Report writing tasks

Depending on your position at WHO, you may write various types of structured documents like notes, reports, or proposals. Some of these documents, like trip or short progress reports, are relatively straightforward with a predetermined structure. Others, such as programme and evaluation reports, donor reports and proposals, are of sufficient scope and complexity to warrant a multi-step process of planning, drafting, and revising. This module focuses on a process for writing such documents in order to equip you with the strategies and skills that will help you write more efficiently and effectively.

Reports and proposals each have their unique characteristics and styles, and these characteristics and styles vary depending on the audience for the report or proposal. However, the process for writing these is largely the same. They are working documents. The sooner the reader knows the main ideas, the more useful the document is. If you keep this thought in mind, you will find the task of developing an effective document—one that does the job—much more achievable.

The purpose of this module, then, is to equip you with useful tools with which to produce effective structured documents in the future.

© WHO 2011