Promoting a culture of monitoring and evaluation in educational institutions. How to develop a M&E system, and grounding M&E planning on the Logical Framework Approach, and using Logframe as reference for M&E.

1. ESTABLISHING A CULTURE OF MONITORING
AND EVALUATION
SPREADING THE WORD, (RE)-TURNING THE CULTURE (PART 2)
Vilimaka Foliaki
Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor
Tonga Education Support Program, Phase 2
(TESP2)
In Collaboration with
Ponepate Taunisila
Deputy Chief Education Officer
Quality Assurance Division
Tonga Ministry of Education
Professional Development Training
Ministry of Education and Training
TONGA
Wednesday 12 August – Thursday August 2015

2. YOUR WORK
 An investment:
 Resources are spent between
‘start’ and ‘end’
 Time-bound
 A project
 “a temporary endeavor designed
to produce a unique product,
service or result with a defined
beginning and end … undertaken
to meet unique goals and
objectives, typically to bring about
beneficial change or added value”
(Wikipedia)

3. YOUR WORK – LIFE CYCLE
 M&E - a critical element of
planning
 M&E - usually
forgotten/neglected:
 Often remembered LATE:
 during implementation stage
 at end – to measure and
evaluate success
 M&E - part of everything that we do all
the time

4. LET’S LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF THE USA
 Invented by USAID in 1969 – based on
experiences with development initiatives.
There were 3 problem areas:
1. Planning: Objectives were not clearly
defined; no clear link between objectives
and activities.
2. Management: Managers were unwilling
to be accept responsibility for results.
3. Evaluation: Evaluators use their own
strategies as there was no common
agreement as to what the projects were
trying to achieve. No common
understanding of what ‘success’ looked
like.
1.
Planning was
too vague
2.
Management
responsibilities
were unclear
3.
Evaluation was
an adversary
process
USAID
experiences
THE LOGICAL FRAMEWORK APPROACH
(LFA)

5. THE LOGICAL FRAMEWORK APPROACH (LFA)
 An approach to project/program design and
development. It ensures
 Alignment
 Relevance
 Awareness of external factors (assumptions and
risks)
 Success
 An approach to problem solving:
 projects/programs are designed to solve
problems
 It outlines the sequences of events in the
process solving a problem
Basically:

6. YOUR LOGFRAME
A 4x4 table/matrix:
 It organizes answers to 4 key
management questions:
1. What we trying to accomplish and
why? (Goal)
2. How will be measure success?
3. What other conditions must exist?
4. How do we get there?
• A logical way of 3 “directional”
logics:
1. Vertical logic
2. Horizontal logic
3. Zigzag logic
Description of
objective level
Success
measures
(Indicators)
Means of
verification
Assumptions
and risks
Goal (Impact)
Purpose
(Outcomes)
Outputs
Activities
1 2 3 4
1
2
3
4

7. FILLING UP YOUR LOGFRAME
COLUMN 1
• Most important
• Set up your hierarchy of objectives
(Goal, Outcomes, Outputs, Activities) .
This provides structural foundation for
project
• Test for ‘vertical logic’ – adjust the
framework to overcome logical flaws
(unfeasible/unlikely relationships) –
use ‘If-Then’ hypothesis. Example:
1. IF this PD training (activity) is carried
out, THEN these

8. STRUCTURE OF THE LOGFRAME
Column 2
• Indicators
 Look at each
objective and ask
‘How can we
measure it?”
 What does
success at each of
the objective level
look like?
(Consensus –
everyone to agree on
indicators)

9. STRUCTURE OF THE LOGFRAME
Column 3
Means of
verification
 How can we verify
these ?
 How can we really
know?
 Where can we find
these indicators?

10. EXTERNAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT PROGRESS -
ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS
 Assumptions:
 Ask this question: What are the
external factors, if present, could
influence progress (from one level to
the next)?
 List these assumptions. E.g.
“Language used in pupils books is
appropriate”
 If they are:
 True – your work benefits
 Wrong – your work suffers
 Risks:
 (Assumptions and risks have
opposite effects)
 Those that will negatively affect
progress. List these. E.g. “Boat/car
breaks down”.
 If they are:
 True – your work suffers
 Wrong – your work benefits

11. STRUCTURE OF THE LOGFRAME
Column 4
Assumptions and
risks
(These are the
external factors
which you cannot
control)
 How can we verify
these ?
 How can we really
know?
 Where can we find

12. CARRY OUT LOGICAL TEST
 Focus on Columns 1 and
4:
• Begin at bottom with
the ‘Activities’ at
bottom left corner of
matrix
• Follow IF – THEN
arrows
 Overcome logical flaws -
when there are
‘‘unlikely/unfeasible”
relationships, adjust

13. SAMPLE
MATRIX
(Page 7 Logframe Format
- handout)

14. WHY IS THE LOGFRAME IMPORTANT?
1. Combines important ideas from
different areas (scientific-method,
management, strategic planning,
systems thinking) into project
planning and design
2. It bridges gap between strategic
planning and actionable project
designs:
 Makes the links (between goals
and activities etc. clear)

15. LOGFRAME ANSWERS
FOUR (4) IMPORTANT MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS
What are we trying to accomplish and
why?
What other conditions that must exist?
How will we measure success?
How do we get there?

16. YOUR LOGFRAME
• What does it do?
• Provides a clear, concise
and meaningful (logical)
description of the ‘bigger
picture’ of your work and
how you and others are
working together to
achieve a common goal.

17. LOGFRAME – A REFERENCE FOR M&E
 Column 1 – Description of
objective level
 SMART objectives
 Check link, logical flow – from
activities to goals
 Column 2 - Indicators:
 Know what to look for – data,
evidence – verifiable
objective,.
 Data collection instruments
 Column 3 – Means of Verification
 Know where to for indicators
 Informs you about how to
look for indicators – as basis
for data collection
 Column 4 – Assumptions and
Risks
 Makes us aware of the extent
our work depends on
external factors
 Carefully monitor assumptions
and risks
 Adjust activities and inputs to
maximize chances of success