Understanding Results Frameworks

6.2.1 What is a results framework?

A results framework organises the intended results of a programme and shows how activities are expected to contribute to those results. It explains what the team plans to do, what it expects to produce, what changes it hopes to achieve, and how progress will be measured.

A simplified results chain is: Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Outcomes, Impact. Real programmes may use a more detailed framework.

6.2.2 Inputs

Inputs are the resources required: funding, staff, equipment, training materials, vehicles and digital devices. Example: an NGO allocates funds, hires community health educators and provides educational materials.

6.2.3 Activities

Activities are the actions carried out with those resources: health education, training, outreach, referrals and data collection. Example: educators conduct maternal health sessions in rural communities.

6.2.4 Outputs

Outputs are the immediate products or services delivered: sessions conducted, workers trained, outreach visits completed, materials distributed. Conducting the sessions is an activity. The number of sessions completed is an output measure. Example: the programme conducts 20 sessions.

6.2.5 Outcomes

Outcomes are changes among people, organisations or systems that the programme intends to influence: improved knowledge, increased use of antenatal care, better reporting, or better availability of health information. Example: more pregnant women attend antenatal care earlier. The programme may contribute. Other factors may also influence the change.

6.2.6 Impact

Impact refers to broader, longer-term changes to which a programme may contribute, such as improved population health, reduced preventable illness, reduced maternal mortality, or more equitable access. Many factors sit beyond a single programme. Do not attribute a population-level change to one intervention without suitable evidence.

6.2.7 Putting the results chain together

This is a plausible chain, not a proof that each stage causes the next. More sessions do not guarantee more antenatal attendance. Transport, service availability and cost still matter.

6.2.8 What is a logical framework?

A logical framework, or logframe, is a planning and management tool. Depending on the template, it may include objectives or results, indicators, baselines, targets, sources or means of verification, and assumptions and risks. Some also place activities, outputs, outcomes and impact in one matrix. The purpose is to connect objectives with measurable evidence.

Results frameworks connect resources and activities with intended changes, and they show what should be measured at each stage.