Evidence Your programme Theory of Change (ToC) provides a solid base for your M&E approach. A well-developed ToC should spell out the changes you are intending your programme to contribute to and the ways in which you think your programme will achieve this.
Although it is important to remain open to identifying unintended change which you perhaps hadn’t anticipated at design stage, your ToC should guide you to define the types of changes you expect and the pathways through which those changes are intended to happen.
This is a valuable starting point for your indicators and your M&E approach. It is recommended to develop and M&E plan at the same time as developing your programme’s ToC. A clear ToC will inform your approach to M&E, and the precision needed when developing your M&E plan can prompt more rigorous thinking about your ToC.
It is important not to worry too much about what your theory of change looks like – you can use diagrams or narrative however suits you best. The important thing is that it clarifies how you think your program will work and that your develop it with the rest of your program team and any partners. Sometimes even within the same team people can have different ideas about what a program is aiming to do and how it will achieve it. Getting everyone literally on the same page by developing a ToC together can bring helpful clarity.
TO NOTE: your ToC maps out how you think change will happen as a result of your program. Your M&E – especially an evaluation – will help you understand whether change has actually taken place – and whether it has happened the way you thought it would.
