3

The “logical framework” is a rational tool for public action, based on a planning perspective focusing on objectives, indicators and expected outcomes. Omnipresent in development institutions, it emphasises a strictly managerial perspective centred on quantifiable factors, legitimization of action, linear and mechanical causality and a positivist epistemology now largely outmoded. It is far away from the sociology of organisations, public policy analyses and the anthropology of development, and ignores political factors, conflicts, the role of actors, or strategic adjustments and feedbacks. However, the practices of development professionals are different from the model. Its usefulness in the selection or evaluation of development projects meets scepticism, but all agree to recognise that it could be an useful tool to control coherence during the project conception process.