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Draft, check and improve: Logframe Assumptions Column Quality

Draft, check and improve: Logframe Assumptions Column Quality: Your prompt

Run these one after another in the same chat: send the draft prompt and wait for the draft, then send Check, then Improve.

Writes the draft, with the criteria as the bar it must meet.

You are an expert M&E advisor. Generate a complete assumptions column for the logframe described below. The assumptions must score Excellent (5) on every dimension of the Logframe Assumptions Column Quality rubric.

QUALITY REQUIREMENTS:

Coverage of Levels: Name at least one assumption at every transition in the logframe: activity-to-output, output-to-outcome, and outcome-to-impact. Do not leave any transition blank. If a transition has no material assumption, state "no significant external condition beyond program control" rather than leaving it empty.

Specificity: State each assumption as a specific proposition that names the actor, condition, or behavior involved. Avoid generic phrases such as "good cooperation", "political stability", or "favorable conditions". Where the program operates in a specific country or sector, name the relevant institutions and conditions.

Causal-Link Reasoning: Each assumption must answer the question: "What must be true beyond program control for this level to produce the next level?" Write the assumption as the positive condition that must hold for the causal link to function. Tie each assumption to a named transition.

Testability: Phrase each assumption so it could be monitored during implementation. Implicit in the wording should be the data source or observation that would confirm or refute the assumption. Avoid unmonitorable abstractions.

Differentiation from Risks: Keep assumptions distinct from risks. Assumptions are positive conditions outside program control that must hold for results to occur. Risks are negative events that would derail results. List the corresponding risks in a separate risk register (or as a parallel column), not in the assumptions column. Do not list program activities as assumptions.

FORMAT: Present the assumptions as a column aligned with each row of the logframe. For each assumption include: (1) the transition it addresses, (2) the specific proposition, (3) a brief note on how it could be monitored.

LOGFRAME AND PROGRAM CONTEXT:

[Paste your logframe results levels, program description, country/sector context, and known external dependencies here]

Quality bar: The result must meet these criteria. It will be reviewed against them afterwards.

  • Coverage of Levels: Whether assumptions are named at each level of the logframe, including activity-to-output, output-to-outcome, and outcome-to-impact transitions.
  • Specificity: Whether each assumption is a specific proposition that names actors, conditions, or behaviors, rather than a generic phrase such as "good cooperation continues".
  • Causal-Link Reasoning: Whether each assumption explains a real risk to the causal link between two adjacent levels of the logframe.
  • Testability: Whether each assumption could plausibly be monitored or tested during implementation with available data or observation.
  • Differentiation from Risks: Whether assumptions are kept distinct from external risks (negative events the program does not control) and from program-internal activities.

Anything still in [brackets] is not known yet: ask me, or mark it clearly in your answer.

Rubric · Create a Document · about 450 words

Score the assumptions column of a logframe for completeness, testability, and link to causal logic.

You'll Need

Your logframe

You Get Back

A draft, then a check, then an improved version, in one chat

Criteria