Читаем Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 3 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 3 (2022) полностью

Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 3 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 3 (2022)

5. Ноубл, Дж. (2021). Теория изменений за десять шагов. Фонд развития медиапроектов и социальных программ «Глэдвэй». Режим доступа: https://impact.ngo.ru/library/view/51 (дата доступа: 21.09.2022).

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From A to B by a Proven Route: Theory of Change as a Tool for Impact Planning and Evaluation

Ivan Smekalin

DOI 10.55140/2782–5817–2022–2–3–46–55

The theory of change became the mainstream for international development projects in the 1990s. The popularity of this design and evaluation tool in Russia is gradually growing. Its key value is a paradigm shift with respect to social change projects. Theory of change looks at causal mechanisms in achieving social outcomes through chosen actions. Read our article to find out how to make a project more reasonable and understandable for investors and implementers thanks to the theory of change.

Ivan Smekalin

Analyst, Positive Changes Factory

CONCEPTUALIZING THE CONCEPT: WHAT EXACTLY IS A THEORY OF CHANGE?

The theory of change as a concept emerged from the discussion of theoretically grounded practices of project evaluation. This methodology is inspired by the theory of social change as a grounded critical intervention in reality based on the principles of dialogue and equality. As defined by Ringhofer and Kohlweg: “Theory of change is a methodology for planning, management and evaluation of development projects and positive social change.” (Ringhofer & Kohlweg, 2019)

Theory of change as a methodology inherits as its principles a focus on development and empowerment in social change projects (Ibid). Key components of a theory of change include a description of social change, a set of activities to achieve the change, a description of immediate and intermediate effects, and conditions and assumptions for achieving the final impact.

Developed as a standalone methodology in the 1990s, theory of change has now become mainstream in the field of international development projects. Its key value is a paradigm shift with respect to social change projects. Up until the late 1990s, projects used to operate following the “black box” principle: resources and activities are fed into the system as inputs, and social results are achieved at the output in an unknown manner. The theory of change “unpacks” the black box and looks at causal mechanisms in achieving social outcomes through chosen actions. This makes the project more substantiated and more explicit in its content, and therefore more understandable to investors and implementers.