dudette, why do I only see this now!? Congratulations, I´m so happy for you guys! People, they won the award for best documentary and the Volkswagen audience award, too! I guess you then aren´t too sad about not making it to the finals here ;). However, I´m happy to hear that you are as much interested in continuing our debate here than I am. Let´s get together with Heather Cameron and her research project soon - I also hear that there are more web based changemaker community things coming up, to keep this community going. I´m sure we´ll find ways to push what´s interesting to us there. Also, I heartily invite you to our brand new studivz group for bg roadwork...if you have something similar up, I´m happy to join you. Find us at:
hey Jasper – thank you so much for your enthusiastic response! Yes, we definitely should continue this discussion even after this competition will have been finished. As you know we have some social scientists within our team and we are open to everyone interested in this debate. Unfortunately we have not had that many capacities to contact a lot of participants in this competition, but probably you have had the opportunity to get to know some persons interested either from Germany or from other countries? We are looking forward to a meeting with Heather Cameron and probably we can start a little project on how to develop a theory of change.
During the last week we all spent a lot of time at the Berlinale. On Sunday, 10th of February, there was the premiere of the film about our football game in Teheran. It was a fantastic evening!! The name of the film is “Football under Cover” and we all are so happy about it. The resonance of the audience was great. On Thursday the film won two awards during the celebration of “Teddy-Award”. We all were invited to the celebration and it was another wonderful evening.
The main statement of the film is: Change is possible! Therefore we really hope that many many people will see the film (in cinema from 10th of April 2008)!
I just saw that Boxgirls now has a theory of change statement.
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/2279#comment-3571
As I have written in regard to several projects here now, that topic is of special interest to me as the sociology guy that I am. Of course everybody claims to have an impact on young people´s lives, make them feel more self-confident, not just offer a pasttime, but also build character etc. (especially, when, like in this competition, it´s about winning money and fame). However, how exactly does that work? How does one bring about these changes in attitude/in society at large through sport? I often find there to be an explanation gap - compete successfully on the soccer field or beat someone in the ring - compete successfully in life, trust in that you can take up anybody? Not so simple. Do you think about these things? What are the underlying assumptions that inform your work? I´d be interested to learn.
Here´s some stuff you might find interesting:
Into to Theory of Change by the Aspen Institute
http://www.theoryofchange.org/
Extensive HowTo from the University of Arizona
http://www.publichealth.arizona.edu/chwtoolkit/PDFs/Logicmod/chapter3.pdf
And, to wit, we´re seeing the "Theory of change" primaries in the US right now :).
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_theory_of_change_primary
..which has prompted me to write a blog article directed at my lefty friends...
Lots of stuff, I know, but as I said, this is what has emerged as the most interesting topic for me around this whole changemaker/SFABW thing here, which as a person not engaged in social entrepreneurship or organized sports I find more and more fascinating. So... if you´d like to comment (here and/or over at Boxgirls), that´d be great :).
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Dear Jasper,
to be honest: Until we read your question we did not think a lot about our “theory of change”. But as a social scientist I was spontaneously fascinated about these things, so thank you for this inspiration – we just had some interesting discussions on it.
I had a look at the stuff you mentioned. But although I do not know that much about the so called “theory of change” the articles left me quite critical. I am not convinced, that “theory” is the right word for these concepts, especially the one of the Kellogg Foundation. In my opinion the stuff on the links is rather a description of management tools. Of course for some parts of our work a more target oriented way of planning could be helpful. But I am convinced that change of society cannot that easily be managed. I am a political scientist and therefore more or less familiar with the concepts of how to implement a political program. In the 60the and 70th the idea that a program will be successful, as long as there is a good plan and a good controlling-system might have been very popular. But today this optimistic view on steering processes is mainly out-dated and political science as a whole, and policy and implementation analysis in particular, take into account that society is much more complex. And I am very happy about this development.
Nowadays there are other ideas on planning and controlling in the management literature. These ideas are mainly oriented on things like profit and efficiency. And in my opinion adapting them uncritically for social projects would be another step of economizing “lifeworld” (Lebenswelt). By doing our football project we are not solely interested in economically defined efficiency.
So much on my scepticism on that. However, it is fascinating to think more about the underlying assumptions of our work – and there might be some interesting theoretical concepts to explain them. (to be continued below...)
... I am not able to carry out a full analysis on this – but I see this platform as a great opportunity to bring together ideas from various disciplines. I agree with you, Jasper, that sociology would be the first discipline to apply to all questions on how to change society. But for our work psychology and education could be helpful as well. Let me try to point out some rough ideas on how to use scientific concepts from these disciplines to explain and analyse the success of our work:
The main target of our project is to overcome cultural barriers. The underlying assumption is that the more we know each other and the more we live together the more we will be able to overcome these barriers. Some arguments for these assumptions can be found in the work of Pierre Bourdieu. He explains why the separation of social classes is stable and hard to dissolve: In our social practice we reproduce the typical behaviour of our social group which is mainly based on imitation without rational decisions. Getting to know people from different cultures and different social classes gives us the ability to reflect on our own behaviour and to get a deeper understanding of the “others”. This idea is supported by some empirical findings: It has been shown for instance, that in some regions with a very low migration-rate there is an increased degree of aggression against foreigners. (to be continued below...)
... By searching for ideas of change in other disciplines I came across the psychological idea about the paradox of change in therapy: “change occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to become what he is not”. This, I think, is also the idea of our work. We all have different personalities and we are not interested in changing this – or each other. Instead we want to create a space and atmosphere which enables the players on the team to develop their own individual personalities.
This is just one idea we found promising while reflecting on a theory of change for our project. But of course there are tons of other ideas to be considered. By studying concepts of communication theory, for instance, we could get an idea about the reception of our media work. Concepts of social and individual learning could be helpful to analyse changes inside and outside of our group as well.
In order to develop a real “theory of change”– a theory which is more than a manual of how to be efficient – there is obviously a lot more work to be done. I think it would be great to continue this discourse. And the context of this worldwide competition seems to be a great starting point. And who knows – there might even be some scientists on this forum interested in carrying out a little research-project on it? (Perhaps with a little help of the sponsors of this competition?) If so, we would be more than happy to welcome you in Berlin for analysing our project as an empirical example of a certain “theory of change”.
Wow, Japer, see what you started: more 800 words. Sorry, if this is more than you wanted. But as you can see, we got inspired. Now we are interested to know what you, and of course everybody else, think about it.
wow, thanks for your effort! This is great and actually exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. I think what you did with looking at other disciplines apart from business planning is a good contribution "we" humanities people can bring to this. It is important to listen to the business people and learn from them as regards planning and efficiency, but especially for "social entrepreneurs", as they are called around here, thinking about the "social" bit is as important. CM is indeed a good starting place for making one´s mind up about these things, like: Who are we as an organization? What do we want to do and how? How can we be efficient (financially, organizationwise) and work for our clients/ourselves - and how do these two levels connect? Looking at all the projects around here and talking to some I wanted to be part of this and who ended up not coming here, I get the impression that many seem to think that it´s enough if they "kind of" know what they want to do and how. But what really helps is to put it into words, into writing and come up with ideas and measures to get there. It seems like an exercise that is almost too easy, so many people skip it all together, but actually a theory of change (and thinking about what that could mean for you in the first place) is a terribly important guidance tool for any organization. I agree wholheartedly that I does not have to be "only about money" at all, though money will probably always be part of it for practical reasons. I´m all for continuing this fascinating discussion and I love the idea of making Al-Dersimspor a little model case. Actually, I might be interested in researching you (ha!) Let´s think about a good way of doing this, even if this competition ends.
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Heather Cameron from Boxgirls Berlin will start a research project on Social Entrepreneurs and self-evaluation this summer at the FU. We could think about being part of this, somehow, maybe she´s up for it. I think you and I (and maybe Frieda, whom I also know) bring good expertise on sociology/philosophy/psychology - questioning the material on Theory of Change out there from that perspective would be endlessley fascinating for me (and of course the other way ´round: approaching what´s there in sociology etc. with a kind of MBA mindset). Let´s collect some ideas here, so that others may benefit, too, and then work from there once this competition is over. Hey, it was worth coming here for this conversation alone :).
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
thanks a lot for your comments on our project and the references to your own project, Adeyatol, and to Seitenwechsel as well as the St. Paulis', Jasper!
It's definately great to take part in this competition, if only for connecting with other similar projects all over the globe.
Adeyatol, we certainly like to get together with you and exchange experiences and ideas for new ways of extending our projects. Thanks for posting your contact - we'll get back to you on this.
Good luck with your own project in this competition!
Concerning the documentary, Jasper, we'll probably have it ready to be added in a few days time. Thanks for remembering!
It's a pleasure to read about your great work with the Migrant Communities Female soccer Team and how far you've gone to forming a two team and establishing another one for 8-12 yares old all on volunteering capacity.
I am interested in your progress because I do run a male version of your project in Wellington, New Zealand for Refugee and Migrant communities and I entered the Nike changemaker competition (Link: http://changemakers.net/en-us/node/3820)
I'm just wondering if you would like to connect with me,as I will be happy to share views and brainstorm in order to pool resources for the sustainability of our projects.
good to see you on changemakers. It´s great how all the Berlin clubs and programs rally to this place :). You have seen Seitenwechsel´s Boxgirls Roadwork, I´m sure?
http://www.changemakers.net/node/2279
On intercultural work, there is also the St.Pauli Faninitiative from Hamburg, another cool project I like:
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/3622
Have fun here...and if you can find some footage of that documentary you mentioned, keep us posted.
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Hi Silke,
dudette, why do I only see this now!? Congratulations, I´m so happy for you guys! People, they won the award for best documentary and the Volkswagen audience award, too! I guess you then aren´t too sad about not making it to the finals here ;). However, I´m happy to hear that you are as much interested in continuing our debate here than I am. Let´s get together with Heather Cameron and her research project soon - I also hear that there are more web based changemaker community things coming up, to keep this community going. I´m sure we´ll find ways to push what´s interesting to us there. Also, I heartily invite you to our brand new studivz group for bg roadwork...if you have something similar up, I´m happy to join you. Find us at:
http://www.studivz.net/Groups/Overview/1a1f6d2559b1bf1d
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Dear Jasper, dear all,
hey Jasper – thank you so much for your enthusiastic response! Yes, we definitely should continue this discussion even after this competition will have been finished. As you know we have some social scientists within our team and we are open to everyone interested in this debate. Unfortunately we have not had that many capacities to contact a lot of participants in this competition, but probably you have had the opportunity to get to know some persons interested either from Germany or from other countries? We are looking forward to a meeting with Heather Cameron and probably we can start a little project on how to develop a theory of change.
During the last week we all spent a lot of time at the Berlinale. On Sunday, 10th of February, there was the premiere of the film about our football game in Teheran. It was a fantastic evening!! The name of the film is “Football under Cover” and we all are so happy about it. The resonance of the audience was great. On Thursday the film won two awards during the celebration of “Teddy-Award”. We all were invited to the celebration and it was another wonderful evening.
The main statement of the film is: Change is possible! Therefore we really hope that many many people will see the film (in cinema from 10th of April 2008)!
All the best for all participants!
Silke
Hey Silke,
I just saw that Boxgirls now has a theory of change statement.
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/2279#comment-3571
As I have written in regard to several projects here now, that topic is of special interest to me as the sociology guy that I am. Of course everybody claims to have an impact on young people´s lives, make them feel more self-confident, not just offer a pasttime, but also build character etc. (especially, when, like in this competition, it´s about winning money and fame). However, how exactly does that work? How does one bring about these changes in attitude/in society at large through sport? I often find there to be an explanation gap - compete successfully on the soccer field or beat someone in the ring - compete successfully in life, trust in that you can take up anybody? Not so simple. Do you think about these things? What are the underlying assumptions that inform your work? I´d be interested to learn.
Here´s some stuff you might find interesting:
Into to Theory of Change by the Aspen Institute
http://www.theoryofchange.org/
Extensive HowTo from the University of Arizona
http://www.publichealth.arizona.edu/chwtoolkit/PDFs/Logicmod/chapter3.pdf
And, to wit, we´re seeing the "Theory of change" primaries in the US right now :).
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_theory_of_change_primary
..which has prompted me to write a blog article directed at my lefty friends...
http://jasper.blogsport.de/2008/01/14/theorie-der-veraenderung-vs-veraenderung/
Lots of stuff, I know, but as I said, this is what has emerged as the most interesting topic for me around this whole changemaker/SFABW thing here, which as a person not engaged in social entrepreneurship or organized sports I find more and more fascinating. So... if you´d like to comment (here and/or over at Boxgirls), that´d be great :).
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Dear Jasper,
to be honest: Until we read your question we did not think a lot about our “theory of change”. But as a social scientist I was spontaneously fascinated about these things, so thank you for this inspiration – we just had some interesting discussions on it.
I had a look at the stuff you mentioned. But although I do not know that much about the so called “theory of change” the articles left me quite critical. I am not convinced, that “theory” is the right word for these concepts, especially the one of the Kellogg Foundation. In my opinion the stuff on the links is rather a description of management tools. Of course for some parts of our work a more target oriented way of planning could be helpful. But I am convinced that change of society cannot that easily be managed. I am a political scientist and therefore more or less familiar with the concepts of how to implement a political program. In the 60the and 70th the idea that a program will be successful, as long as there is a good plan and a good controlling-system might have been very popular. But today this optimistic view on steering processes is mainly out-dated and political science as a whole, and policy and implementation analysis in particular, take into account that society is much more complex. And I am very happy about this development.
Nowadays there are other ideas on planning and controlling in the management literature. These ideas are mainly oriented on things like profit and efficiency. And in my opinion adapting them uncritically for social projects would be another step of economizing “lifeworld” (Lebenswelt). By doing our football project we are not solely interested in economically defined efficiency.
So much on my scepticism on that. However, it is fascinating to think more about the underlying assumptions of our work – and there might be some interesting theoretical concepts to explain them. (to be continued below...)
... I am not able to carry out a full analysis on this – but I see this platform as a great opportunity to bring together ideas from various disciplines. I agree with you, Jasper, that sociology would be the first discipline to apply to all questions on how to change society. But for our work psychology and education could be helpful as well. Let me try to point out some rough ideas on how to use scientific concepts from these disciplines to explain and analyse the success of our work:
The main target of our project is to overcome cultural barriers. The underlying assumption is that the more we know each other and the more we live together the more we will be able to overcome these barriers. Some arguments for these assumptions can be found in the work of Pierre Bourdieu. He explains why the separation of social classes is stable and hard to dissolve: In our social practice we reproduce the typical behaviour of our social group which is mainly based on imitation without rational decisions. Getting to know people from different cultures and different social classes gives us the ability to reflect on our own behaviour and to get a deeper understanding of the “others”. This idea is supported by some empirical findings: It has been shown for instance, that in some regions with a very low migration-rate there is an increased degree of aggression against foreigners. (to be continued below...)
... By searching for ideas of change in other disciplines I came across the psychological idea about the paradox of change in therapy: “change occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to become what he is not”. This, I think, is also the idea of our work. We all have different personalities and we are not interested in changing this – or each other. Instead we want to create a space and atmosphere which enables the players on the team to develop their own individual personalities.
This is just one idea we found promising while reflecting on a theory of change for our project. But of course there are tons of other ideas to be considered. By studying concepts of communication theory, for instance, we could get an idea about the reception of our media work. Concepts of social and individual learning could be helpful to analyse changes inside and outside of our group as well.
In order to develop a real “theory of change”– a theory which is more than a manual of how to be efficient – there is obviously a lot more work to be done. I think it would be great to continue this discourse. And the context of this worldwide competition seems to be a great starting point. And who knows – there might even be some scientists on this forum interested in carrying out a little research-project on it? (Perhaps with a little help of the sponsors of this competition?) If so, we would be more than happy to welcome you in Berlin for analysing our project as an empirical example of a certain “theory of change”.
Wow, Japer, see what you started: more 800 words. Sorry, if this is more than you wanted. But as you can see, we got inspired. Now we are interested to know what you, and of course everybody else, think about it.
Silke
Hi Silke,
wow, thanks for your effort! This is great and actually exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. I think what you did with looking at other disciplines apart from business planning is a good contribution "we" humanities people can bring to this. It is important to listen to the business people and learn from them as regards planning and efficiency, but especially for "social entrepreneurs", as they are called around here, thinking about the "social" bit is as important. CM is indeed a good starting place for making one´s mind up about these things, like: Who are we as an organization? What do we want to do and how? How can we be efficient (financially, organizationwise) and work for our clients/ourselves - and how do these two levels connect? Looking at all the projects around here and talking to some I wanted to be part of this and who ended up not coming here, I get the impression that many seem to think that it´s enough if they "kind of" know what they want to do and how. But what really helps is to put it into words, into writing and come up with ideas and measures to get there. It seems like an exercise that is almost too easy, so many people skip it all together, but actually a theory of change (and thinking about what that could mean for you in the first place) is a terribly important guidance tool for any organization. I agree wholheartedly that I does not have to be "only about money" at all, though money will probably always be part of it for practical reasons. I´m all for continuing this fascinating discussion and I love the idea of making Al-Dersimspor a little model case. Actually, I might be interested in researching you (ha!) Let´s think about a good way of doing this, even if this competition ends.
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
(continued)
Heather Cameron from Boxgirls Berlin will start a research project on Social Entrepreneurs and self-evaluation this summer at the FU. We could think about being part of this, somehow, maybe she´s up for it. I think you and I (and maybe Frieda, whom I also know) bring good expertise on sociology/philosophy/psychology - questioning the material on Theory of Change out there from that perspective would be endlessley fascinating for me (and of course the other way ´round: approaching what´s there in sociology etc. with a kind of MBA mindset). Let´s collect some ideas here, so that others may benefit, too, and then work from there once this competition is over. Hey, it was worth coming here for this conversation alone :).
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Hi Adeyatol, hi Jasper,
thanks a lot for your comments on our project and the references to your own project, Adeyatol, and to Seitenwechsel as well as the St. Paulis', Jasper!
It's definately great to take part in this competition, if only for connecting with other similar projects all over the globe.
Adeyatol, we certainly like to get together with you and exchange experiences and ideas for new ways of extending our projects. Thanks for posting your contact - we'll get back to you on this.
Good luck with your own project in this competition!
Concerning the documentary, Jasper, we'll probably have it ready to be added in a few days time. Thanks for remembering!
All the best for now
Hi Silke,
It's a pleasure to read about your great work with the Migrant Communities Female soccer Team and how far you've gone to forming a two team and establishing another one for 8-12 yares old all on volunteering capacity.
I am interested in your progress because I do run a male version of your project in Wellington, New Zealand for Refugee and Migrant communities and I entered the Nike changemaker competition (Link: http://changemakers.net/en-us/node/3820)
I'm just wondering if you would like to connect with me,as I will be happy to share views and brainstorm in order to pool resources for the sustainability of our projects.
My email address: soccertalent.co.nz@gmail.com
Regards.
Hi Silke,
good to see you on changemakers. It´s great how all the Berlin clubs and programs rally to this place :). You have seen Seitenwechsel´s Boxgirls Roadwork, I´m sure?
http://www.changemakers.net/node/2279
On intercultural work, there is also the St.Pauli Faninitiative from Hamburg, another cool project I like:
http://www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/3622
Have fun here...and if you can find some footage of that documentary you mentioned, keep us posted.
Jasper Nicolaisen
Free University Berlin
University Challenge