ILO - IPEC Turkey

Introduction
This document introduces a process that will be used for planning, monitoring and evaluation: the Strategic Programme Impact Framework (SPIF). SPIF is needed in IPEC as a means to strengthen strategic planning at all levels. Several evaluations and review exercises done in the last few years show that the insufficient use of strategic planning is an issue to be solved. With a better strategic planning and analysis, the strategic leverage and multiplier effect of IPEC actions can be more effective and evident. As the issue of child labour becomes an integral part of the development agenda, the opportunities for impact are greater though integration, links and synergies between development interventions at different levels. A tool that establishes this overall strategic picture and uses it as the basis for analysis, planning, review and communication will greatly help IPEC and its partners in bringing about fundamental changes in the child labour situation. The SPIF approach is building on existing ILO/IPEC work to strengthen design, planning, monitoring and evaluation. There will be IPEC wide coverage and application through a gradual process with consistency in the principles but with variations to fit specific context. Internal and sustainable capacity will be created to make this approach an integral management tool. The basic concepts underlying this approach will be described in this introduction. Chapter 2 will explain how to develop the SPIF process while chapter 3 will analyse how to use it for different purposes. Finally, chapter 4 will address some specific features of the introduction of SPIF in IPEC. The annexes provide extra tools that can be used for building up the process or to expand the knowledge on SPIF.

What is SPIF?
SPIF is an approach to identify outcomes and impacts in an area of intervention (a given country, sector or target group) where a programme or project operates. Its intention is to place a project in context and provide the basis for strategic programming and linking of complementary interventions to enhance its effectiveness (Box 1) SPIF tries to articulate the theory of change —or logic model— underlying the efforts to eliminate child labour in the area of intervention. The theory of change is a sequence of interlinked propositions, assumptions and principles that explain how (positive) social transformations can be brought about, leading to an expected end-situation that considerably improves the existent reality of a country, a community or a specific group of people. SPIF can also promote a common understanding among the main stakeholders of a project of the problems causing child labour and the possible solutions and strategies leading to its progressive elimination (and the urgent eradication of the worst forms). The SPIF process can be used by IPEC or other organizations to plan their interventions, taking into consideration the external factors, the sequence of activities and the possibilities to promote synergies and achieve greater impact.

In IPEC, SPIF complements and enriches the Logical Framework Approach used for project design by bringing to light the context where the interventions will be inserted. It will also be the basis for assessing the impact of the interventions since it will facilitate demonstrating and documenting progress towards change.

In synthesis, SPIF is…
• … a strategic planning tool placing specific projects or programmes in context to design more effective interventions, since it helps managers and decision makers to consider the necessary synergies and linkages to be built with others.
• … a way of monitoring the implementation of the project and its external environment to ensure that the changing reality is taken into consideration at all times.
• … the first step in the impact assessment process, since it draws the “road map” towards the desired goal against which IPEC interventions will be evaluated by identifying changes at various levels and their interrelationship.
• … a reflection of a shared understanding on how child labour can be eliminated.
• … an instrument to improve the communication of the programme approach and to facilitate the comprehension of the strategic implications of the intervention.