Semiotics Consultants (Pvt.) Limited: Framing the Collaborative Education Project
Ajmal Baig, CEO of Semiotics Consultants, a development consulting firm based in Islamabad, Pakistan is in the midst of heated debates with his team members on the evolution and performance of their currently ongoing project on education in the province of Punjab. The project, ‘Collaborative Education Project (CEP)’, is an GDA funded project for which a grant of Euro 10 million was allocated. The project was launched in 2003 and is now in its mid-term stages. During the life of the project, its Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) has been revised four times in the light of feedback from stakeholders and experience on the ground. The project team at Semiotics is reviewing and debating this journey. A robust and well thought out LFA is the starting point for any good program design and it also serves as its monitoring and evaluation tool. However, learning organisations expect that changes will be made based on ground realities and changing circumstances leading to revisions in the LFA. The key question is how much deviation from the original design is kosher. Too little and too much flexibility both have the potential to adversely impact the project outcomes.