Policy evaluations in the UK have increasingly espoused a ‘Theories of Change’ (ToC) approach, drawing on North American experiences. Features of ToC include the expectation that all affected stakeholders will be involved in developing, agreeing, monitoring and evaluating a relevant theory for the proposed intervention, and the assumption that widespread stakeholder involvement will extend ownership of the intervention to achieve ‘total ownership’ and also improve attribution. Drawing on the experiences of three English evaluations (Health Action Zones, New Deal for Communities and Local Strategic Partnerships), this article examines the possibilities and limitations associated with the achievement of ‘total ownership’. Analysis reveals some important differences between the English and North American contexts and leads to the development of alternative models of ownership including ‘elite’,‘evaluator’,‘principal’ or ‘community’ ownership. The article concludes that if these models are more realistic than ‘total ownership’ in the English policy environment then this has implications for the appropriate application of ToC.

Does "total ownership" from different stakeholders involved in agreeing, developing and monitoring a ToC lead to ownership and attribution?

Who owns the Theory of Change?

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<h2>English</h2>
In recent years, the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) embarked on an action-learning process aimed at rethinking and reflecting critically on the best way to understand and accompany civil society organisations and local NGOs working to achieve development and social change in the South. With this aim in mind, it set up a global programme. By applying and developing the Theory of Change approach, this programme seeks to explore new ways to tackle the ever growing complexity and difficulty of supporting these processes of social change around the world.
Within this framework, this paper has been prepared with the intention of feeding into the analysis that will be carried out at the Critical Reflection Workshop to be held in La Paz, Bolivia, on 19 and 20 January 2012. The main purpose of the workshop is to provide a space for critical reflection that helps the organisations participating to analyse and update their approach and practice of accompanying the local NGOs and organisations with whom they work in Bolivia and other countries in the region.
The event is particularly relevant in the current international development cooperation context. Firstly, competition for access to increasingly restricted sources of funding has intensified. Secondly, the effectiveness and impact of the work done by local NGOs as they seek to enable this long-awaited development and social change to happen is being seriously questioned. All this requires a further upgrading of organisational performance and the corresponding achievement of results, at every stage in the chain of development aid.
<h2>Spanish</h2>
En los últimos años, el Instituto Humanista para la Cooperación al Desarrollo (Hivos) se ha embarcado en un proceso de acción-aprendizaje orientado a repensar y reflexionar críticamente sobre la manera de entender y acompañar a las organizaciones sociales y ONGs locales para el desarrollo y cambio social en el Sur. Para ello, se ha establecido un programa global, que mediante la aplicación y desarrollo del enfoque de la Teoría de Cambio, busca explorar nuevas maneras de lidiar con la cada vez más creciente complejidad y dificultad de apoyar dichos procesos de cambio social en el mundo.
Dentro de este marco, se ha elaborado el presente documento con la intención de nutrir el análisis del Taller de Reflexión Crítica a ser realizado en La Paz, Bolivia, los días 18 y 19 de enero de 2012. El propósito del taller se basa en generar un espacio para la reflexión crítica que ayude a las organizaciones asistentes a analizar y actualizar su enfoque y práctica de acompañamiento a las ONGs y organizaciones locales con las que trabajan en Bolivia y otros países de la región.
El evento cobra mayor relevancia ante el contexto actual de cooperación internacional al desarrollo. Donde, por un lado, se intensificó la competencia por el acceso a fuentes de financiación cada vez más restrictivas, y, por otro lado, se da un fuerte cuestionamiento a los niveles de efectividad e impacto derivados del accionar de las ONGs locales a la hora de posibilitar el tan esperado desarrollo y cambio social. Todo ello, demanda cualificar aún más el desempeño organizacional y su correspondiente logro de resultados, a lo largo y ancho de toda la cadena de ayuda al desarrollo.

Hivos embarked on a process of action-oriented learning rethink and critically reflect on how to understand and accompany social organizations and local NGOs to develop social change in the South.

Local NGOs and their contribution to social change in Latin America: Paradoxes and contradictions

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JASS (Just Associates) is an international community of activists, scholars, and popular educators grounded in local and national action in more than 27 countries, working to strengthen and leverage the voice, visibility, and collective organizing power of women to create a just world. Its cooperation with Hivos focuses on Feminist Movement Building. You will find a powerpoint containing information on JASS its Theory of Change.

A case study of how JASS seeks to integrate learning in its Theory of Change.