Food for Peace Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop for

FFP Development Food Assistance Projects

LogFrames

Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance III Project (FANTA)

FHI 360 1825 Connecticut Ave., NW Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-884-8000 Fax: 202-884-8432 Email: fantamail@fhi360.org Website: www.fantaproject.org
 Session Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will have:

• Explained what their project’s LogFrame
communicates and how it supports their particular
project’s M&E plan and system
• Defined the key components of a LogFrame and how
each component relates to each other

LogFrames
 LogFrame
Narrative
Summary Indicators Data Sources Assumptions

Goal
Project
Purpose
Sub-purpose

Immediate
Outcome

Output

Input

LogFrames
 Language Equivalence

RESULTS FRAMEWORK LOGFRAME (EQUIVALENCE)

Goal Goal
Strategic Objective (SO) Project Purpose
Intermediate Result (IR) Sub-purpose
Sub-IR Immediate Outcome
Project activities Output
Input

LogFrames
 Activity 1: Your LogFrame
(5 minutes)

Individually read your project’s LogFrame.

Determine:
• What does your project plan to accomplish?
• How will your project accomplish its purposes and
sub-purposes?

LogFrames
 Activity 2: Describe Your Project
(10 minutes)
Partner with someone from another organization:
• In 5 minutes (in total), describe your projects to each
other, using your LogFrame as a guide. Ask questions
of each other, as needed.

Plenary Discussion (5 min):

• How did the LogFrame help you to explain your
project and answer the questions we asked?

LogFrames
 What Are the Basic Purposes of
LogFrames?

Project
Design/Planning

LogFrame Monitoring and

Purpose Evaluation

Communication

LogFrames
In a good project, the
main objective is
stated as a RESULT:

“House built”

Single objective Clear vision

LogFrames
 Some projects lack a clear view of their
destination

“If you don’t know

where you’re going, any
road will get you there.”

–Lewis Carroll,
Alice in Wonderland

LogFrames
 Some projects don’t know how to get
where they want to go

LogFrames
 LogFrame: Your project’s Road Map
Narrative
Summary Indicators Data Sources Assumptions

Goal
Project
Purpose
Sub-purpose

Immediate
Outcome

Output

Input

LogFrames
 Activity 3: LogFrames
Key Definitions
Narrative
Summary Indicators Data Sources Assumptions

Goal
Project
Purpose
Sub-purpose

Immediate
Outcome

Output

Input

LogFrames
 Critical Assumptions and Risks
Specific and measurable (if
possible)

Verify validity

Assess importance

Evaluate risk

Mitigate risk

Monitor changes in the status

of the assumption

LogFrames
 Project
Design/Planning

LogFrame Monitoring and

Purpose Evaluation

Communication

LogFrames
Approximate Correlation Between LogFrame
and Indicator Levels
Impact and • Goal
Outcome • Purpose
Indicators

Outcome • Sub-purpose
Indicators • Immediate outcomes

Output and • Output

Process Indicators • Input

LogFrames
 Monitoring at every level helps pinpoint
where a barrier may exist
Goal: Poverty reduced

Purpose: Farm Household incomes

incomes increased remained unchanged.

Sub-Purpose: Production of non- Only 5 of 50 households

traditional crops increased produced the new crop.

Immediate Outcome: 80% of farmers Families had to

Knowledge of how to use new remembered what eat the seeds during
seeds varieties increased they learned. the hungry months

Outputs/Inputs: We train farmers 1 bag of seed and 5 bags of fertilizer

from 50 households to use new seeds; distributed to 50 households; 50 households
we distribute seeds and fertilizer trained in cultivation of new crop.
LogFrames
 Potential LogFrame Pitfalls

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #1:
Unclear Wording
To maximize the capabilities of
professional staff and use taxpayer
resources wisely while engaging in
therapeutic interventions and case
Children safe from
management processes so that VS.
abuse and neglect.
children’s development capacities
are unencumbered by adverse
environmental circumstances of
experiences.

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #2:
Not Using “If…Then” Causal Logic
Narrative
Summary Indicators Data Sources Assumptions

Goal
Project
Purpose
Sub-purpose
We think this will
be the outcome
Immediate
Outcome
If we do these Output
activities
and use these
resources Input

LogFrames
 Why?
Goal: Poverty reduced

Purpose: Farm
incomes increased

Sub-Purpose: Production of non-

traditional crops increased

Immediate Outcome:
Knowledge of how to use new
seeds varieties increased Assumptions

Outputs/Inputs: We train farmers to

use new seeds; we distribute seeds

LogFrames
 Goal: Poverty reduced

Purpose: Farm
incomes increased

Sub-Purpose: Production of non-

traditional crops increased

How? Immediate Outcome:

Knowledge of how to use new
seeds varieties increased Assumptions

Outputs/Inputs: We train farmers to

use new seeds; we distribute seeds

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #3:
Causality versus Definition
Healthier Families
(Purpose)
Healthier Families
Healthy (Purpose)
Healthy Healthy
Moms Dads Children
(SP1) (SP2) (SP3)

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #3:
Causality versus Definition

Healthier Families
(Purpose)

Improved Increased Improved

Quality of Access to Health
Health Health Practices in
Services Services Household
(SP1) (SP2) (SP3)

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #4:
Purpose and Sub-Purpose Say the Same Thing

• Human health, related to

Purpose nutrition, potable water, and
health education improved

• Health and nutritional status of

Sub- children less than 5 years of age
purpose and women of reproductive age
improved

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #5:
Purpose and Sub-Purpose in Reverse Order

Purpose 1: Increased crop production

SP1.1 Food security of resettled households is protected
SP1.2 Improved MOA agricultural extension services to target households

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #6:
Two Levels in One Results Statement
PROJECT C’s Purpose:
Reduce vulnerability to
risk and shocks by
PROJECT B’s Purpose: diversifying household
Enhance and protect income earning
livelihood strategies opportunities
through sustainable
PROJECT A’s Purpose:
improvements in
Community capacity and
agriculture, animal
early warning systems
husbandry and NRM
strengthened to reduce
practices
risk and vulnerability

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #7: “Capacity building” is
usually not a result, but a step in the process

• The capacity of communities to

manage risks and cope with
Purpose shocks resulting from
vulnerability will be strengthened

• The capacities of food security

Sub-purpose committees in the prevention of
risks and shocks is reinforced

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #8:
Indicators do not measure the result
statement

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #9:
Not Integrating Gender into the
LogFrame

LogFrames
 Potential Pitfall #10:
Not Integrating Environmental
Considerations into the LogFrame

LogFrames
 Final Words of Wisdom About LogFrames

• The most important thing is for there to be a clear

shared understanding of what the project is trying to
accomplish and how it is doing that.
– The LogFrame is an ideal tool for communicating
that idea.
• Avoid getting bogged down in the LogFrame.

LogFrames
 Summary
What to Look for in a LogFrame
• LogFrame should follow causal logic
– If…then, why, and how
• Results statements should be:
– Clear
– Meaningful
– Specific
– Measurable
– Feasible
• Results statements should be uni-dimensional: different
levels should not be crammed into one result (by,
through, to, in order to, so that, via)

LogFrames
 Summary
What to Look for in a LogFrame
• Results should cause the level above, not define it
• LogFrame should not state the same thing in the sub-
purpose as is said in the purpose
– Remember, the purpose should describe the final end
condition the project wants to achieve
• The purpose, sub-purposes and immediate outcomes
should not be in reverse positions
– Remember, the lower level causes the upper level to
happen
• Capacity building is a means to an end; that end is what
should appear in purposes and sub-purposes, not capacity
building (with some exceptions)
LogFrames
 Summary
What to Look for in a LogFrame

• Indicators should measure the results statements

• Assumptions need to be specific and measurable (if
possible), valid, relevant, and be monitored
• Risks must be assessed and mitigated

LogFrames
 Resources

• Excerpt from ADS (Automated Directives System)

Chapter 201: Planning
• USAID Technical Note: The Logical Framework

LogFrames
 This presentation is made possible by the generous support of the
American people through the support of the Office of Health,
Infectious Diseases and Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health, and
Office of Food for Peace, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and
Humanitarian Assistance, United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) under terms of Cooperative Agreement No.
AID-OAA-A-12-00005, through the Food and Nutrition Technical
Assistance III Project (FANTA), managed by FHI 360. The contents are
the responsibility of FHI 360 and do not necessarily reflect the views
of USAID or the United States Government.

LogFrames