Guidelines for Preparing and Using a Design and Monitoring Framework

Sovereign Operations and Technical Assistance

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• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9789292623876
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Governance d'impresa
• Index: Business

These guidelines describe how a project-level design and monitoring framework should be developed and used throughout the project cycle for Asian Development Bank (ADB) sovereign operations and technical assistance projects. The design and monitoring framework is a key tool for project design, implementation, and evaluation, and provides the basis for ADB's project performance management system. The guidelines are intended to help staff of ADB, government officers, consultants, project sponsors and borrowers, and other stakeholders prepare high-quality design and monitoring frameworks. They serve as an effective tool to ensure that ADB-financed projects contribute to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and Pacific region as envisaged in ADB's Strategy 2030.

II. Design and Monitoring Framework Structure

The DMF captures critical information about the project in four columns (Figure 2). The top row of the DMF may contain a maximum of three impact statements with which the project is aligned. For sovereign projects, these statements are typically derived from a regional, country, or sector strategy. The four columns contain

Figure 2: Design and Monitoring Framework Structure

(i)the results chain, including the inputs, or main resources; the activities or groups of tasks; the outputs delivered by the project; and the outcome it will achieve;

(ii)performance indicators for measuring results achievement, targets to be achieved, and a baseline of current performance;

(iii)data sources and reporting mechanisms for each indicator; and

(iv)the risks that act against results achievement, and critical assumptions that underly the results chain.

A. Results Chain

The primary purpose of a project is to achieve results that meet people’s and/or organizations’ needs. A results chain consists of a series of expected achievements, or positive changes, linked by causality. The results chain is a continuum from inputs to activities to outputs, and to outcomes. Outputs are defined as goods, services, or products delivered by the project, while outcomes are the immediate and direct benefits of the use or application of the outputs. The following are important pointers for developing a results chain.

(i)The alignment points for a project’s results chain are impact statements, which are typically higher-level country, sector, or thematic results to which the project contributes. The impact statement aligns the project’s outcome with a higher-level development result.

(ii)The basic definitions and impact alignment are illustrated in Figure 3 using the example of an urban rail transit system project. The project delivers the following outputs: signaling, train control, and telecommunications systems operational; rolling stock operational; and institutional capacity of metro operations organizations strengthened. The immediate and direct benefit for residents of City A, the ultimate intended beneficiary group, is affordable, safe, and inclusive mobility of urban rail-based transit users in City A enhanced—the outcome. This outcome is aligned with the higher-level impact of improved connectivity for all to social and economic opportunities in City A.

Figure 3: Example Results Chain

(iii)The importance of the results increases moving up the results chain: efficient, safe, and inclusive transit is more important than an operational metro system, which is just a means to that end; and connectivity for all to social and economic opportunities is more important still. However, project control and accountability decrease moving up the results chain. The project controls train system construction and capacity building, but it only influences the efficiency, safety, and inclusiveness of the rail-based urban transit system. The project is accountable for output delivery and outcome achievement, but not for impact-level results. Attribution also decreases from output to outcome to impact. The outputs and outcome are attributable to the project. The impact statement of connectivity for all to social and economic opportunities in City A is outside the project results chain and, although the project contributes to it to some degree, is not controlled by or attributed to the project.

Table 1 illustrates the differences between the results levels. It contains several concepts, including targets risks and assumptions for partner financing, which are discussed in subsequent sections of these guidelines.

Table 1: Differences between Results Levels

DMF = design and monitoring framework.

Outputs. Outputs are the products and services that the project delivers to the beneficiaries. Outputs are usually tangible and are generated by using and transforming inputs through project activities. The management scope of the project is defined by the outputs, as by definition, project management cannot extend beyond outputs. There is a close relationship between inputs and outputs; therefore the DMF cannot list outputs for which there are no inputs (Box 1). Before project approval, project teams assign a percentage weight for each DMF output indicator—based on its criticality to achieving and/or contribution to the project’s outcome, cost, or other priorities—and input these into e-Operations. The percentage weights form part of ADB’s project performance rating methodology used during project implementation.²

Box 1: Output Tips

(i)Include major products and deliverables of the project.

(ii)Ensure that together, outputs will be sufficient to achieve the outcome, given the risks and assumptions.

(iii)Include an output for each set of activities, except project management activities, which do not produce an output.

(iv)Phrase outputs in the past tense as already achieved, e.g., “rural roads constructed in the southern districts.” Include a word signifying completion (e.g., constructed, rehabilitated, established, implemented, improved) in the statement.

(v)Outputs must be fully consistent with the cost estimates and financing plan, and the project definition in schedule 1 to the loan or grant agreement.

Outcomes. Outcomes represent the purpose of the project and should describe the immediate and direct benefits of output use or application. Outcome statements should articulate the change the project is expected to achieve (Box 2). The DMF contains only a single outcome statement, although the statement may contain several different dimensions of performance, such as “Improved water security and mobility in City A.” Performance indicators are then used to measure specific dimensions of the project outcome (Section II.B). For example, if women’s mobility is an important part of the outcome, this dimension would be measured through a specific performance indicator.

Box 2: Outcome Tips

(i)Include only one outcome statement describing the immediate and direct benefits from using or applying outputs.

(ii)Phrase the outcome in the past tense as already achieved, e.g., “increased mobility of rural residents.” The statement must include at least one change word (e.g., increased, improved, enhanced).

(iii)Do not include any cause-and-effect links. Outcome statements should not use the words “through,” “by,” or “in order to,” because these words imply cause-and-effect links; e.g., corporate performance improved through capacity building, graduation rates increased by reducing dropouts, crop yields improved in order to increase farmer income.

Assessment of the project’s effectiveness is based on whether the project’s intended outcome has been achieved and is attributable to the achieved project outputs. For sovereign operations, the project completion report (PCR) is prepared within 12 months of financial closing. To ensure that outcome performance data will be available in time for completion reporting, the DMF articulates the planned level of outcome indicator target achievement in the first full year of operation following physical completion.³ For projects with nonphysical outputs, the outcome indicator target dates should be set to ensure that achievement can be assessed in the PCR.

Impacts. The project’s results chain is aligned with impact statements, which are sourced from the most relevant strategic document(s), usually a government national, sector, subnational, or regional plan or strategy, before the project is conceptualized. The impact level in the DMF is separated from the results chain to show that its purpose is alignment, not performance measurement. The DMF does not include performance indicators or targets to measure impact statements.⁴ Impacts are long-term in nature and are expected to occur sometime after project closing. The timing of expected impacts varies. For example, a project that takes 6 years to build new transmission lines would make some contribution to the growth of businesses that use electricity only after several years of operation.

Impact statements are restated from the source document to conform to DMF results statement phrasing. Phrase the impact as achieved, for example, “income, jobs, and business activity increased” and include a change word in the sentence. Do not include more than one level of cause-and-effect links in an impact statement. Be careful not to choose an impact statement that is too high-level, such as “inclusive economic growth achieved” or “poverty reduced.” A statement of this nature is too general to show alignment with the project. In rare cases where there is no relevant official document to cite or paraphrase (e.g., for some knowledge and support TA projects or in the case of disaster and emergency response projects), the impact(s) can be exclusively defined by the project and “(project defined)” is stated after the impact statement. In other cases, the second and third impact statements can be “project defined.”

Table 2 contains output, outcome, and impact statements for operations in common ADB areas of sovereign programming.

Table 2: Example Results Statements for Operations in Common Areas

The DMF includes two other levels: activities and inputs (Figure 2).

Activities. Activities are the groups of tasks carried out using project inputs to produce the desired outputs. The DMF should only include activities whose completion represents important milestones that will allow implementation progress to be tracked. For example, key activities for an education project might include “develop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula and train trainers by Q4 2023”; “provide relevant training equipment to five selecting technical training institutes by Q3 2022”; and “develop and implement an in-service training program for teachers by Q4 2024.”

It is good practice to include project management activities at the end of the activities section of the DMF. The cluster should be titled “project management activities.” The activities should summarize routine events and activities of the project implementation team or unit, such as planning, procurement, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting. Activities can also include communicating with stakeholders, providing inputs on strategic and policy issues, and undertaking risk mitigation measures. This cluster can help mission leaders organize project management activities and ensure that key project management concerns are budgeted for. There is no output associated with the project management activities, so they should not be numbered (Box 3).

Inputs. Inputs are the main resources that the project uses to undertake the activities and produce the outputs. All financial inputs, as well as in-kind inputs for TA, that will be used for project activities should be listed in the DMF. This includes those from ADB, the government, cofinanciers, beneficiaries, the private sect...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Tables, Figures, and Boxes
• Abbreviations
• I. The Design and Monitoring Framework: A Tool for Managing for Development Results
• II. Design and Monitoring Framework Structure
• III. Design and Monitoring Framework Formulation Process
• IV. Specific Applications of the Design and Monitoring Framework
• V. Using the Design and Monitoring Framework during Implementation and at Completion
• Footnotes
• Back Cover