Theory of change or the Results Framework can be a paradigm tool for early stage enterprises. With lean teams and a plethora of the day-to-day pressures of running a business, it can be easy to lose focus on tracking and measuring the social impact that the business is creating. Frameworks like Theory of Change enable businesses in identifying and knowing what to measure – creating a decision making capacity backed by data and evidence.

The framework delivers “WHAT” needs to be achieved at different stages of the business over time followed by indicator mapping – enabling companies to attach a metric to each element of the Theory of Change. This integrates the “What” with “How” - What is the metric/indicator representing the Impact/Outcome/Output/Activity – what will be measured; how will it be measured; at what frequency; against what target.

Upaya’s portfolio company Resham Sutra embarked on their journey to create a Theory of Change Framework recently. The objective was to establish the causal analysis of how their business will lead to the desired long term impact in the lives of the local rural artisans – silk reelers, spinners and weavers working particularly in extremely poor geographies of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha. The rural artisans, most of whom are women, have been relying on techniques like ‘thigh silk reeling’ where they manually use their thighs and hands to produce yarn from the cocoon filaments. The process is not just antiquated, it is also injurious to their health. Artisans at their best are able to produce an unsustainably minuscule output, generating extremely low income out of the arduous process. Resham Sutra, with its novel solar-powered looms envisions empowering, organizing and enabling the rural artisan community with advanced machinery, breaking the nefarious working and economic conditions of the traditional silk artisans. The company aspires to build a self-sustainable local rural artisan community, which is driven by product and process innovation.

The point to note is, while developing the Theory of Change framework, the process is probably more important than the end result. While the process is a consequential mapping of the long term impact with the day to day current activities, the mapping exercise also enhances the understanding of the assumptions and risks that a business must examine to strengthen their  long term impact. For Resham Sutra, in order to achieve “the long term impact of creating self sustainable livelihoods for the rural local artisans”, we mapped  the needed supply and demand side market factors (long term outcomes) to make the rural artisans financially independent. We then drilled down to what is needed (short term outputs) for the current market to sustain and new markets to be established.

“While all the elements of Theory of Change (Outcomes and Outputs) were already in our heads in some form or shape, the exercise really nudged us to put it all together in a canvas and create our own intentional storyline”

- Upasna Jain, Chief of Staff, Resham Sutra

As a final step of the exercise,we mapped  the inputs that Resham Sutra is infusing in the system and the operations it is performing each day to achieve the short term outputs to establish and sustain the supply and demand side market factors. In addition, Resham Sutra did a similar exercise for its long term impact statement of “creating an ecosystem of reliable, consistent and dignified income and income opportunities – while organizing them locally such that they emerge as a hopeful, believing community socially, economically and culturally.”

“The exercise was not just for the company or me as the founder of Resham Sutra, but it enables my team to precisely know what, how and when to measure to achieve our vision – a clear problem analysis towards our vision.”

- Kunal Vaid, Founder, Resham Sutra

The Theory of Change framework for Resham Sutra will act as a breathing document subject to changes in activities and projects.  The immediate outputs and long term outcomes change but the end, long term impact remains the North Star for the company at any point in time.

Upaya works with all our portfolio companies to support them in setting up a lean and effective impact measurement and management practice that helps them keep a track of their impact performance. Facilitating a Theory of Change workshop is the first step in this direction, followed by development of  measurement indicators and then having a regular impact performance monitoring and evaluation mechanism.