Sideling up to the Logical Framework Approach
please deconstruct
Because of post mentioning Object Orientated Programming (software programming that focused on creating classes of objects and manipulating them) I’ve been asked to look at Logical Framework Approach.
t is “so ubiquitous in the world of development NGOs. I am very sceptical of it and would love to deconstruct it thoroughly”.
I’ve never heard of it, not moving in those foreign aid or foreign affairs circles while growing old in my 30s and 40s. It’s also called Goal Oriented Project Planning (GOPP) or Objectives Oriented Project Planning (OOPP), thus the referral by way of Object Orientated Programming.
One description I read mentioned it was, or brought, science, into the area. I am not sure if they meant repeatable experiments, but soft science with a qualitative focus… I guess yeah, but there's money involved so perhaps they mean like economics is a science, but I don't see any of these. And sometimes repeatability is just a ritual rather then confirmation. A pattern but not proof.
I seem to have definitely missed the ‘ontological turn’ so I am not qualified to look at this in that frame. But as an ad hoc learning opportunity I had a bit of a read. This is more a report than a reaction, and no where near a deconstruction.
In short it seems to have been developed primarily in response to the question of how can we measure the outcomes of aid, or even just the process that aid has, and in particular how does that information get back to the aid organizations, and those who fund their activities. The objects in question are goals in planning on the ground, and outcomes in results as can be reported back to stakeholders elsewhere.
It has matrix or two, and it can include well-known sub-matrices like SWOT or risk assessment. In the jargon of this methodology the main one is called a ‘logframe’ which is a four by four project table. Time flows through, the table maps this movement and measures the end results with reference to assumptions and their disappointments along the way.
It is widely used across international non-government organisations as a methodological lingua franca. In particular to remove the shocks of an aid project hitting the reality on the ground and thus failing… —‘somehow’.
As such the methodology is a sibling or cousin of Extension Science, which my degree in Social Ecology is a variation of (it had more systems and complexity than ye olde extension science – extension in the sense of extending science back into the community, especially in agriculture). I still don’t feel qualified though having had no experience in aid. Or government policy. I am no wonk.
I do remember thinking in my mid-twenties that I would be of no use to an overseas aid programme. It was time to grow up.
Thinking about the flow of time or money through the matrix results in map called the Objective Tree, which hopes to plan for the assumptions being not assumed, somehow, that are first described in the Problem Tree which initially maps the issue an aid programme hopes to address. (The trees are basically flowcharts).
As such the Logical Framework Approach is a cross between a business plan and an international convention on reporting on aid projects.
This is what we are going to do, and why, and this is how we will measure its effectiveness, given these assumption of facts on the ground.
Having done the odd business plan I can say that the old military metaphor that no plan survives contact with the enemy, while true, actually misses the point if we just laugh along with it. The point of all human activity that seeks to world is to be active and make mistakes.
The question is then how a plan, or a methodology for a plan, like the Logical Framework Approach incorporates that human experience to necessarily fail, and feel it should not be so. While avoiding the blame/credit game… —nice thought, I guess.
As such the Logical Framework Approach is structured conversation between planners, funders, and those who will implement or engage on the ground with any plan. So at a minimum, it does provide that which is also the minimum that makes or allows us to be human: meetings.
So in regard to, it is “so ubiquitous in the world of development NGOs. I am very sceptical of it and would love to deconstruct it thoroughly” I have been of no help whatsoever. But I will keep my eye out.
References:
Roduner, Daniel et al. 2008. ‘Logical Framework Approach and Outcome Mapping A Constructive Attempt of Synthesis’, [Agridea-International & Nadel, ETH Zurich.] [pdf]
S K Acharya et al. 2017. ‘Chapter 3 Logical Framework: Approach and Application’, Management: The Prism and Spectra. New Delhi: Krishi Sanskriti Publications, pp. 23–41. URL (consulted January 2025): [pdf]
AusAID. 2005. ‘3.3 The Logical Framework Approach’, AusGuideline. (consulted January 2025): [pdf]
Crossposted at whyweshould.loofs-samorzewski.com