  Point out the project procedures used by the Ethiopian Red cross society in the study area;  Compare the project components indicated in the literature with the actual practices implemented by Ethiopian Red cross society in the study area;  Distinguish the project activities currently undertaken by Ethiopian Red Cross society in the study area.

Methodology
The paper is organized and compiled through reviewing primary and secondary data sources. The primary sources of data are gathered mainly from key informant interviews with concerned bodies from ERCS head office in Addis Ababa. The secondary source of data was collected from published and unpublished materials such as electronic media, different books, document review, Negarit Gazetta, and magazines was used to conduct the study.

Programs Projects and its Procedures of Ethiopian Red Cross Society
Ethiopian Red Cross society (ERCS) manages and implements four core programs. These are food security & disaster preparedness, health and care initiatives response program HIV/AIDS prevention and control and humanitarian values.
Under these four program activities ERCS under take the following project activities. These are:

Restoring Family Links
The aim of the project is to alleviate mental & psychological suffering of families who have lost contact with their family members as a result of human made (armed conflicts, internal disturbances, etc) and natural disasters by restoring and maintaining the family ties.

HIV/AIDS
Currently, HIV/AIDS projects are underway in Addis Ababa, North Shoa, Jimma, West Shoa, Dire Dawa, Harrari region & Harrarghe Zone, Sidama, Wolaita and Gamo Gofa by the support of Danish and Netherlands Red Cross. A baseline survey was conducted in selected sites of South West Shewa and Sidama zone. Ethiopian Red Cross Society has launched care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS through provide fund in these project areas.

Water and Sanitation
Access to safe water and sanitation is a human right as declared by the United Nations in Nov.2002. Both international and national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are increasingly involved in the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services for health and care interventions.
ERCS in collaboration with Austrian Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross has started water and sanitation project in Assosa Woreda and Mao Komo Woreda in Benishangul Gumuz region (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Inception Report, 2014).

Primary and Emergency Health
ERCS has been active in various primary health care and emergency health interventions. The focus has been on prevention of multi drug resistance tuberculosis (MDRTB) and a two-year MDRTB pilot project is underway in five sub-cities of Addis Ababa in collaboration with the city's health bureau.

Training and Community Capacity Building
ERCS' has training center at Debrezeit road in Addis Ababa which generates income for the society through provision of conference halls, catering, gymnasium and other services to governmental and non-governmental organizations (Ethiopian Red Cross Society, 2004 E.C). To improve the provision of quality & efficient humanitarian services for the community, different types of trainings were provided or delivered by national head quarterstaffs. Accordingly, SDP (self-development project) is a pilot project being implemented at Guragie zone through the assistance of IFRC (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Report, 2015).

Disaster Response
ERCS could be involved in various ways of disaster response depending on the type of hazard leading to emergency situations. At national level, ERCS responds the guidance of Disaster risk management and food security sector (DRMFSS).
Food has been distributed to drought affected people in Seba Boru and Bulie Hora woredas of Oromiya region, Guji-Borena, and distribution of non-food items such as wheat seeds in Moyale. Currently, food security projects are underway in Enderta Woreda of Tigray Region (supported by Swedish Red cross), Menz Gera and Mekdela Woredas of North Shoa and South Wollo Zones with financial support from Spanish Red Cross Society.

Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
This aims to reduce the effects and risks of climate change on vulnerable communities. Several projects have been designed following vulnerability and capacity assessments (VCA) and are now under implementation in North Gonder (supported by Austrian Red Cross), South Gonder & East Harrarghe (assisted by the Netherland Red Cross), and Gambela region (Swedish Red Cross and Austrian Red Cross) (Ethiopian Red Cross Society, 2004 E.C).
In Gambella region the vulnerability and capacity assessments was conducted at community level in order to address the root cause of the existing potential hazards. Such as Jorr and Jikawo is a disaster prone area for both natural and manmade problems via flood, erratic rainfall, internal and external conflict, livestock and human diseases (Ethiopian Red Cross Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment, 2013).

Project Procedures used by the Ethiopian Red Cross Society
Almost all of the project activities undertaken by ERCS are donor based projects, these areas of activities are mainly initiated by donors. So, the first phase of the project design and implementation procedures which is under taken by ERCS is donors application their grant on their needs. Then, the higher official of ERCS is deciding whether to accept or not to accept the donor's grant application form, then the VCA (vulnerability and capacity assessment), which is the problem identification and feasibility study, is under taking by donors and ERCS. The next step is signing the memorandum of understanding between the donors and ERCS, then the baseline study, project proposal, action plan is going through to the implementation stage then monitoring and evaluation followed.
Donors came to ERCS and they apply to fund them on the particular activities and areas, after the high official accept their grant, the project design will start by preparing the grant application form (Ethiopian Red Cross Society, 2004 E.C).

Detail Procedures of Project Designing and Implementation of ERCS is as Follows 2.8.1.1. Phase One; Donors Grant Application
ERCS do not have its own source of fund to undertake different project activities rather it highly depend on foreigner fund donors. Firstly, they need donor's request before engaged in any project activities.
In ERCS, every project is done after they get funds. So the first thing ERCS do in their project designing and implementation is waiting for donors grant application/request/, after then every project design procedures will started.

The Grant Application Form has the Following Component
Generally, the grant application form encloses relevance of the action, description of the action, and its effectiveness and sustainability of the action.
Concept note; the beginning of the grant application form of the ERCS states briefly about: relevance of the action, description of the action and its effectiveness, sustainability of the action Description; the grant application phase discusses some descriptive issues like the title, location, cost of the action and amount requested from the donor agencies, summary, overview, relevance of the action, description of the action and its effectiveness, methodology, duration and indicative action plan for implementing the action, sustainability, and logical framework.
Budget for the Action; ERCS grant application form contains a budget break down which explains necessary amount of money to execute the intended project. The grant proposal must also mention the expected sources of funding and applicant's experience of similar actions.  The applicant; ERCS's grant application shows clear information concerning the applicant's identity.  Partners of the applicant participating in the action; the grant proposal provides clear description of the partners and develops partnership statement.  Associates of the applicant participating in the action  Declaration by the applicant  Declaration of co-financing  Checklist (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Report, 2015).

Phase Two; Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment Procedures
Why Vulnerability and Capacity assessment (VCA)?  To have shared understanding among the ERCS from which they can begin to take actions. The methodology for investigation in gathering information through a participatory way in order to increase community member's awareness of their potential risks and help them to plan activities for reducing vulnerability and increase capacity before a disaster happens.  Support ERCS branch office who serves the vulnerable community.

Procedures for VCA
Introduction: The ERCS's vulnerability and capacity assessment procedure begins with an introduction of the area where the organization is conducting the problem identification and the feasibility study. Under this procedure, general information about the vulnerable population, the severity of the problem under investigation, and potential challenges will be mentioned.
The ERCS's VCA team explains what methodology employed to assess the extent of vulnerability of the project beneficiaries.
The team has applied the following tools in the process of VCA in the selected areas: Pair-wise ranking  seasonal calendar Venn Diagram  Proportional Piling  Secondary information Conducting VCA is to briefly provide background information. Such information as: location of the project intervention area, livelihood of the area and socio-economic status; the VCA team must explain the level of impoverishment and impacts of hazards on the area. As the VCA is providing background information at this procedure, description about demographic features has immense benefit. Agro-ecology intervention area finally also needs to be accurately addressed.
The VCA team then undergoes to develop a statement of problem which shows the severity of the problem. While identifying the problem, the VCA team of the organization need to make sure the level of severity either the magnitude of the problem under investigation is extremely high or relatively better off (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Inception Report, 2014).
On the sixth step, the vulnerability and capacity assessment team presents findings and results. It presents: some potential threats and problems, the effects of the hazard on the community, assessing capacities and resources identifying vulnerabilities.
Stakeholder analysis would be conducted which can provide a deep information regarding the project stakeholders. Finally, the VCA team concludes the report and forwards recommendations.
Depend on the VCA report the ERCS and donors are signing the memorandum of understanding on their shared responsibilities.
After the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is taking place the baseline survey, detailed project proposal, action plan will be prepared.

Phase Three; Base Line Survey
The ERCS is implementing fully the new program without prior possession of a baseline data at hand. The objective of baseline survey is basically to provide accurate baseline data that serves as proper indicator for both monitoring the process of implementation and evaluating the achievements at the end of project life (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Inception Report, 2014).

Phase Four; Project Proposal Procedures
A. The Ethiopian Red Cross and crescent in our case prepares the proposal in the following manner. The proposal begins with stating the project preliminary briefs or general information like: Project title, Project number, Project area, start date of implementation, and end date of implementation. B. The proposal document also lists out the intended objectives set to be achieved through out the life of the project. It must defend about the overall goals and expected impact of the proposed project. In doing so, it states lists of specific objectives and intended final outcomes. C. The third element which the ERC uses in its proposal papers is justification criteria. Since most projects of the ERC are working for the venerable, proposals must show the vulnerability and disaster level in order to wine funds from donors. Therefore, it must display the vulnerability analysis as: disaster risk analysis, disaster risks & trends, root causes of vulnerability, and focus of the project. D. ERC project proposal clearly shows the project location, where the proposed project is going to be implemented. And, it must verify the rational for selection of the project site. E. The project proposal also defends what strategies and methodologies to employ in achieving the final desired objectives of the planned project. It must define logically important strategies to effectively implement the project. In doing so, it must state about: activities to achieve the objectives, direct implementation & networking, innovation, sustainability, cross-cutting issues. F. Capacity building to implement the project -ERCS's project proposals needs to take in to consideration that there should be sufficient capacity to implement the proposed projects. It must assure the availability of skilled man power, necessary logistics and strong institutions. G. The project beneficiaries must also be identified based on a logical rationality and feasibility study. The project beneficiaries are chosen by considering a large number of challenges like: food security challenges, water security challenges, poor community capacities and self-organizations challenges etc. The proposal should briefly describe: target group, number of beneficiaries, and motivation for selection of beneficiaries (Ethiopian Red Cross Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment, 2013). After all the above procedures are met the next important issue of concern in ERCS's project proposal is to think and consider about how to effectively manage. Therefore, the proposal paper discusses the implementation roles and responsibilities of the responsible organ or institution which is going to implement and monitor the phases of success and failure if it gain acceptance.

Phase Five; Implementation 2.8.5.1. Inception Phase
During this phase findings of the project preparation will be verified and cooperation arrangements especially with grass root level will be formally settled an inception workshop will be the milestone marking the start of the implementation phase.

Actual Implementation
This stage will be guided by progress made in the respective communities and it has responsible body for its implementation. The strong involvement of actors at woreda level especially the cooperation of the project implementation team and all aspects of implementation through dedicated project staff.

Phase Six; Procedures of Monitoring and Evaluation 2.8.6.1. Monitoring
Assessing the progress of the project in order to know how well it's functioning against the plan prepared in terms of output and outcomes, providing input for the project implementers on points that need to be improved & to draw lessons that could help for future project life and existing similar projects in the society (Ethiopian Red Cross Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment, 2013).
Questions for monitoring tools are prepared and discussion with branch staffs on project implementation status was made so as to identify the strength, weakness and challenges faced on implementation process. The team together with branch and resource development division head have conducted monitoring visit at the project implementation areas/sites from specific implementation area to ERCS zonal branch office The ERCS uses the following procedures to monitor the undergoing project implementations. The monitoring report contains among other things: Background information, objectives of the monitoring visits members of the monitoring team methodologies applied, monitoring activities undertaken, project output visited, finding and analysis, what is project activities accomplished, gaps observed on project implementation and conclusion and recommendation.

Evaluation
The inception evaluation is conducted after the starting of the first year of project implementation. It helps to review the first period of the project progress.
The interim or midterm evaluation is done at the mid-way of the project period. This exercise helps to review the progress in term of what are being achieved with regard to expected effects, therefore on the basis of reviews the corrective measures are taken. Terminal or completion evaluation is generally done at the end of project period and it is usually taken to indicate what has been achieved by the project funding sources.
ERCS final evaluation report comprises; i. The methodologies to be applied for the review meeting include:- Observation  Focus Group Discussion  Presentation  Plenary Discussion-was made on the outcome, limitations and future directions of similar projects implementation after presentation. ii. Analysis of the Report  Relevancy of the project

Phase Seven; Phase Out
After the final evaluation of the project, ERCS, donors and stakeholders have review meeting session together to close the project.
Project closure involves releasing the final deliverables to the community, handing over project documentation to the government organization, releasing project resources and communicating the closure of the project to all stakeholders.
ERCS limitation after the project closure is to conduct post evaluation. Almost all projects done by ERCS's were not evaluated sustainability and impact of the project after some period of time (Ibid).

Introduction
Project planning and management procedures applied in different organizations share almost similar features. But this does not mean that all organizations use a universally agreed and fixed procedure. The procedures and strategies are very dynamic in which each of the respective project implementing organizations can adopt flexible project designs in a way that enable them to achieve the intended objectives. This holds true for the ERCS project planning and management procedure. Procedures and strategies uses.

Project Conception and Initiation Phase
An idea for a project will be carefully examined to determine whether or not it benefits the organization. During this phase, a decision making team will identify if the project can realistically be completed.
During the first of these phases, the initiation phase, the project objective or need is identified; this can be a business problem or opportunity. An appropriate response to the need is documented in a business case with recommended solution options. A feasibility study is conducted to investigate whether each option addresses the project objective and a final recommended solution is determined. Issues of feasibility and justification are addressed.
In contrast to the initiation phase found in literature, the ERCS does not directly conduct a feasibility study to develop a project proposal rather it's only when donor agencies request to work with the organization on a place where they are interested. After donors recommend a place to conduct project the ERCS assesses the area to select the most vulnerable part of the community. The Ethiopian Red Cross Society then signs binding agreement with volunteer donor groups called memorandum of understanding (MoU). At this phase both the ERCS and donors deal about issues like: security, costs of the project, accessibility of the area and availability of human and physical resources.
Another unique procedure used in the ERCS is the vulnerability and capacity assessment phase. After the organization agreed with donors a pre-feasibility study would be conducted. The purpose of VCA procedure is mainly to evaluate the level of vulnerability of the local people on the project area and helps predict possible impact of the proposed project on the lives of the beneficiaries (Ethiopian Red Cross Society, 2004 E.C).

Project Preparation and Formulation
The next phase, the planning and formulation phase, is where the project solution is further developed in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project's objective are planned. In this step, the team identifies all of the work to be done. The project's tasks and resource requirements are identified, along with the strategy for producing them. This is also referred to as scope management. A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks, dependencies, and time frames.
A project plan, project charter and/ project scope may be put in writing, outlining the work to be performed. During this phase, a team should prioritize the project, calculate a budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed.
The ERCS's project planning and management second phases, parallel to preparation and formulation phase of the literature are conducting baseline survey and writing up project proposal steps. They carry out a base line survey which could help the organization to be more effective during the implementation phase. Based on the data from baseline survey, the ERCS develops project proposal. The proposal has two phases; action plan phase and the final detailed plan. The basic difference between the two phases is mainly their application while the project is implementing. The organization uses an action plan on the initial stage of the project implementation while the detailed plan is used as the leading document which determines the overall the project life time (Ethiopian Red Cross Society, 2004 E.C).

Implementation/Execution Phase
Regarding actual project with theoretical project implementation stage comparison has done in the following process. According to American Red Cross Society Services ARCSS (2006) project implementation, monitoring put after needs assessment and stakeholder analysis, problem analysis, selecting project interventions, log frame and proposal writing, respectively. Moreover, other literature indicated in the review project executing or implementing which comes after project planning which mainly consists outlining the activities, resource, financial, quality, risk, communication, and procurement plan. Then after implementing these plans whereas ERCS organization implementation stage comes next to donor request, vulnerability and capacity assessment, base line, and project proposal, respectively. Due to different methods of project design cycle in the literature, there is no single accepted procedure until implementation phase. In order to know implementation stage according to the literature review which makes confusion but in the actual organization which is easy to understand how we arrive implementation phase and has its own unique procedure set always after project proposal. In addition, in the actual organization before implementation so many detailed activity but in the literature general procedure and other point what makes difference ERCS employs base line survey as the initial data source to decide for future implementation of projects. Generally, to achieve implementation of project in ERCS concrete as compared to literature review (Ethiopian Red Cross Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment, 2013).
Actual organization implementation and review literature implementation phase are similar through considering implementation of the project which is not an overnight program me rather there are so many procedures are undertaken before it. Moreover, according to American Red Cross Society Services ARCSS (2006) procedure implementation phase similar with ERCS. Both take in to account need assessment, stakeholder analysis, problem analysis, intervention area, and proposal writing leads to implementation phase follows evaluation stage. Likewise, implementation phase working as a project team (Karlos et al., 2012) and also ERCS implementation phase conducted based on team, project staff and cooperation with branch zone, woreda, etc here theory associated with practice.
Furthermore, during implementation there is monitoring. In the literature according to United Nations Development Program (2009) monitoring can be ongoing process by which stakeholders obtain regular feedback on the progress. ERCS provide input for the project implementers on points that need to be improved. As stated (International Labor Organization ILO, 2010) monitoring involves collection, analysis and communication concerning the progress of the project and outputs achieved. It identifies actual and potential success or failures as early as possible. ERCS prepared questions for monitoring, discussion by branch division head with project team on project implementation status; what project accomplished and gabs on implementation identified by monitoring report. Therefore, monitoring activity in literature review and ERCS has similar target and its main objectives to identify the progress of the project and its implementation. So that monitoring go hand in hand with implementation phase as well as used as clue for evaluation of the project.

Evaluation
Evaluation helps to measure effectiveness and efficiency during and after implementation. It seeks to measure the causal effect of the scheme on planned outcomes and impacts and assessing whether the anticipated benefits have been realized, how this was achieved, or if not, why not. Based on the size of the projects the evaluation schedule also varies. Small projects carryout final evaluation, however big projects schedule the evaluation at midterm, final and post-antae to assess the outcomes, impacts and sustainability of the projects after termination.
Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), currently use midterm and final evaluation. The ERCS project monitoring review meeting process involves the following.
 Observation  Focus Group Discussion  Presentation-the overall performances of the project presentation  Plenary discussion-was made on the outcome, limitations and future directions (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Report, 2015). In most literature the monitoring of the projects based on the following criteria:  Relevance; objectives of an operation are consistent with beneficiaries' needs, country needs, organizational priorities, and partners' and donors' policies  Adequacy; assessment of the adequacy and timeliness of inputs in relation to carrying out the activities  Efficiency; a measure of how economically inputs (funds, expertise, time, etc.) are converted to outputs  Effectiveness; the operation's objectives were achieved, or expected to be achieved, taking into account their relative importance  Outcome; the medium-term results of an operation's outputs  Impact; positive and negative, intended or unintended long-term results produced by directly or indirectly  Sustainability; the continuation of benefits from operation after major assistance has been completed The ERCS final evaluation analysis report includes the following issues; relevancy, efficiency, effectiveness, outcome/contribution, best practices, and limitation of the project.
ERCS midterm evaluation has been conducted to assess the performance of the project's ongoing activities as per the organization, donor's objective attainment and whether the project properly addressed the beneficiary society.
The final evaluation followed by the phase-out of the project takes place by the participation of organization, donor's and concerned stakeholders to discuss the intended projects relevancy, efficiency, effectiveness, its outcomes, limitation and best practices learned from the projects intervention to assist future direction of similar project implementation (Ethiopian Red Cross Society Report, 2015).

Conclusion
In today's dynamic world, successful project management activities are required to exist in global competition. There is no one way of project management approach to apply and different organizations use various approaches to project management as per the contexts of their business objective, goal and mission. However, the project management literatures show that there are four project management phases applied by organizations. These are project initiation, project planning, project execution, and project closure.
This study focuses on review the overall project planning and management activities of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) with the literature currently used to administer projects from the beginning to the end. The ERCS project activities mainly are food security & disaster preparedness/response program, health and care initiatives, humanitarian values and HIV/AIDS prevention and control. In order to carry out these social development responsibility ERCS used the following project procedures; grant application/request, vulnerability and capacity assessment, base line survey, project proposal, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and phase out. ERCS elaborates each phases to fit the organization, donors objectives in line with beneficiaries needs.
Our study finds that the ERCS project design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation process similar with the project management literature most organizations followed to maximize the objective success at the end of the project.
The assessment study identified the project activities also incorporated the relevancy; adequacy, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and outcome and sustainability issue are basic issues for any project to exist. The ERCS project objectives and missions included the above all except the sustainability issue after the termination of projects. The projects long-term impacts are not getting attention in the organization.
As mention in many literature project is dynamic and need coordinated efforts of management, employees, materials, budget, information and technology. The limitation of its design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation determine its failure or success the project. Therefore, to alleviate the above limitation the organization should work on the capacity building of project managers and implementers.

Recommendations
Based on the analysis and comparison on procedures of project designs which found in literature with actual procedures applied by the ERCS, the researcher would like to recommend the following points for the Ethiopian Red Cross society.
 Project areas are selected based on donor agencies' interest which could lead to ineffectiveness of projects to achieve intended goals. Therefore, the ERCS need to develop competence to convince donors about the proper project locations.  The ERCS should conduct project impact and sustainability assessment after projects are closed in which this organization lacks culture of post evaluation on the impacts of projects on the lives of the beneficiary.  The ERCS should build up project closure criteria for donors.  The ERCS need to solve problems of communication and coordination failure between the zonal and district branch offices of the Red Cross society.  The organization must hunt for different sources of funds by self initiation instead of waiting them to come with their proposal to solve the problem of financial dependency of limited donor groups and avoid project delay.