Books · papers · media · since 2007

Books and publications

Methodological guides written by IMACON partners; manuals by other authors that we edited, translated or adapted; papers presented at professional conferences; and work our partners published in other outlets. Everything on this page is free to read and download.

Most editions were published in Russian or Belarusian for the regional civil-society audience. For institutional republication or translation rights, write to [email protected].

Our publications

Books authored by IMACON partners.

Edition: Russian

IMACON Model: Project Appraisal, Monitoring, Organisational Development

Authors: Sergei Gotin, Uladzislau Vialichka

A practitioner’s methodology for the systematic appraisal of project proposals, with a primary focus on grant-funded initiatives of non-governmental organisations. The IMACON Model lets managers of sub-granting programmes run a comprehensive review of a proposal: surface weaknesses in the concept, recommend specific revisions before the funding decision, anticipate implementation risks and visually compare competing applications. Useful for heads of organisations and project managers preparing competitive proposals, and for donors selecting the best proposals for support.

Download PDF 2013 · Vilnius · ISBN 978-609-420-306-0

Edition: Russian

Logical Framework Approach and its application in the analysis and planning of activities

Authors: Sergei Gotin, Viktoria Kalosha

A working manual on the Logical Framework Approach — the methodology widely used in the European Union for the design, implementation and planning of projects and programmes of non-profit organisations. Written for managers and staff of civic organisations and initiatives, local authorities, and education and social-sector institutions that use a project approach and want to develop international cooperation. Published within a project supporting capacity development and networking between civic associations and local authorities.

Download PDF 2007 · 2nd edition 2008 · Moscow · 118 pages · ISBN 978903360055

Edition: Russian

Organisational Viability Toolkit: a practical approach to the organisational development of environmental civil-society organisations

Authors: Uladzislau Vialichka, Sergei Gotin

A practice-oriented guide to organisational development, commissioned by the Regional Environmental Center with financial support from Sida. Organisational viability is a constant challenge for any organisation that wants to become more effective in achieving its mission; this book continues a series of steps to strengthen civil-society organisations and make them more productive and meaningful for their stakeholders. Built on the authors’ fifteen-plus years of organisational-development work, with theoretical grounding and a methodology tested by several organisations over a full project cycle. Although written for environmental organisations, the tools apply to any organisation that fits the proposed institutional model — and to the managers, executive directors, board members, consultants and trainers who work on organisational development.

Download PDF 2014 · Regional Environmental Center, Szentendre

Publications we helped create

Manuals by other authors that IMACON partners edited, translated or adapted for the region.

Edition: Russian

Creating Change Through Organisational Development

Authors: Sigrid Bergfeldt, Anja-Christina Beier, Kristina Ljungros · Forum Syd
Our role: Russian translation edited by Sergei Gotin

Contributing to change is one of the key tasks of organisations in development cooperation — sometimes the political preconditions themselves must change so that more people can influence their own lives. To succeed, every organisation has to develop in step with the world around it, whether it works locally, nationally or globally, and adapt its organisational model and strategies to the changes happening inside it. This Forum Syd handbook offers concrete advice on how democracy, human rights and the distribution of power within an organisation can be addressed through organisational development. With Forum Syd’s analytical tool “Who has the power?” organisations can check whether they really live by the principles they declare.

Download PDF 2008 · Forum Syd, Sweden · Russian edition · ISBN 978-83-917747-4-8

Edition: Russian

The Just Enough Planning Guide: a roadmap to help non-profits reach their campaign goals

Authors: Spitfire Strategies, USA
Our role: Russian adaptation by IMACON

A simplified adaptation of the project approach to planning, applied to public campaigns. Any adaptation means simplification — leaving out parts of the general methodology and adding real-life examples, typical solutions from a particular field. When that field (public campaigns in Eastern Europe, as opposed to the United States or Western Europe) works differently, typical solutions stop working. So the guide is not only informative reading but an exercise for managers: to keep asking which of the proposed solutions fit local realities and which do not. Read this way, it gives both the essence — a step-by-step algorithm for planning projects and campaigns — and an understanding of how ideas can be adapted to the conditions of public life in the region.

Download PDF 2010s · Russian adaptation

Edition: Belarusian

Logical Framework Approach: the Planning Guide (NORAD)

Authors: NORAD · Samset & Stokkeland
Our role: Belarusian translation by IMACON

Belarusian translation of the classic planning guide developed by a group of NORAD specialists with the consultancy Samset & Stokkeland and first published in 1990. The book is in demand worldwide and has been reprinted several times. The goal-oriented (logical-framework) approach to development it presents as a planning tool is used at every stage of project and programme implementation and remains a foundational text in international development planning.

Download PDF original 1990 · NORAD · Belarusian edition · ISBN 82-7548-170-8

Papers and conference contributions

Papers by IMACON partners presented to the professional community. Where a paper carries a DOI, the DOI is the citable address; where the conference record has gone offline, the files are kept here.

First page of the paper: title, abstract and the three DOIs

2026

Conference paper EN · RU · PL

Navigating Multiple AI Tools Across One Evaluation: A Practitioner’s Four-Level Framework for Responsible AI Integration in Monitoring and Evaluation

Author: Sergei Gotin

gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2026 · plenary panel “AI and Evaluation: From Practice to Provocation” · Tbilisi, Georgia, 3 June 2026

Evaluators rarely meet a single AI tool in a single evaluation — they meet many, across transcription, anonymisation, qualitative coding, document review, statistical scripting and reporting. Drawing on more than two years of integrating AI into EU-, USAID- and BMZ-funded evaluations in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, the paper proposes a four-level framework that sorts AI use by what it touches and what governance it requires, anchored by a single chokepoint: anonymisation.

The hybrid panel in Tbilisi: two participants on stage and, on the screen behind them, the author presenting the slide “Level 1 — Workflow Without Content”. — Photo: HubEVAL

The panel moderator with a microphone; on the screen, the panellists joining remotely and a view of the hall. — Photo: HubEVAL

Language versions and DOI

English — this page’s language PDF ↓ 10.5281/zenodo.21535629 ↗

Русский PDF ↓ 10.5281/zenodo.21535825 ↗

Polski PDF ↓ 10.5281/zenodo.21535863 ↗

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Slide from the talk: the IMACON radar chart of six parameters and the intervention-versus-management bars

2014

Conference paper

IMACON Project Appraisal and Monitoring Tool: approach and field experience

Authors: Uladzislau Vialichka, Sergei Gotin

11th EES Biennial Conference · strand 5, session S 098 “M&E in the public sector” · Convention Centre Dublin, Ireland, 1–3 October 2014

While project evaluation is well served by methodologies and tools, the appraisal of project applications and a manager’s monitoring of implementation are much less equipped — and business-sector approaches transfer poorly to development and civil-society projects. The paper presents the IMACON methodology and its testing on more than 400 projects of 7,000 to 15 million EUR in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, funded by the EU, SIDA, USAID and others.

Materials

Abstract (PDF, 2 pages) PDF ↓

Conference slides (PDF, 22 slides) PDF ↓

Abstract O 303 · EES Abstract Book, p. 205 · in English

External publications

Articles written by our partners for other publications, and features on our work.

DVV International

July 2022

Our article

ALE digitalisation in Asia: Challenge or opportunity? ↗

Author: Uladzislau Vialichka

Findings of the study of digitalisation in adult learning and education that the IMACON–ERUDIO team carried out for DVV International across 47 stakeholders in Palestine, Tajikistan and Cambodia.