Supporting voluntary organisations that work with offenders and their families Theory of change – what? Describes how a service or intervention is intended to work. Often an outcomes triangle or logic model but the process of thinking through the theory is more important than the output Requires consideration of: –Existing evidence –Ultimate goal and outcomes along the way Guides us to evidence we need to collect to know if we are achieving those outcomes and that goal.

Supporting voluntary organisations that work with offenders and their families Theory of change – why? Helps us to answer: How do we know our intervention makes a difference? How can we define and identify our contribution alongside other interventions? How can we identify long term impact? How can you be sure that outcomes achieved would not have happened anyway? How does out intervention contribute to a wider goal eg. Reducing reoffending?

Supporting voluntary organisations that work with offenders and their families Theory of change – how? A diagrammatic representation of a project is the centrepiece of most theories of change:diagrammatic –Planning triangle –Logic model –Outcomes chain –Outcomes chain structured around service users’ journeys –Written narrative But the process of creating one is more important than the output outcomes