Theory of change is a powerful tool for designing and evaluating social interventions. The process helps you understand the relationships between your activities, and the short and long outcomes achieved. Undertaking this approach can have many benefits: it provides a roadmap for planning and implementing interventions, enhances stakeholder engagement and collaboration, facilitates learning and adaptation, improves accountability and transparency, and helps measure and evaluate progress towards desired outcomes. Ultimately, theories of change can empower organisations to make informed decisions and create meaningful social impact. 

We provide step-by-guidance about how to start a theory of change practice from scratch for nature-based solutions (NbS) projects. In CLEVER Cities, each city started their journey by producing a theory of change, and we will share examples of what was produced. We will also share ways that theory of change can be used throughout the lifetime of a project, as a useful way of aligning visions and keeping track of assumptions on how change happens and the likely impacts of NbS. You’ll learn from the stories and experiences of those that have implemented this in practice, and what they would recommend for those looking to use this approach in future projects.