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Origin of the LogFrame

The Logical Framework Approach was originally created in 1969 by Leon Rosenberg of the management consulting firm Practical Concepts Incorporated (PCI) to help the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) more effectively plan, implement, and evaluate the thousands of development projects in its global multibillion.dollar foreign aid

program.

Projects in developing countries are particularly challenging because

many involve difficult.to.measure

intangibles such as shifting a culture, building institutional capacity, or changing behavior of the rural poor. The ability to bring rigor to complex projects involving intangibles and processes makes the LogFrame well suited to tackle today's challenging projects.

Objectives Success Measures Verification Assumptions Goal

Why?

Purpose

Why?

Outcomes

What?

Inputs How? Who?| When?

FIGURE 5.4 The LogFrame integrates the tactical details of project execution with the project's strategic purpose.

The LogFrame Approach brings clarity to diverse projects, such as improving internal procedures, developing new systems,

streamlining operations, leveraging quality improvement, implementing change initiatives, and other important topics that require a systematic approach. The concepts

scale and flex to accommodate one.

person projects, team efforts, or larger programs or functions.

FOUR CRITICAL QUESTIONS FOCUS OUR THINKING

Since inception, the LogFrame concept has been adapted and revised by many organizations, including international NGOs

(nongovernmental organizations) and government agencies. The author of this article worked with the original LogFrame team and made it easier to use by identifying four strategic questions, the answers to which flesh out a solid design.

The Logical Framework recognizes that every project is part ofa larger system, and we must understand how that larger system affects our effort. At the heart of the methodology is the simple concept of causal thinking, allowing a project to be described as a series of linked hypotheses of the form if.then. The

LogFrame offers a step.by.step

design process based on answering these four critical strategic project

questions:

1. What are we trying to accomplish and why?

2. How will we measure success?

3. What other conditions must exist?

4. How do we get there?

Answers to these questions populate the cells of the Logical Framework, an interactive matrix that helps teams design projects in a way that cOvers all the issues. The questions guide project team conversations. Each question is important, but the first three are often glossed over in the pressure to develop a detailed action plan and begin execution.

CRITICAL QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACcOMPLISH AND

WHY? (OBJECTIVESS)

Think of project strategy as a set of linked objectives of the form if.then.

Project design establishes a series of linked if.then hypotheses or educated

guesses believed to be true.

The LogFrame's first column summarizes project objectives and the logic linking them by recognizing that projects involve four distinct levels of objectives, defined as

follows:

Goal = big.picture strategic intent

Purpose = change or benefit

expected from project

Outcomes = project deliverables od

lf we manage inputs, then we

can produce or deliver

outcomes.

.If we produce or deliver outcomes, then we will achieve a purpose.

.Ifwe achieve a purpose, then we contribute to an important goal.

Or, expressed more succinctly:

.Ifinputs, then outcomes. Ifoutcomes, then purpose. .Ifpurpose, then goal.

The level at which each objective sits in the project's causal hierarchy has a particular and precise meaning. While the choice of words used to define these levels (goal, purpose, outcomes, and inputs) may seem arbitrary, the meaning each term expresses is not. Together, the logic between levels establishes the critical linkage between project tasks and strategic goals.

As previously stated, goal alignment is easily the most important discussion that takes place ona

project. Every project implicitly centers on a set of linked hypotheses, but these are seldom put out on the table for discussion, review, and

improvement. Clearly identifying your underlying hypotheses--the chain of if.then connections-forces

the rigorous thought that leads to shared understanding of how the project deliverables ripple out and up to impact business goals.