Logic Model

Shaping a logic model will help city teams in assessing the impact of their interventions. It will be useful for:

• Mapping the intended benefits across short-, medium- and long-term
• Capturing how those intended benefits affect different stakeholder groups
• Communicating a one-pager view of the rationale and direction of the intervention(s) to key stakeholders
• Testing the logic behind which change pathways drive the most change, or have the biggest barriers / untested assumptions etc
• Informing the next steps of defining indicators and data collection plans for the most relevant and high priority indicators

Activity format:

• A 90-120 minute workshop with key stakeholders.
• Collaborative, interactive session.
• The end result is a completed template such as provided on this page
• The facilitator introduces the purpose and format of the day, and then guides the participants through the below stages.
• Participants add content to each column on sticky notes.
• Participants also discuss the main findings emerging, any commonalities, any diverging points of view. The purpose is to uncover and test assumptions
• It is not that there is one single “correct” view but rather that the power of the session is in testing assumptions and reaching consensus.

Logic model example

Steps:

There are multiple ways to conduct logic mapping workshops.

• If the intervention is relatively well defined, then one method is to start from the first column (Challenges), and then move sequentially through each column in turn, mapping out how they link by asking (for example) “So what does that lead to? What would be the result? Who does that affect?” etc.
• If the intervention is not so well defined, then another method is to start from the first column (Challenges) in order to set the context, then move to the last column (Impacts) in order to set the vision, and then work backwards through the fourth, third and second columns by asking (for example) “So what is needed to achieve that that? What are the preconditions? Who needs to be involved?” etc.
• Once the content has been mapped out, the facilitator guides participants through a prioritisation exercise to prioritise the Outcomes (benefits expected to be measurable during the project’s lifetime). There are multiple approaches:
  • One is to plot the intended outcomes on a 2×2 of Expected Scale of Impact against Expected Ease of Measurement and select those in the highest quadrant.
  • Another is for each participant to identify their top 3-5 priorities and select those most commonly identified as a priority.
  • Another is to more rigorously score each intended outcome using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis or similar.
• The approach taken depends on the facilitator’s experience, rigour required and resources available, and group discussion and agreement is important.

Requirements:

• Face-to-face room with whiteboard, pens and sticky notes OR an online version such as Miro, Mural (or similar)
• A facilitator to structure the session, prepare materials, guide conversation and tease out “hidden” assumptions. The facilitator will ideally be familiar with Theory of Change.
• The columns of the logic model may refer to work already captured in previous discussions or documents. To reduce effort on the participants having to duplicate this in the session by building the content completely afresh, the facilitator may make a first draft based on existing knowledge and then use the session to validate, edit and improve the draft.
• To streamline effort and avoid stakeholder fatigue, it is best to host the logic modelling workshop once there is a clear enough vision / definition for the intervention (if too vague or diverging views, consensus may not be able to be reached). In some cases where the intervention design and goals evolve before being finalised, the logic model sessions may need to be iterative, revisited periodically.

The facilitator can probe further in the discussion for what assumptions the participants have that need tested / can be captured, what barriers and / or enablers exist for the proposed content, what are the possible unintended positive and negative outcomes.

They should ensure the sticky notes are clear and concise on what is happening and who is involved / affected, as this will help later activities of defining indicators and data collection plans for the most relevant and high priority indicators.