Using Logframes to Monitor and Review Farmer Participatory Research

Abstract

"Farmer participatory research (FPR) is difficult to monitor and review because it uses a process' approach; it is done in variable, unpredictable situations; it produces some outputs that are hard to measure objectively; and it involves different types of stakeholder, each with their own aims and ideas of success or failure. For these reasons, FPR projects tend to have permeable boundaries, with sometimes important spillover effects, and less than direct relationships between inputs and outputs.

"This paper examines how far a conventional project management tool, the logframe, can be adapted to the monitoring and review of FPR. Normally used in 'blueprint' projects, the logframe presents some difficulties in handling those with process' characteristics. But it has a number of strengths: it requires clear specification of purposes, anticipated outputs, activities, and the relationship among them, as well as performance indicators and means of assessing them. Also, it is becoming almost universally adopted by funding agencies, so organisations using FPR may in future have to structure their proposals and monitoring activities in logframe format."