From Vision to Impact: A Practical Approach to Building Your Theory of Change
A Theory of Change (ToC) details an impact journey; inputs, activities, outputs and desired outcomes. It’s essentially an organisation’s methodology on how they plan to deliver their long-term social or environmental impact.
Its purpose is to…
Identify the necessary pre-conditions of your desired outcomes
Check your assumptions for each step of your process
Plan and evaluate your business activities
Communicate your impact framework to key stakeholders
We’ve put together a quick guide for you to follow to build your own Theory of Change, with a template for you to use and adapt. Answering these key questions allows you to articulate your end goal, from which you can work backwards to determine the necessary steps.
Step 1: Define your desired impact
WHO is the target population you are helping?
WHAT results do you hope to achieve?
WHEN do you hope to achieve the desired impact?
WHERE will your impact be and in what is the context?
Step 2: How will impact be achieved?
Starting from the desired impact, build a model of your Theory of Change by working backwards to determine each of the necessary pre-conditions as below.
Step 3: Are your assumptions realistic?
A Theory of Change relies on assumptions that explain why a result will occur, and how realistic it is. Test the logic of your assumptions using the below format:
If your assumptions are not realistic, adjust your Theory of Change model.
Step 4: What is your ToC statement?
A Theory of Change statement accurately communicates to your beneficiaries, investors, suppliers, media and other stakeholders the impact you hope to achieve and how you will achieve it.
Examples of a ToC statement:
"Our organisation aims to break the cycle of poverty by providing education and job training programmes for underprivileged youth, leading to increased employability and higher-paying job opportunities."
"We believe that by providing low-income families with access to affordable healthy food options and nutrition education, we can reduce the prevalence of diet-related health issues and improve overall health outcomes in our community."
Following these 4 steps will provide you with a framework for your impact that will be the foundation of all business activities. It’s important to have a rigorous Theory of Change in place for the reasons explained above, but most significantly, it becomes an organisations’ proof of concept as it presents their unique process of thinking and acts as evidence of how an impact intervention works.
