Outcome Mapping
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Aristotle and Plato at it again? Philosophical divergence within international aid project design and monitoring and evaluation
Paul Crawford, David Kelly, Cynthia Mitchell, Paul Bryce
Summary: International aid projects are broadly concerned with fostering change. Frequently, the ‘theory of change’ within an aid project is communicated using Logical Framework Analysis, or the ‘logframe’. The logframe may be viewed from at least two philosophical perspectives—functionalist and interpretist. Functionalism is found to be useful for problem analysis and project design since it enables a deconstruction of the goal into functional components. Interpretivism is found to assist project
monitoring and evaluation since it draws attention to the role of human actors within the social change process, thereby clarifying the social research plan. Many concepts and even vocabulary are drawn from Outcome Mapping to explain the later approach (interpretivism). A bilateral program in the Philippines is described to illustrate the practical differences arising from the divergent philosophies.
Type: Articles / Papers
Theme: OM Resources: Other
Contibuted by: Kaia Ambrose, on: 2 Sep 2008
Downloads: 1735
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