TPP Project Management Toolkit
Welcome to the Toolkit
Effective project management is an essential ingredient to the success of any Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) project; it enables projects to run smoothly, prevent and manage risks, continuously improve, and support staff and partners so they can serve youth to the best of their abilities. Watch the video below and download the transcript for an overview of the toolkit.
This toolkit includes best practices, templates, and other guidance and resources that TPP project leadership can use to plan, organize, monitor, and improve their TPP project. Ultimately, this toolkit can help project leadership:
- Reach their project goals on time, with high quality, and within budget
- Anticipate and adapt to shifting needs, priorities, and environments
- Achieve key expectations of TPP grant funding
| Note: This toolkit is designed to support TPP projects with project management; it is not a comprehensive guide to complying with project management-related TPP grant expectations. Please check MAX.gov for up-to-date TPP grant requirements and reporting guidelines. |
Each section of this toolkit describes an important aspect of TPP projects that needs to be managed. Think of this toolkit as a choose your own adventure. Whether you’re a new TPP project leader who needs to develop systems from scratch or a seasoned project leader looking for help with one component of project management (or you’re somewhere in between)—this toolkit is for you. Use the resources in any order and at any time in your project’s life cycle, based on your needs and priorities.
| Keep in mind: If your project would benefit from hands-on project management guidance that builds on this toolkit, you can request technical assistance from the RHNTC! Reach out to your RHNTC grantee liaison or submit a TA request on RHNTC.org. |
When TPP projects take time to think through and organize their work upfront, they can operate efficiently and devote more energy to youth programming. The action steps and resources in this section can help you: stay organized, prioritize activities that support your desired outcomes, mitigate risk and pivot when the unexpected happens, and see at a glance what you’ve achieved and where you’re going. Having a solid work plan can also pay off down the line; pulling together progress reports is more straight-forward when you know what activities to report on and who can provide details on each activity.
Build or revise your work plan, making sure to include project goals, objectives, activities, a timeline (including report deadlines), and measures of success.
(Your work plan is a roadmap for how you’ll achieve your desired outcomes.)
TPP Program Work Plan Template and Guidance
Periodically forecast potential risks and identify risk mitigation strategies.
Forecasting and Mitigating Project Risks
Prioritize the activities in your work plan so that you don’t tackle too much at once.
Prioritization Matrix
Investing in your TPP staff is a win-win: Only when they feel supported, fulfilled, and well-resourced can they commit to your TPP project and give youth the attention and guidance they deserve. Use the action steps and resources in this section to recruit and hire quality staff; show staff you value them; and give staff what they need to feel prepared and effective. Use them in whatever order makes sense for your leadership approach and where you are in the life cycle of your project.
Assess the skills and expertise needed to carry out your project and build a professional development plan.
Professional Development Guidance for TPP Projects
Use a system to manage and track ongoing training and other professional development activities. (Tip: The RHNTC’s Training Tracking System includes sample training lists you can use as a starting point.)
Using the Training Tracking System for TPP Projects Toolkit
Hire the right staff (and establish the right partnerships) for your project needs. As new needs emerge, hire additional staff or forge new partnerships to fill gaps in skills or expertise.
Employing and Retaining the Best Facilitation Staff for Adolescent Sexual Health Programs Guide
Onboard new staff to set them up for success.
TPP Program Orientation for New Program Staff eLearning
Create an environment in which staff feel valued and supported. Consider using an energy board with each team member so that you can identify tasks they find energizing and redistribute tasks they find draining.
Both Tier 1 and Tier 2 TPP grantees need other stakeholders—like implementation partners, innovation development teams, and other consultants—to be successful and maximize their impact. Use any resources below that make sense for the type of partnerships you want to forge or nurture.
Build and maintain strong partnerships that contribute to project success.
Partnership Tips and Tracking Template
Identify ways to meaningfully engage youth as partners.
Meaningful Youth Engagement in TPP Programs Webinar
Whereas a budget outlines your TPP project’s financial plan, a cash flow projection identifies whether your project spending aligns with this plan. Both tools are essential to stay on top of project spending and make smart upfront investments in project essentials—like staff and materials—while also keeping enough cash on hand in case you need to pivot.
Even if your project is relying on others, like your organization’s finance team, to manage your finances, it’s important for you to be in the loop. Develop a relationship with them so you can stay informed and feel prepared to make decisions when needed.
Plan and track your expenses with a program expense budgeting tool. Consider updating or re-creating the budget from your grant application so it reflects the details of your actual project.
StrongNonprofits Toolkit: Budgeting (Wallace Foundation)
Project costs at various points in the year to ensure you have enough funds to cover them. Or, if you have a surplus, plan for drawing down funds at the end of your grant cycle.
StrongNonprofits Toolkit: Cash Flow (Wallace Foundation)
Every TPP project needs to communicate with stakeholders throughout their project: to recruit participants, get parent/caregiver and partner buy-in, reinforce health messages with youth, share results and learnings, and more. The resources in this section can help your project think strategically about communication and dissemination, and create content that resonates with your various audiences.
Develop a communication plan that reflects your audiences and objectives.
Communication Planning 101: How To Reach Your TPP Audiences Webinar
Develop an elevator pitch to efficiently (and effectively) describe the value of your project.
Develop an Elevator Pitch to Engage Caregivers Job Aid
Even the most well-thought out and expertly implemented TPP project has room for improvement and faces unforeseen challenges that require problem solving. By embedding reflection, continuous quality improvement (CQI), and innovation into your work, you can seize opportunities to make your project more impactful.
Use CQI practices, like root cause analyses and Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycles, to iterate so that you can better meet your project goals. (For a CQI deep dive, check out the RHNTC’s CQI eLearning course.)
It's tempting to put off efforts to strengthen program sustainability—such as securing funding, growing partnership networks, or engaging the community—until the end of the funding period. But sustainability efforts are most successful when they’re thought through early and integrated into ongoing program activities. This section provides guidance and tools to help you meet the TPP grant expectation of sustainability so that your program can continue to make a positive impact even after your TPP funding cycle ends.
Become familiar with OPA’s sustainability framework.
OPA Framework for Program Sustainability (Nov. 2017)
Use the first Sustainability in Practice meeting package to develop a sustainability plan that guides your efforts. (For more hands-on guidance on achieving sustainability, check out the full Sustainability in Practice: Team Meeting Series.)
Sustainability in Practice Meeting Package 1: Strategize & Assess
Reporting is an opportunity to showcase what your project has done, achieved, and learned to funders and other key stakeholders. Use the guidance and tools in this section to create reports that remind funders why they invest in your work.
Draft concise, readable, and effective reports.
How to Write a Good Report
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