Our Theory of Change
What is a theory of change?
A theory of change is our roadmap. It shows us how we can achieve our long-term goals. It works by looking at the following questions:
- What do we have? (Our inputs. For example, people and resources)
- What are we doing? (Our activities. For example, services and influencing)
- What results do we achieve? (Our outcomes. For example, improved feelings of safety, positive policy changes)
- What is the big picture? (Our impact. How this all helped us achieve our goals)
Or, to put it another way:
Inputs + Activities → Outcomes → Long-term Impact
Who developed our theory of change?
Colleagues from our Services, Refugee Involvement, Fundraising and External Affairs teams worked with two of our trustees to develop our theory of change.
It was tested with clients, supporters and refugee community organisations in one-to-one interviews and focus groups.
We will continue to work with refugees to develop another version of our theory of change for refugee clients. This is one of our pioneer refugee involvement projects.
Why do we need a theory of change?
Our theory of change will help us to:
- Understand the impact we want to achieve.
- Prioritise activities that achieve most impact for refugees.
- Measure our progress towards the impact we want to achieve.
- Learn and improve as we collect more data.
- Attract funders and partners by showing the impact of our work.
How will we use the theory of change?
We will use the theory of change to:
- Explain to funders, partners, supporters, and refugees how we contribute to long-term change.
- Collect impact data for more areas of our work, building on the impact data we are collecting across our services.
- Review, report and reflect on the data.
- Use the data to learn and improve how we deliver our work.
- Make decisions about new service delivery, funding and partnership opportunities based on how well they support our theory of change.
