COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS AND COST EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Course Description

A solid cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is an essential component of a business case used to ensure sound decisions when spending organizational resources. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is an effective way to evaluate a project and quantify the relationships among a project’s inputs, outputs and purpose. It permits you to not only assess the long-term impact of proceeding with (or not proceeding with) a project, but enables you to directly compare different types of projects. The analytic focus of a CBA can range from a single farm to a country-wide project.   By participating in this course, students will understand the purpose and benefits of CBA in project design; learn the tools, techniques and requirements to conduct a CBA for developments projects; and interpret and use CBA results to inform the project design and evaluation process. Discussion topics include

• Target setting
• Project design
• Logical frameworks
• Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS)
• Risk and sensitivity analysis

This module addresses the application of the techniques of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis to evaluate a variety of programs, both in the US and in developing countries.  Both theoretical foundations and applications of these techniques in economic appraisal will be presented. These techniques are critical for researchers and policy makers in many sectors.  The module uses interactive discussions and computer exercises where students will learn to perform cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses and apply the techniques to a problem of their choice

Key Features

Target Group

• Project design specialists
  • Economists
  • Researchers and Policy Makers

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

• Understand the context for developing a cost-benefit analysis.
• Define types of costs and benefits.
• Utilize various financial analysis tools.
• Gain familiarity with all techniques and concepts needed to complete a cost-benefit analysis of a development project.
• Be able to identify the types of data needed to complete a CBA.
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and know how to use it throughout the project cycle.