Alternatives analysis

Once a project has set SMART objectives, there is usually more than one way to achieve them. Alternatives analysis is the step where those different ways are laid out side by side and compared, before one is chosen.

The workbook's own description: it involves "brainstorming potential solutions and assessing them" against a fixed set of factors, so that "the most suitable and impactful strategy is selected for implementation."

This step sits between setting objectives and defining outcomes in the Logical Framework Analysis. It is where a project stops asking what it wants to achieve, and starts deciding how.

The workbook names four factors used to evaluate each candidate strategy in alternatives analysis:

The process is explicitly comparative: several candidate strategies are brainstormed first, then each is scored or weighed against all four factors together, not just one. The workbook is clear that this ensures "the project is well-designed and responsive to the identified challenges" — the point is not to find a technically correct answer, but the best-fit answer given real constraints.

Illustrative figures.

A project aims to reduce drop-out among girls in a rural block. Three candidate strategies are brainstormed:

The project team selects the cash-transfer strategy: it scores well on all four factors together, while the hostel option — despite potentially high long-term impact — fails on feasibility and time given the project's current resources. This is exactly what alternatives analysis is for: choosing the best available option, not the theoretically best option.

Chapter 4 (Understanding Logic Model in Social Programs for Social Impact Assessment), section 4.2.4, sets out alternatives analysis as a distinct step between Objective Analysis and Outcomes. Expect a question naming the four comparison factors (feasibility, cost-effectiveness, time, impact) and a scenario question asking which factor a described weakness relates to.

• Four named factors: feasibility, cost-effectiveness, time and impact. A question may substitute a plausible fifth factor (such as "sustainability") as a distractor — the workbook names only these four.
• Alternatives analysis compares strategies to reach the SAME objective — it is not the same as comparing different objectives, which happens earlier in Objective Analysis.
• This step precedes Outcomes and Outputs in the Logic Model sequence — do not place it after activities have already been finalised.
• Do not confuse this with assumptions, which identify the external conditions a chosen strategy depends on — assumptions come later, once a strategy has already been picked.