4. ● Understand how & why the theory of change approach is
relevant to Rotary service projects
● Hear practical examples of how Rotary members have applied
this approach
● Know where you can find more resources on designing
results-oriented service projects
● Feel excited, not intimidated, by the term theory of change!
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
6. GETTING TO IMPACT – BUILDING BLOCKS
INPUT
OUTPUT
OUTCOME
IMPACT
The resources
invested in a
project
Example:
Time, money,
training, and
materials used for
project or program
The immediate
results of a project
Example:
People trained,
materials
delivered, people
and institutions
engaged
The short-term or
intermediate
results of a project
Example:
Adoption of
systems or
practices
encouraged by
project
The positive, long-
term changes
resulting from our
actions
Example:
Measurable
improvement that
otherwise would
not have
happened
7. Long-term change
Medium- to long-
term change
Short- to
medium-term
change
Short-term
change
Reached by goods
and services
Goods / services
Activities
Assumptions
ssumptions
Assumptions
sumptions
Assumptions
sumptions
Assumptionss
umptions
Assumptionss
sumptions
THEORY OF CHANGE
• A set of assumptions about how an
intervention leads to an intended
change and under what conditions
• An articulation/representation of our
understanding of how and why
change happens
• An explicit identification of the
implicit connection between activities
and change processes
• A way of attempting to be more
honest about complex change
processes
• Framework for understanding
program attribution vs. contribution
Timeline
9. Improved learning
outcomes
Improved learning practices
Increased computer-related
knowledge & skills
Students access computer
lab
Computer lab equipped /
rehabilitated
Equip school with computer
lab
C4L THEORY OF CHANGE
Lab has access to
reliable power supply
Equipment is sufficient
to reach all students
Teachers provide high
quality computer-
related teaching
practices
Students have
sufficient access to
computers for their
learning needs
Strong parental
engagement in
student learning
Timeline
10. Improved learning
outcomes
Improved learning practices
Increased computer-related
knowledge & skills
Students access computer
lab
Computer lab equipped /
rehabilitated
Equip school with computer
lab
Targeted teachers
attend training
Teachers complete training
Teachers motivated to
improve teaching
practices
C4L THEORY OF CHANGE
Improved computer-related
teaching practices
Increased computer-related
knowledge and skills
Teachers reached by
training
Training delivered
Deliver training
Lab has access to
reliable power supply
Teachers provide high
quality computer-
related teaching
practices
Students have
sufficient access to
computers for their
learning needs
Strong parental
engagement in
student learning
Timeline
12. If members of the community are trained in poultry
farming, they will make enough money to look after
themselves and take their children to school.
Original theory of change for Adopt a Village
13. Assumptions
• Healthy community members are able and willing to farm poultry.
• There is a market for poultry and eggs.
• Farmers are financially literate.
• Schools are accessible, and capable teachers are present.
• Girls and boys are equally encouraged to attend and complete their education.
• What other assumptions might there be? Turn to each other and discuss for 2
minutes.
14. • Adopt a Village model: modified approach from hand-outs to hand up to
improve program results
• When assumptions are accounted for, the program enablers (like chickens and
poultry training) can be more effectively introduced
• Taking a theory of change approach helps one think through what
partners/experts are necessary to support reaching the desired results
Learning
15. Panama Digital Classrooms
M&E Framework
Aims - Go beyond just counting outputs, track changes
more closely and use elements of strategy and
management.
M&E Team
Host project leads, international project lead and the cadre.
16. INPUTS
• Stakeholder time
commitment
• Funding from GG
and MoE
• Training delivered
by the UTP
• Materials
provided by local
supplier
Before
• Alignment on expected
commitment
• The MoE is fully conversant
on the project and
estimated future cash
inflow requirement is
known
• Student teachers have
sufficient access to devices
for their learning
• No disruptions i.e. from
economic volatility
Assumptions
• Stakeholder Management
Strategy
• Management & Governance
Plan
• Strategy & Direction Plan
• Risk Management Strategy
After
17. OUTPUTS
• Teachers trained
on new
technologies
• Digital classrooms
equipped
• Lessons prepared
with the use of
new technologies
Before
•Training design
adequately meets
learning outcomes
•Equipment is delivered
as planned and is fit
for purpose with
adequate power and
connectivity
•Graduate teachers
provide high quality
digital learning
Assumptions
•Uptake of each cohort
monitored and
interventions applied
to increase as required
•Management &
Governance Plan
•Monitor how
instruction in the
classrooms is changing
over the
implementation
After
18. OUTCOMES
• Teachers using
new curriculum
• Increased
digital related
knowledge &
skills
Before
• Uptake from
teachers will be
high
• Uptake from
classroom
school children
will be high
Assumptions
• Establish base
KPI's to
measure
After
19. IMPACT
• Improvement
in student
achievement
Before
• All interventions
implemented will
achieve intended
benefits
realisation
Assumptions
• As this is a multi-year
project, periodically
investigate whether
initial plans and aims
are still relevant and
whether the ToC and
strategy need
adapting at intervals
After
20. ● Cadre of Technical Advisers:
cadre@rotary.org
● Rotary Action Groups
● Programs of Scale webpage
● Increase our Impact course on
Learning Center
Theory of Change Resources
SARAH
My name is Sarah Crawford, and I will be serving as the moderator today. [include brief intro]
SARAH
Our presenters are Francis Tusubira and Denise Creisson
Tusu [A retired academic and practicing ICT expert as the Managing Partner of Knowledge Consulting Ltd (https://kcl.co.ug/), Tusu is a Rotary Citizen with his foundation in the Rotary Club of Kampala North, now District 9213, Uganda. He is passionate about service to the community and people development, especially the youth. He continues to serve within and outside Rotary in various capacities at national, regional, and international levels. He is married to Dorcas of the Rotary Club of Sunrise Kampala, with whom they are deeply involved in supporting communities, both through and outside Rotary.]
Denise [add bio]Core Expertise:
Leadership & Strategy, Change Management, Project Management
Education:
PGDip in Organisational Leadership
MBA
BSc Accounting & Finance
Career:
Head of People & Organisational Development
Corporate Trainer
Senior Lecturer
Management Accountant
Other Roles:
TRF BEL Cadre Leader (Technical Coordinator)
RGBI D1260 District International Service Chair
Exec Board Oxford University Entrepreneurs Network (London Chapter)
SARAH
It is our intention that by the end of this session, you will:
Sarah
Increasing our impact is a key pillar of Rotary’s Action Plan. This cannot be done without improving our ability to measure impact – which necessitates a results-oriented approach to designing service projects: what do we want to achieve, and how do we get there?
SARAH
Some of you may be familiar with this diagram from other break-out sessions you have attended, and we will relate it to theory of change. It is a simple, linear way of showing the building blocks that lead to understanding impact. As you can see on the left it starts with inputs, the resources that are invested in a project. The next building block is labeled OUTPUT, those are the immediate results of project activities. Next is OUTCOMES, the short-term or intermediate results of a project, and lastly IMPACT, which is the positive, long-term changes resulting from our actions.
Rotary is focusing our efforts and resources on sustainable projects that bring lasting, positive change in communities around the world.
The key word in this definition is change.
However, while this building block depiction may be useful, we know that such a linear way of viewing the world isn’t always realistic. Just because one step is achieved doesn't mean we will always arrive at the next step. For example, providing teacher training and textbooks doesn't guarantee improved literacy rates of students. There are lots of other embedded assumptions that could affect quality of education provision and learning outcomes.
Therefore, when thinking about what’s the change we want to see, and how do we get there? It’s useful to take the theory of change approach.
Please do not be alarmed by the term “theory of change” we will explain!
SARAH
We will now go through an example prepared by colleagues at Mathematica
Computers for Learning is a project where computers were donated to a high school, and the teachers were trained on how to operate and maintain the computers.
Sarah
Sarah – talk through the slide then transition to Tusu
TUSU
In talking through, highlight that even this is not complete? For example, teacher motivation - underpaid? Will improved skills make them mobile instead, go say to a private school? Is there suitable content in the local language?
TUSU
There are a lot of implicit and explicit assumptions in trying to lift a community out of poverty. The original intention was to address poverty by providing inputs - chicken, cows, etc. that would enable income generation – along with training to enable members of the community to work these.
TUSU
Read statement. What does this simplified statement assume? Give 30 seconds for audience to read and think.
What conditions might need to be present for this statement to be true?
TUSU
This assumes a healthy community. However, a community where disease is a challenge will lose so much time being sick that they cannot focus usefully on any other initiative that will help them to develop. You cannot address CED if you have not addressed basic health, and this component must be added. Health centers come to mind.
Is that all? We all know that illiteracy can be a major barrier, if not a full block, to any efforts related to development. This really means CED must also look at the literacy and numeracy environment (along with the ability to interpret, create linkages and APPLY what is read to personal empowerment and development!): if it is deficient, it must be addressed. And this must go hand in hand with training in financial literacy.
TUSU
So you see, CED has became a totality of multiple inter-related and synergetic causal paths. This is now the formalized Adopt-a-Village approach that is recognised as one of the good models for CED, a model that evolved from a handouts to a hand-up. And lest we forget: it is not the things we give to or put in communities that create sustainability of the initiative. It is what the Community does in response (implicitly in a positive sense) to what we do as Rotarians that creates sustainability. This is behavioral change. We are just catalysts, not part of the reaction.
Now, when the ground is fertile in terms of the elements above, enablers like skills development (chances are that these will relate to agriculture and other income generating opportunities in rural communities) can be introduced. Or all the elements can move simultaneously to create synergy. Microcredit for example is an enabler: it is not a solution. One realizes soon on life (if one is lucky) that money is never a solution. Giving money to the poor does not make them rich: it makes them poor people with some transient cash.
You may be thinking: one global grant funded project cannot address agricultural practices, financial literacy, quality education, and health – which probably also includes water sanitation. What is clear is that in all the above (and there is a lot more that might need to be done in the community to fertilise the ground for CED), dedicated expertise will be required. So we look for partners with knowledge and experience in handling the different aspects. Cooperating organisations: these are now recognized as of one the key features of sustainable CED. Ok, this does not mean Rotarians do nothing: they must also dig in and apply their skills, but hey, being a Rotarian is NOT a full time job, so we also need a helping expert hand.
DENISE
Global Grant funded project
Training future teachers at the teacher training college and existing teachers in satellite schools on new techniques in teaching with an emphasis on collaborative learning, creative thinking and use of new technology (8 Paul Harris Interactive Digital classrooms) helping young people in Panama to avoid the pitfalls of poverty, create a more fulfilling future for themselves and be more productive.
could you talk about the Panama BEL example here? How the Rotary members learned from their initial GG that they weren’t going to have a sustained impact if they didn’t address the national teacher training institute? That they couldn’t just provide technology to the schools – but they need to have considered and addressed: training of teachers, coaching and support of teachers, modifying the curriculum so use of a computer made sense, having the appropriate equipment and ensuring ppl could maintain it, etc.
Stakeholder Time Commitment - Assessed and engage the right stakeholders, conducting mapping the key stakeholders on a regular basis in line with changing context
Funding from GG & MoE - Technical specification document raised to signpost expected ongoing costs for repair, maintenance and replacement and regular meetings with key MoE reps to keep them abreast of the implementation thereby increasing engagement and buyin
Training delivered by the UTP - Established what technology resources were available for instruction and how appropriate and relevant they were for meeting the goals of the project, revising and seeking alternatives where required
Materials provided by local supplier - Explored known risk and mitigation required to be responsive rather than reactive in negotiations with suppliers
Teachers trained on new technologies - Using pre and post surveys to identify areas to be strengthened. Also, engaging champions to support with additional training requirements to accommodate different learning styles
Digital classrooms equipped - Put together a strategy to assess the utilisation of the equipment supplied with the schools’ administration
Lessons prepared with the use of new technologies - Assessing how teachers are applying the skills within their own classrooms and what barriers exist to using these strategies and skills, working with the champions to be results focused and implement resolutions
Teachers using new curriculum - Monitor number of graduate teachers are embracing the tools and changing their methodologies/strategies in classroom delivery. Put in place a strategy for knowledge management, stakeholder engagement and how they are to be adopted
Increased digital related knowledge & skills - Monitor if the intervention has had an impact on the school children and what the PTA has observed about the impact on the school children.
Assess what has been actualised at intervals and what changes in strategies are needed to realise an improvement in student achievement
Denise
Denise
This is what you will find in the learning center series.
Denise
Now we would like to take some questions from the audience.