{"id":504,"date":"2026-06-10T10:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/?p=504"},"modified":"2026-06-11T01:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:14:41","slug":"reflections-on-theory-of-change-and-social-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/reflections-on-theory-of-change-and-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Following the Threads: Reflections on Theory of Change and Social Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few weeks into my role at PRIA International Academy, I found myself sitting in a Theory of Change workshop listening to conversations about outputs, outcomes, indicators, assumptions, stakeholders, and pathways of change. It was a language I was only beginning to learn. If this kind of reflective workshop experience resonates with you, <a href=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/reflections-from-an-arts-based-learning-circle\/\">read another first-person account from a PRIA workshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coming from a background in ethnographic research with Adivasi youth in Bastar, I was more accustomed to questions than frameworks. The questions that stayed with me were messy ones: How does change happen? Why do some opportunities open up while others remain out of reach? Why do interventions sometimes produce outcomes very different from those intended?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Theory of Change was one of those concepts I had encountered before but never fully understood. I knew it appeared in proposals and strategic plans, but I remained unsure of what it offered as a way of thinking about social change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mapping Complexity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By mid-morning, nobody was looking at the PowerPoint anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The floor had disappeared beneath coloured slips of paper carrying words such as migration, forest rights, climate vulnerability, women&#8217;s unpaid labour, governance failure, and livelihood insecurity. Participants moved them around, debating where one problem ended and another began. Each time someone tried to separate an issue, another thread seemed to pull it back into the web. What had begun as a planning exercise increasingly felt like an exercise in understanding complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At one point, an attempt to place migration at the centre of the diagram was quickly challenged. Others argued that migration itself was only a symptom of deeper pressures \u2013 ecological change, insecure livelihoods, weak access to public services, and limited institutional support. The discussion did not settle the question so much as reveal how difficult it was to identify a single starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Reflections on Theory of Change and Social Change\" class=\"wp-image-506\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7500178916481787;width:331px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Promise and Limits of Linear Thinking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was struck by how much of the discussion depended on formulations that appeared far more orderly than the social realities they were trying to capture. The workshop repeatedly returned to a familiar structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If&#8230; then&#8230; so that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If communities receive leadership training and institutional exposure, then they may engage more actively with governance systems, so that institutions become more accountable and responsive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If women gain access to forest-based livelihoods and producer collectives, then livelihood insecurity may reduce, so that migration distress and economic vulnerability decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The logic was clear. Reality, I felt, was far less accommodating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As these examples accumulated, I found myself returning to questions that had shaped my own research. Years of fieldwork had taught me that social life seldom unfolds in neat sequences. Aspirations shift. Institutions respond unevenly. Interventions produce unintended consequences. Cause and effect resist tidy explanations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For much of the workshop, I sat with that tension. Was Theory of Change attempting to simplify a world that is inherently complex?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Theory of Change and Social Change\" class=\"wp-image-514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260501_213623-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Different Way of Seeing Theory of Change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as the conversations continued, I began to realise that I had been framing the problem too narrowly. The workshop was not asking participants to predict how change would unfold. It was asking them to articulate the conditions under which change might become possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That shift stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In that sense, Theory of Change was not a map of reality. It was a way of making our reasoning about reality visible. <a href=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/theory-of-change-for-greater-impact-in-community\/\">Explore how Theory of Change can be applied for greater community impact.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seen in this light, Theory of Change was less about predicting change than making assumptions visible. Why should one activity lead to a particular outcome? What conditions need to exist? Who enables change? Who might interrupt it? What are we taking for granted when we design programmes and interventions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tracing the Connections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These questions became especially vivid during a case study on livelihood insecurity among Adivasi communities in Jharkhand. What initially appeared to be a discussion about livelihoods quickly expanded into conversations about forest access, climate vulnerability, migration, agriculture, governance, and public services. The further we traced one issue, the more difficult it became to separate it from the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The exercise highlighted how categories such as livelihoods, migration, governance, and climate often function less as distinct sectors than as different entry points into the same social reality. Rather than beginning with activities, the process encouraged participants to start with context, relationships, stakeholders, and the assumptions connecting action to change. <a href=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/why-cbpr-is-the-future-of-ethical-and-inclusive-research\/\">See how Community-Based Participatory Research embraces this complexity.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because every pathway rests on assumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If communities become more aware of their rights, will institutions necessarily respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If women participate in collectives, will decision-making structures become more equitable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If grievance redressal systems exist, are they genuinely accessible to migrant workers facing vulnerability?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Theory of Change and Social Change\" class=\"wp-image-517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20260502_004128-624x468.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Change for Whom?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gradually, I found myself returning to questions that had accompanied me long before I entered the workshop: change for whom, and defined by whom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In development practice, terms such as participation, empowerment, inclusion, and accountability can appear self-evident. Yet their meanings are not experienced in the same way by everyone. Increased participation may not carry the same significance across contexts shaped by gender inequality, caste, livelihood insecurity, or institutional exclusion. In many cases, meaningful change involves not only access to services or resources, but also dignity, confidence, recognition, safety, and the ability to negotiate institutions without fear. <a href=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/participatory-approach-empowering-communities\/\">Learn why PRIA&#8217;s participatory approach is more relevant than ever.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Embracing Uncertainty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community-based change rarely moves from action to outcome. Assumptions prove fragile, contexts shift, and consequences emerge in unexpected ways. What the workshop offered was not a way of simplifying this complexity, but a way of engaging with it more consciously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As someone newly entering the world of programme design and institutional practice, I left the workshop thinking less about whether social change can ever be fully captured within a framework and more about the value of creating spaces where assumptions can be surfaced, debated, and reconsidered collectively. Such spaces encourage us to become more explicit about the assumptions that guide our actions, the forms of change we seek, and the people whose voices animate those visions. <a href=\"https:\/\/priaacademy.org\/blog\/participatory-learning-methods\/\">Discover participatory learning methods that enable this kind of shared inquiry.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Following the Threads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking back, I find myself returning to the image of those coloured slips spread across the floor. Each attempt to separate one issue from another seemed to reveal yet another connection. By the end of the workshop, the diagram remained messy, unfinished, and open to revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps that is precisely the value of Theory of Change. Not because it untangles the complexity of social life, but because it creates a space to examine the threads more carefully \u2013 to ask what we believe, why we believe it, and what conditions might allow change to take root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If this reflection resonates with you, explore<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.priaacademy.org\/services-details\/learning-circles\"><em>PRIA&#8217;s Learning Circles<\/em><\/a><em> \u2014 spaces designed for exactly this kind of collective thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks into my role at PRIA International Academy, I found myself sitting in a Theory of Change workshop listening to conversations about outputs, outcomes, indicators, assumptions, stakeholders, and pathways of change. It was a language I was only beginning to learn. If this kind of reflective workshop experience resonates with you, read another [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reflections on Theory of Change &amp; Social Change - PRIA Academy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore a practitioner&#039;s reflections on Theory of Change. Learn how to map complexity and surface hidden assumptions. 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