Module 3 · The three core ideas
Conjunctivity, equifinality, and causal chains
- Explain conjunctivity (AND) in plain language.
- Recognise equifinality (multiple roads) in programme data.
- Identify a causal chain, where one condition acts through another.
Everything CNA does rests on three ideas. Learn these three words and you have the heart of the method. Bonus: they make you sound very impressive in meetings.
1 · Conjunctivity, the "AND" idea
A condition might only matter when it is joined to others. A broken cold chain on its own may be survivable, but a broken cold chain and no outreach and no supervision, all in the same place, is how coverage quietly collapses. The conditions gang up.
A door stays shut when the lock, the handle, and the hinge all fail together. Fix any one of them and you might still get through. The door isn't broken because of a single villain. It's broken because three small problems decided to show up on the same day.
2 · Equifinality, the "many roads" idea
Different combinations can lead to the same sad outcome. One facility ends up with low coverage because of a broken cold chain plus no supervision. Another, with a perfectly good fridge, still ends up low because of no community mobilisation plus no outreach funding. Same destination, different roads. That is called equifinality, and CNA is one of the few methods polite enough to report every road instead of insisting there's only one.
Equifinality: two different combinations, each enough to produce low coverage. CNA reports both roads instead of forcing you to crown one "main cause."
3 · Causal chains, the "knock-on" idea
One factor can act through another. Weak supervision doesn't reach out and lower coverage by itself. It leads to weaker session planning, and weaker planning is what loses the children. It works down a chain, like a rumour:
A causal chain. CNA can detect that supervision acts through planning, which is something single-outcome methods simply cannot show you.
Think of a stubborn problem in your program, say a quarter of repeated stockouts. Name two different combinations of conditions that could each cause it. If you managed two, congratulations, you just spotted equifinality, and it means CNA is a good fit for your question.
Think about a district you know well.
- What combination of factors might explain its performance, rather than any single one?
- Could a different district be reaching the same result through a different combination?
- Can you spot a chain, where one weak link quietly causes the next?