2.1 What is Logical Framework Approach in project management?

The Logical Framework Approach or LFA is a systematic and analytical process for objectives-
oriented project planning and management. LFA is also known under other names, such as
Objectives Oriented Planning or Goals Oriented Planning. It makes use of the basic log frame
matrix to design, plan and manage projects.

What LFA adds to the basic logical framework, is a method to develop the
project’s goals and activities and identify key information (such as risks) through a participatory
approach. Basically, this means that instead of having a single person who designs the project all on
his own, you seek the involvement of all concerned parties – also known as the stakeholders. The
most important stakeholders are the potential beneficiaries of the project, or the target group.

Getting the involvement of your target group and other stakeholders not only ensures that your
project is well designed. It also makes sure that everybody is aware of the project and what it is
supposed to change. It allows people to get involved, and develop a feeling of responsibility for the
project and its results.

This is known as developing ownership for the project’s outcomes, and it is important to make sure
that the positive realisations of the project are embedded locally and durable over time. People will
care about the project and take care about its results.

Identify the stakeholders

Who are the people, groups?

Organisations, and government bodies, companies that are somehow involved or touched by this
project? When you do a background analysis you will get a basic idea about who will be involved.
This first contacts may lead you to identifying others.

It is important to list the potential stakeholders, and then to determine who will get priority when
you start analysing the problems. Is the view of the local authorities more important than that of the
ministry? Is the view of the local NGOs more important than that of the (local) government? Is the
view of the farmers more important than that of the local trade’s people? Also, make sure you get
the view of both men and women.

There are a number of tools that can help you with stakeholder analysis, such as mapping tools,
Venn diagrams, organisation charts (to identify administrative levels for instance) and so on.

When you’ve selected the most important groups, you can then analyse:

 Their main problems

 Their interests and needs
 Their strengths and weaknesses
 How they relate to other groups (cooperation/conflict; dependent/independent…)

This information will help you decide whose interests and view should get priority during the
problem analysis.

Problem tree analysis

During the workshop (or sometimes it may be necessary to organise a series of workshops), you get
a representative sample of the stakeholders that you identified with the group. The problem tree
analysis is an exercise that allows you to identify the different problems that people face, and the
relationships between those problems. The idea is to identify the core problem, and see what
things are at the root cause of this central problem, and what other problems are a consequence of
the core problem.

The first step is to identify the different problems

 Ask people to note different problems on cards: one card per problem.
 The problems have to be real – if there’s doubt ask them to clarify by an example.
 Sometimes people will bring up things that they think are important for you – because you
are rich and otherwise you’re not going to give the money, right?
 Real problems also means that they are occurring now, not that they could occur if
 A problem is not the absence of a solution – it’s still too early to think of solutions. For
instance, if someone thinks that he would get better crop yields if only he’d have fertilizers,
the problem is not ‘The absence of fertilizers’, but ‘Poor (quality of the) soil’.


Identify the core problem and establish a problem tree

Basically there are two ways to go about this. The group can agree on the core problem, and develop
the problem tree around it. This means you look at what issues are causing the problem and which
ones are a consequence of the core problem and you try to establish cause-and-effect relations
between them. Often, the core problem is quite clear and just pops up. Also, your very presence and
the fact that you can do specific things will influence the choice. If you are specialised in water and
irrigation, the core problem will tend to be more ‘watery’ than when you are specialised in
commercialisation of food items.

The other way is to establish the cause and effect relationships between the problems first, and then
select the core problem. This may give you more work to do, because it will be less clear from the
onset what issues are less important or relevant than others.

Choosing the project’s main strategy

There are often different ways to achieve the same objective. This means that it is important to
agree on one single strategy. Often you’ll find that there is one strategy that fits your organisation’s
capabilities (type of activities, experience, available donor funds, capacities of staff and available
human resources…) better than the other ones. Other elements that may influence your choice are:

 the price tag of each individual option;

 the potential risks and benefits;
 the ecological and financial impact and sustainability of each option;
 the potential impact on gender issues (both positive and negative);
 the social impact, including impact on social tensions and conflicts
 etc.

When there is more than one suitable strategy, you can use different criteria to select the best one.

Formulate the logical framework

Now it's time to put the information together in a logical framework.

 First you decide on the project's logic (intervention logic). This is the first column of the
logical framework, and you can use the information from your objectives tree to identify the
general objectives or goals of your project (the things above the main problem), the specific
objective or purpose (the main problem itself) and the expected results (the things below
the main problem).
 Then we jump to the far right column of the log frame, to identify the assumptions. These
are the things that need to hold true in order for you to achieve your objectives.
 Finally it's time to think about how you are going to follow-up the progress of your project
and evaluate its results. You'll need indicators for monitoring and evaluation (second
column) and verification sources that specify how, where and when you can find that
information (third column.).

Identify the project logic

You now have the basic information needed to establish the project’s logic – meaning the first
column of the logical framework.

Generally the core problem, rephrased as an objective, becomes the purpose (or specific objective)
of your project. This is the main reason why you started the project; the thing that you most urgently
want to solve.
The solution of the core problem contributes (in the long run) to the solution of a problem in the
larger society. This is the long term goal (or general objective) your project contributes to.
Sometimes a project contributes to the solution of several issues that exist within that particular
context and society.

The cards in the objective tree that were placed below the core problem/purpose – and that are part
of the selected strategy – become the outputs and activities. The outputs are the concrete things the
team and beneficiaries will achieve during the life of the project. When the outputs are combined,
the project’s purpose should be achieved.

Indicators and their sources of verification

The next step in the workshop is to identify the indicators. There are a number of advantages to
formulating the indicators with the whole group:

1. People that are closer to the field and the actual problems will know better how you can see
that the situation improves. With the group, you can find better indicators.
2. It is easier to find useful indicators that can effectively be monitored.

When a project manager tries to identify indicators on his own, he or she will have a tendency to
create indicators that can be expressed in numbers, such as the income per household to measure
improved welfare. However, in the field it may be very difficult to get such a number, because
people often don’t have a notion of how money they earn. Besides, no-one likes to talk about how
much they earn, do they? With a group you will be able to come up with indicators that are more
easily measured. For instance whether people can afford to send their children to school, or if they
can afford to improve their house or pay for transport.

When the indicators are identified, the group should check for each indicator:

 What information is needed

 Who should give/find that information
 In what form