What the work plan has to do
On most donor-funded projects the AWPB is prepared each year, approved by the steering committee or ministry, and often sent to the financier for review or no-objection. Your financing agreement or project implementation manual says whether that is required and by when. Once approved, it becomes the budget column in your financial reports and the source of your procurement plan.
A good AWPB answers five questions for each line: what will be done, by whom, with what inputs, at what cost, and when.
Recommended structure
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Component / sub-component | As named in the financing agreement or project appraisal document. |
| Activity code | A stable code, e.g. 1.2.3. Keep codes unchanged across years so actuals can be compared. |
| Activity description | One clear sentence. Avoid "support to…" with no output. |
| Implementing unit | PMU, line department, district office or partner. |
| Input | What is bought: training days, vehicles, consultant months, works. |
| Unit and quantity | Unit of measure and number of units. |
| Unit cost | Cost per unit, with the source (quotation, past contract, government rate). |
| Total cost | Quantity × unit cost. |
| Q1–Q4 phasing | Amount expected to be spent in each quarter. Must add up to the total. |
| Financing source | Financier, co-financier or counterpart, with the share if split. |
| Expenditure category | The disbursement category from the financing agreement. |
| Procurement method link | The procurement plan reference, or "not procured" for items such as allowances. |
| Indicator link | The results framework indicator the activity contributes to. |
| Responsible person | A named role, not just a unit. |
Bottom-up costing
Cost each activity from its inputs, then add up. Do not start from a component envelope and divide it.
Example with fictional figures: a district training costs 3 days × 25 participants × 40 (allowance per participant-day) = 3,000, plus venue 3 days × 150 = 450, plus facilitator 3 days × 200 = 600. Activity total 3,450, phased 0 / 3,450 / 0 / 0.
Record where each unit cost comes from. When the financier asks, "how did you get 40?", the answer should already be on the line.
Common mistakes
- Lump sums with no inputs. "Workshop: 10,000" cannot be checked or monitored.
- Phasing that ignores procurement time. Spending planned for Q1 on a contract that cannot be signed before Q3.
- Activity codes that change each year. You lose the ability to compare plan and actual across years.
- Lines missing from the procurement plan. Or procurement plan items with no AWPB line.
- Wrong category. Costs charged to a disbursement category that does not allow them, or one that is already fully committed.
- No indicator link. Spending you cannot connect to a result is hard to defend at mid-term review.
- Revisions with no history. An overwritten spreadsheet cannot show what was approved.
Checklist before approval
In projectsmanager.ai
The annual work plan module holds each line with its code, inputs, quantity, unit cost, phasing, financing source and indicator link. Totals are calculated, not typed. Lines go through an approval workflow, and each revision is kept in the audit trail, so you can show what was approved and when. Approved lines become the budget column in IFRs. Linking lines to a procurement method is part of procurement method selection, which is in development.