The information used in an occupational development project

The information used in an occupational development project will be similar to that used in planning but in more details. This information includes of: -

1. Market’s consumption: before taking up any careers, one will have to explore the conditions and needs of the community; for examples, number of children, adult, female, and elderly in the community, their occupations, status, average income, living conditions, which product or service is popular and whether there are competitors supplying such product / service or not, and how to differentiate the product. Such information can be obtained by asking and observing from statistical data provided by both government and private institutes, in order to see whether the investment is worthwhile or not.

2. Readiness in occupation: when choosing a career, one must consider his readiness in the following aspects.

2.1 Knowledge and capability relating to the job, by considering what aspect of knowledge and capability will be required, to what extent the entrepreneur possesses such knowledge, and how to learn more about the knowledge that is needed.

2.2 Location of business: some occupations rely heavily on the location of business; for examples, an agriculturist requires a large area of land and a trader needs a good location in the community center.

2.3 Fund: how much will be used to carry on the career, whether such fund is sufficient or not, and how to find it.

2.4 Tools and materials: what tool and material will be used, do they exist, and where to buy them.

2.5 Colleagues: how many colleagues required, who they are, what are their capability, and what kind of job should be assigned.

Obtaining information to write an occupational development project

There are various ways to obtain information to write an occupational development project. The learner may choose one or many of the following approaches.

1. From document and textbook: this includes books, yearbooks, books of reference, newspapers, and reports.

2. From media such as television and radio programs.

3. From government agencies: these agencies can provide interesting information such as retail-wholesale prices, production volume, and characteristics of the product needed by market. These agencies include Department of Agriculture Extension, Office of Commerce, and Department of Industrial Promotion.

4. From experts in the community: by asking experts such as village leaders, teachers, and technocrats.

5. From survey: one might survey the community by himself to obtain clear and correct information such as surveying the product selling prices by asking from various sellers.

6. From observation such as observing the seller who could sell more products than others.

7. From interview: this approach can be used to obtain details such as method and technique to make a dumpling. Interviewing generally takes more time than other approaches, so it is necessary to prepare the topic prior to the interview to obtain completed information.

Writing an occupational development project

Project is a process to relatively determine details of work to systematically control work in an occupation.

In writing an occupational development project, things to list down in details include:

1) Project name

The project’s name must be clear, specific, and easy to understand such as chicken farming project and banana tree growing project.

2) Principle and reason

This is a presentation of reason, necessity, importance, and origin of the project. The writer must identify conditions of the problem, reason and necessity of the project, as well as providing supporting information such as statistical information from government agencies, problems of the community, or policies from central or local government, all of which have to indicate the benefit in running such project or the disadvantage if such project does not happen.

3) Objective

Objective clearly shows the needs or outcome of specific action and it must be measurable. A project may consist of one or more than one objectives.

4) Target

Target setting is a determination of project outcome in advance, to see what can be expected from the project. Target setting can be done in 2 ways:

(1) Quantitative target is a determination of the outcome in terms of quantity such as how many pieces, people, books, places and etc.

(2) Qualitative target is a determination of output quality such as what benefits and values of output from the project are, and etc.

5) Method of operation

This includes the details of mission to achieve the project objective, so in planning the method of operation, one must consider to:

(1) Classify the work into sub-activities and clearly prioritize them, starting from the beginning to the end.

(2) Determine the timeframe for each activity in the form of working calendar.

After completing the working schedule, one will have to check the readiness of production factor, worker knowledge and capability, labor, capital, and distribution channel that is related to the occupation. This can be done by examining the list according to the table below.

6) Duration

This involves a determination of working period from the beginning to the end such as from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010.

7) Budget

Determining budget is the process to show how the money or valuable asset will be used. One must clearly clarify how much the money will be used in each item such as in labor, transportation, and tool and material. The completed budgeting process requires an estimation of expected income in order to create flexibility in occupation management and to balance the budget with the expense. The example of budget determination is provided below.

8) Network

Network refers to any government and private agencies, groups of individuals, and academic sources that promote, support, and arrange activities that support each other. In identifying the list of network, one must clearly indicate who is in such network and how they are involved in such project.

9) Evaluation and report the project outcome

This involves how to evaluate the project and by which method. Project evaluation can be classified into 3 phrases including:

1. Pre-project evaluation: this is an evaluation of the readiness of relevant factors which are investing capital, materials, tools, labor, market, managing systems, proficiency, and alignment with the community to prevent any mistakes at the beginning period.

2. Mid-Term Project evaluation: this involves an evaluation during the implementation of the project to see work in progress, project feasibility, and associated problems or obstacles to find the solutions for them.

3. Post-project evaluation: is an evaluation after the completion of the project to see whether the project achieves its objectives and targets or not, what the reason for that is, and what problems and obstacles are and how to solve them.

Certain approaches can be used in evaluation process and one may use multiple approaches at the same time such as evaluation forms and discussion. This will be done when the project ends according to its timeframe. Then, it is recommended to conclude all the working information as a report to use in the next project or to report to the business owner.

10) Person in charge

This is to identify the person in charge of the project. In case there are more than one responsible person, it is recommended to indicate how many people and at what aspect they are responsible for.

11) Relationship with other projects

This is to identify how this project can support or is related to other projects. Moreover, this is an examination whether the project duplicates others or not.

12) Expected outcome

It involves a determination of any output that may occur when the project has finished, as well as other outcomes that may occur in the future.