Clearly, greater detail is needed in order for the Logical Framework to provide an operational basis for evaluations. Indicators and instruments should be identified to measure psychosocial development, for example, or changes in parental behavior. Nevertheless, using the categories of the Logical Framework, as presented in the examples, makes it possible to link different forms of evaluation with different purposes at different times during a project. These types of evaluation, the main questions that they address, and the location of the evaluations within the Logical Framework are set out below.
1. Diagnostic evaluation—carried out during the design and planning of the project.
Questions: What are the conditions that will affect the project?
What resources are at hand?
Is the project feasible given the conditions and resources?Relationship to the framework: The diagnosis concentrates on the last row of the framework, on resources and assumptions about conditions.
2. Monitoring—carried out once the project is under way.
Questions: Did the project do what it promised to do (in delivery of resources and activities, and in timing)?
If not, why not? (Here, the main culprits may be economic or political conditions external to the program, or the failure may reflect internal administrative problems.)Relationship to the framework: Monitoring depends primarily on quantitative measures and concentrates on the delivery of resources, the completion of activities as scheduled (compared with those planned), and the outputs obtained. It can also provide information about whether the program is reaching the target population and about the regular functioning of a system once in place. Monitoring is linked to a regular system of statistics. It is concentrated in the lower two rows of the framework.
3. Process and product evaluation—carried out early in a project to improve the activities being conducted (formative evaluation).
Questions: Were the activities done well (were they of good quality)?
If not, why not?
Did the project provide the elements needed to achieve intermediate and long-term outcomes? (Did it affect the potential for change?)Relationship to the framework: Process and product evaluations are intended to find ways to improve the functioning of a project or program at an early stage. Such evaluations can draw on the results of monitoring as well as on more qualitative assessments of activities and are located in the lower two rows of the framework. To evaluate a process, it is important to look not only at its direct outcomes but also at what happened along the way internally. Judging the quality of the process involves evaluating, for example, whether the trainers had the proper knowledge and skills, whether their language was appropriate, whether the materials were understandable, and whether the trainees felt motivated. In determining whether activities were carried out well, it may be necessary to look at the delivery of resources and at assumptions about the conditions under which the project is carried out as well as at the quality of the internal process associated with each activity.
4. Effectiveness evaluation—carried out after a project has been under way for some time but still directed mainly at improving the project's activities and design (formative evaluation).
Questions: Did the project result in organizational and behavioral changes? If not, why not?
Relationship to the framework: This evaluation concentrates on determining whether the potential represented by achieving the outputs translates into the organizational and behavioral changes and personal changes proposed in the project purposes. It is therefore located in the second and third rows of the framework. To determine effectiveness requires looking at whether or not assumptions (external conditions) affected the use of outputs positively or negatively.
5. Impact evaluation—to determine whether the project has had the desired long-term social effect on participants. Such evaluations are often carried out to support decisions about continuing or expanding a particular project model.
Questions: Did the project have a lasting effect on participants and their surroundings?
If not, why not?Relationship to the framework: This evaluation focuses on determining whether changes in organization and behavior affected the proposed beneficiaries of the project. It assesses whether the project goal was achieved and, if not, considers possible reasons why the goal was not achieved in relation to the conditions.
