EPISODE-4: Logical Framework and M&E Plan

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EPISODE-4: Logical Framework and M&E plan

EPISODE-4: Logical Framework and M&E Plan

What is logical framework?

A logical framework is an analytical tool used to plan, monitor and evaluate projects in a systematic manner. The logframe is also a vehicle for engaging partners in clarifying objectives and designing activities. During implementation logical framework serves as a useful tool to review progress and take corrective action.

Project Logical Framework Variations:

There are a number of variations of logical framework models that are used in the development sector. Many of these models use different terms to identify the project deliverables. Some identify goals and objectives, others identify Results and Outcomes. Similarly, there is no consensus on the number of levels in a logical framework matrix. Some organizations subscribe to a four-level matrix, others have five.

The table can serve as a resource for comparing the logical framework models of several international donors and development organizations.

	Ultimate Change	Intermediate change		Tangible Change	Specific Intervention
AusAid	Goal/ Impact	Purpose/ outcome	Component Objective	Output	Work Program/task
CARE	Program Goal	Project Final Goal	Intermediate Objective	Output	Activity	Input
EU	Overall Objective	Project Purpose	Specific Objective	Expected Result	Activity	Input
FAO	Overall Goal	Intermediate Goal	Purpose	Output	Activity	Input
NORAD	Goal		Purpose	Output	Activity	Input
USAID	Strategic Objective	Intermediate Result		Output	Activity	Input
World Bank	Impact/Goal/Development Objective		Outcome/ Purpose	Output	Process/ Activity	Input
World Vision	Program Goal	Project Goal	Outcome	Output	Activity	Input

[Source: Project Management for Development Professional; PMD Pro Book]

Generic Logical framework (Usually called 4 by 4 metrics):

Narrative Summary	Objectively Verifiable Indicator (OVI)	Means of Verification (MOV)	Assumption
Goal	% Incidence of waterborne diseases among children under 5 reduced by 2012	Municipal hospital and clinic records collected by mobile health teams	If no disaster occurs
Outcome	% of household disposed of fecal waste via latrines or sewage connections	Baseline Survey, Annual survey, Mid-term, Phase-Evaluation	If the weather in favorable condition
Output	Number of women, men, girls & boys using latrines regularly	Inventory data from used by the community sanitation volunteers Key Informant Interview	Raised awareness will ensure latrine adoption and continued usage
Activity	# of people received information # of training conducted	Event attendance records Event report Session plan/schedule Photographs/video clips	Training session conducted timely with quality manner

What is M&E Plan:

Monitoring and evaluation plan is a fundamental tools/document that helps to track and assess of an intervention throughout the life of a program. This is a live document need to update time to time on basis of project/program requirements.

Why we develop M&E Plan:

It is very important to develop an monitoring & evaluation plan before beginning monitoring any activities so that there is a clear plan for what questions about the project/program needs to be answered.

Who should develop M&E Plan:

A monitoring & evaluation plan should be developed by M&E expert team & staff having M&E experience, with input from program people involved in designing and implementing the program.   

When M&E Plan should be developed:

An monitoring & evaluation plan should be developed at the beginning of the program when the intervention are being designed. This will ensure there is a system in place to monitor the progress and evaluate success.

How long time need to develop  M&E Plan:

Developing monitoring & evaluation plan can take up a week, depending on the size of the team available to develop the plan, and whether the theory of change and logic model have already been designed.

[Source: Health Compass]

Component of  M&E plan:

Monitoring & evaluation consists basically 4 components-

1. M&E plan Monitoring components
2. M&E plan Evaluation components
3. M&E plan Learning components  
4. M&E plan budget components

Steps to prepare an M&E plan:

1. Identify program Goal & Objectives

The first step to creating an M&E plan is to identify program goals and objectives. If the program already has a logic model model or theory of change, then the programs goals more likely already defined. However, if not, the M&E plan is a great place to start. Identify the programs goals and objectives.

Defining programs goals starts with the three questions-

First- What problem is the program is trying to solve?

Second- What steps are being taken to solve the problems?

Third- How will program staff know when the program has been successful in solving the problem?

Answering these question will help identify what the program expected to do, and how staff will know whether or not it worked. For example, if the program is starting to distribute modern contraceptive pill program for married adolescent women, the answer might look like this-

Problem	Higher rates of unintended pregnancy among adolescent 15-19 age
Solution	Promote and distribute free contraceptive pill in the community adolescent friendly locations
Success	Lower rates of unintended pregnancy and higher percentage of contraceptive pill uses among targeted adolescent 15-19 age

From these answers, it can be seen that the program goal is to reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy of adolescent 15-19 age of targeted community. It is also necessary to develop program objective to help track successful steps on the way to the overall program goal.

2. Define Indicators

Once program/project goals are developed, it is time to define indicator for tracking progress towards achieving those goals.

Process indicators tracks the progress of the program. The help to answer the question “are activities being implemented as planned?” some examples of process indicators are-

• Number of training arranged for community health worker
• Number of community session organized for adolescent
• Number of contraceptive pill distributed among married adolescent girls

Outcome indicators track how successful program activities have been achieving program objectives.

3. Define data collection method and timeline

After selecting indicator for monitoring and evaluation, it is good time to define data collection method and how often data will be collected to track indicator. This should be conversation between program staff, partner, stakeholder and donor. These methods will have important implications for what data collection method will be used and how the result will be measured.

Indicator	Data collection Method	Timeline/Frequency
% pregnant women received 4 times ANC visits by skilled provider during their pregnancy	Interview	Annually
Level of satisfaction on general health services of Union Health & Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC)	Focus Group Discussion	Annually
# Community Health Worker (CHW) visited pregnant women	CWH Register checking	Monthly
# Union Health & Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC) received hand washing tool kits	Distribution Register checking	Monthly

  

4. Identify M&E roles and responsibilities

The next step of M&E plan is to fix roles and responsibilities. It is important to decide from early planning stages who is responsible for collecting data for each indicator. This will probably a mix of M&E people, research people, program people and finance people. Everyone will need to work together to collect data accurately and in a timely fashion.

Indicator	Method	Frequency	Responsibility
% pregnant women received 4 times ANC visits by skilled provider during their pregnancy	Interview	Annually	M&E Coordinator
Level of satisfaction on general health services of Union Health & Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC)	Focus Group Discussion	Annually	Research Officer
# Community Health Worker (CHW) visited pregnant women	Visit/CWH Register checking	Monthly	Project Officer
# Union Health & Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC) received hand washing tool kits	Visit/Distribution Register checking	Monthly	Project Manager

5. Define data quality & data cleaning plan

Data quality is one of the major issue for monitoring and evaluation experts. Quality data is very important for measuring trend or progress of any project/program. Every steps from data collection to data analysis is important to maintain data quality. Before data analysis M&E expert should have give focus on data cleaning to get solid data for interpretation? What software/program will be used to analyze data and make reporting tables?  

6. Plan for Data analysis and reporting template

Once the data have been collected, someone need to compile and analyze these data for review and reporting. This is likely to be an in house M&E expert or research expert for the project/program.

The M&E plan should include a section with detail about what data will be analyzed and how the result will be presented. Do research staff need to perform any statistical tests to get the needed answer? If so what test are they and what data will be used in them? It may be Excel, SPSS, STATA. These are important considerations.

Another good things to include in the plan to prepare table for indicator reporting. This table should outline the indicators, data and the time period of reporting. They can also include things like the indicator target and how far the program has progressed towards that target.

 

7. Data flow, storage and privacy

Data flow is important to maintain the chain of data from data collection to analysis. Each of the step smooth data flow should needed to established for gathering quality data. After getting data data storage and privacy one of the key issue for each programs and organizations. For example an organization may have more than 100 projects. This organization should have to develop strong data privacy and storage system.

8. Data dissemination and capture learnings

The last elements of M&E plan to describe how and to whom data will disseminated. Data for data’s sake should not be the ultimate goal of M&E efforts. Data should always collected for particular purposes.

The M&E plan should include plan of internal dissemination among program team as well as wider dissemination among stakeholder and donor. Dissemination of printed or digital material may occur at more frequent interval. This option should be discussed with stakeholders and your team to determine reasonable expectations for data review and to develop plan to dissemination early in the program.

After doing these process we may get a monitoring and evaluation plan. Monitoring and evaluation plan is a document consists:

1. Introduction
2. Purpose of this plan
3. Project Summary
4. Logical framework
5. Indicators
6. Roles and responsibilities
7. Data flow
8. Data Management (storage, analysis, privacy)
9. Appendices

Watch the video of this EPISODE-4: Logical Framework & M&E plan: