THE ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS OF PROJECTS AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PLANNING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

The present article, which results from lectures given at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in the academic year 1990 - 1991, sketches some methods of project planning based on the logical framework approach. It claims that they dont offer the most efficient tools of planning for those projects, which have explicitely economic objectives, such as increasing poor farmers' income. Most accurate economic instruments, however, are used when a project is analysed or evaluated. So the question arises, whether those instruments can be used for project planning, or, in other terms, whether the financial cost-benefit-analysis is also a viable planning method. The answer given in the article is positive; the series of input and output data necessary for cost-benefit-analysis describe exactly and sufficiently the project to be executed. All major action to be taken is contained in these data. Furthermore they facilitate monitoring of the results obtained.