Clarifying the ‘logical framework’ as a tool for planning and managing development projects

The ‘logical framework’ is a tool for project preparation which has been adopted by many agencies funding development programmes in the third world, yet its diffusion has been barely noticed in the academic literature. This paper argues that, although one of the framework's strengths is its simplicity, that is deceptive, and that the potential of the tool requires attention to some ambiguities. These are examined, some suggestions are made, and a modified framework is proposed. Finally some criticisms of the framework are reviewed.