Your journey towards impact begins with a theory of change.
I coach students through a Theory of Change deck — working backward from the impact you want, to the conditions that make it possible, to the assumptions worth testing, to what you actually invest.
Sound familiar?
You've got the idea. You're short on the conditions that make it stick.
Why a theory of change matters
Change is the tip. Conditions are the iceberg underneath.
A theory of change stresses the stabilising conditions that allow change to happen, rather than fixating on the change itself. Most first-draft project pitches skip straight to the visible tip — and skip the foundation holding it up.
- Embraces complexity — change is rarely linear. Stabilising one condition often makes others easier to reach.
- Promotes longevity — focus on underlying conditions and the change is more likely to last after your project ends.
- Manages risk — it shows you which conditions are most fragile, so you know where your plan could break first.
The deck
The Theory of Change Pathway
Five stages, worked backward. We start from the impact you're chasing, define the change it requires, identify the assumptions behind it, convert them into conditions that must hold, and then decide what inputs are needed to stabilise those conditions.
What lasts
Start here. The lasting transformation you’re ultimately chasing, beyond the short term.
What must transform
The nearer-term outcome that has to happen for that impact to be possible at all.
What you’re betting on
The belief behind the change — identified and checked before you turn it into a condition to work toward.
What must hold
The condition derived from the assumption, stabilised through the inputs needed to make it hold.
What you invest
Only now: the actions, people, and resources you actually commit to the project.
Coaching sprints
From community context to a stabilised plan.
Past quests
Projects that walked the pathway
Read to Succeed: Thanh An
A chance conversation with local officials on a 2024 field trip surfaced a real gap: limited English learning support at the island’s one school. Over two years, the Can Gio Go Getters renewed the library collection, refreshed classrooms to make learning fun, and piloted a take-home card game for students to practise with family.
Project Shine
Repeated trips to a Bahnar village built a year-long partnership with CIDO at Fulbright University Vietnam. Together, a team co-designed an experiential summer camp that stretched youths’ worldviews beyond the village and grew local youth leaders to carry the programme forward.
Anh of EVG
A team set out to reform curriculum on puberty, consent, and contraception for a rural commune in Tra Vinh, Viet Nam. Interviews with parents and youth, plus experts from AWARE and MSF, showed they needed to meet the community where it was. They pivoted to co-create an open-access storybook, set in the real school and community library by EcoVietnam, that teaches children about unsafe touch and harassment.
Start your quest
Bring your passion and ideas. Leave with a stabilised plan.
Sprints run 45–60 minutes each, one on one or ideally with your project team. Bring whatever you've got — conversation snippets, observation notes, photos. Anything for a start.
Book a coaching session →Your quest guide slash coach
There's no perfect model and no single correct theory of change — just many theories, and many sites of wonder. This deck isn't meant to be prescriptive, it's meant to be a pedagogical starting point for your own thinking.
Cheng Yi'En
