This module is about financial and economic appraisal of projects. The project is a very specific element of the public policy and management mix. It normally consists of an investment that is the creation of an asset which will generate benefits, financial and non-financial over a period of more than one year. This is not universally applicable as a working definition, as ‘project’ is often used to describe a set of discrete activities that do not always involve a capital investment, to achieve some specific goals. In this module, however, we will be dealing with capital investments.

This course is both specific and technical, and will enable you to carry out financial and economic appraisals. It will give you enough theory to understand the financial and economic processes involved in such an appraisal, but the emphasis is on practice, with some critique of the methods involved. There are two related courses: Social and Environmental Impact Analysis is specifically concerned with these two aspects of project appraisal, themselves often also a formal requirement as part of the project approval process. The course Evaluation is currently in development, and offers a post-hoc process of assessing whether projects, programs and policies have been successful after implementation.