BAPEN: Theory of Change
Dr Trevor Smith, BAPEN President
I am delighted to be able to update you all about some important work going on behind the scenes at BAPEN, our work on a ‘Theory of Change’ process, designed to help us identify a future path for BAPEN over the coming years. Part of the Theory of Change process includes reviewing our organisational goals and values. It’s a really exciting thing to be doing and so I wanted to give you all a little insight into our progress.
The Theory of Change process
So, what exactly is ‘Theory of Change’? It’s a methodology that has been widely used across the charity sector, as well as among government agencies, universities, NGOs, and so on.
It’s a step by step process, first of all to identify the changes that we want to make within the organisational structure of BAPEN, and then establish the steps we need to take in order to bring those changes about.
This process calls for a degree of reflection as well as forward-thinking. We are re-analysing all the goals we have previously set, and testing whether they remain pertinent as they are, or if they need adaptation. The reflection process takes us all the way back to our early origins, even as far as 1992 when BAPEN was first established! It’s an interesting and important process, obviously we have come a long way in those 29 years, and the world has changed around us. But that interrogation of our history, combined with future projection, examination and unpacking of our future ambitions, is so important to ensure that we can develop a thoroughly informed set of priorities and focus through following the Theory of Change process.
Tangible outcomes of the process
Once we have completed the process, how will you see it impacting on our activities? Well we are reviewing and refreshing our strategy. Believe it or not (time has flown) it is coming up to five years since we published our five-year strategy in 2017, so we need to ensure that our strategic direction is right for 2022 and onwards. The strategy guides us day-to-day and gives visibility to our members and stakeholders of our short-term goals and ambitions. We will also use the Theory of Change process to inform the development of a measurement and evaluation framework, which will help us check our progress against our goals as we move forward.
Evaluation is a crucial measure for any organisation. It allows us to learn from our successes and our setbacks and move on with those lessons in our back pocket. It is a process that we are learning and probably have not practised rigorously enough in the past, but by going through this methodology now we will have the confidence to know that we are measuring and evaluating all the right things. To my mind, that’s not just our day-to-day ‘doings’ and it’s not just about how many meetings we hold and how many reports we publish, but it is about real change in the recognition of the importance of nutrition, and genuine, meaningful changes for patients.
A new focus on values
One of the elements of the Theory of Change work that we are focusing on right now is looking at the values we hold as an organisation. We’ve never formalised these values. Many (if not most) charities have a prominent list of their values on their website, and we’ve never done this – perhaps assuming that our values should be obvious to all! That’s simply not the case though, and as our profile continues to grow, more and more individuals and organisations will come across us for the first time and we have an opportunity to offer a somewhat friendlier and perhaps less impenetrable face to the world!
I think this is likely to be important to many of you, and I have no doubt that it also matters to potential future members. They will be able to see that BAPEN is for them and will have a clear sense of what our organisation stands for, believes in, and actively promotes. By identifying the values that matter most to BAPEN we will fortify BAPEN’s identity and be able to communicate with confidence on behalf of the professionals and patients that need us to have a clear voice.
What comes next
Our values will be deeply embedded in our culture moving forward and will, I hope, be welcomed by our members. We will shortly be asking you all to help us in this process, giving your feedback to help us finalise our chosen values, and to tell us what they individually mean to you personally. I’m really looking forward to seeing your feedback on this. I know it is quite a rare step for an organisation like ours to complete this process through consultation, but I like to think we are leading by example here!
We will be sharing the results of the whole Theory of Change process, including the values work, at conference this November, and I am sure this will provide a great focus for discussion and hopefully a feeling of regeneration, optimism and excitement for our shared future. I think this is an exciting step forward for BAPEN, and I am confident that it will be an important milestone for our development.
All the best,
Trevor
BAPEN President