Completing the Outcomes Framework

Commentary

To complete the framework the preconditions are fleshed out all the way back to the initial condition—a coalition of organizations working to develop employment programs for domestic violence survivors. Again explaining preconditions remains important, hence for “Women enroll in program” the assumption:

 

The program cannot help all women and so entry into the program must include screening so that women who have sufficient literacy and math skills to take the training, and lives stable enough to attend classes are admitted. The program does not have the resources to handle providing basic skills or major social services.

 

Early on in the planning process, the group realized that they only had the resources to provide assistance to women who had already begun to stabilize their own lives. The program could take care of the temporary issues, such as emergency housing but not something more permanent or serious, such as substance abuse.

Because of the relative simplicity of this framework, it seems as if the connections are all given. At this stage, you might think: “If it’s below another outcome, then it must be a precondition. Why all the arrowed lines?” While in this example, it is not difficult to organize preconditions, in more complex frameworks, boxes can be near each other without a direct relationship, connections can be made across the framework, etc. For the clarity of the framework, connections are irreplaceable.