Creating a logic model can help you assess the impact of your actions and interventions.

It is useful for:

• mapping benefits over different timeframes
• understanding how these benefits affect different groups of people
• communicating your rationale and direction
• testing which changes are most effective or have the biggest barriers
• defining indicators and data collection plans for your metrics

How to make a logic model

You will create a logic model in a collaborative session with a diverse and inclusive set of stakeholders.

You can use a template like this one that was used by Hubs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Transformation of Historic Urban Areas (HUB-IN) to capture:

• challenges
• activities
• outputs
• outcomes
• impacts

If the intervention is relatively well defined, you can start from the first column (challenges), and then move left to right, mapping out how they link to each other by asking questions like:

• So what does that lead to?
• What would be the result?
• Who does that affect?

If the intervention is not so well defined, you could start from the first column (challenges), 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 things like:

• So what is needed to achieve that?
• What are the preconditions?
• Who needs to be involved?

Once the content has been mapped out, you will guide participants through a prioritisation exercise to prioritise the outcomes, using a method like:

• Plot outcomes on a 2×2 of expected scale of impact’ against ‘expected ease of measurement.
• Ask each participant to identify their top 3-5 priorities and select those most commonly identified as a priority.
• Rigorously score each intended outcome using a scheme like Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

How it helps

Now you can use your model to create specific monitoring and impact assessment materials. Tailoring your impact assessment helps you:

• Prioritise which outcomes to monitor when your resources are limited
• Identify unintended positive and negative outcomes
• Include stakeholders in setting targets
• Make sure you have a robust data collection plan with timelines
• Create materials to collect data, like survey questions and community data
• Balance quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Consider the risks and limitations of your data collection and analysis methods

Further source reading

• Logic model HUB-IN toolkit
• Impact Assessment Framework
• Tailored monitoring HUB-IN toolkit