20 years of outcome mapping: Evolving practices for transformative change

This paper reflects on the evolving use of Outcome Mapping 20 years after the first publication on this approach.

The resource also provides a "set of guiding practices to support transformative change":

"Three principles inherent in Outcome Mapping

1. Social, policy & systems changes depend on changes in human behaviour
2. People contribute to their own wellbeing
3. Sustained improvements in people’s lives or environments depend on relationships

Four core concepts necessary for effective use of Outcome Mapping

1. Outcomes understood as changes in behaviour
2. Spheres of influence
3. Contributions to outcomes, not attribution
4. Setting actor-centred boundaries

Five guiding practices for using Outcome Mapping to support transformational change

1. Facilitate inclusive & equity-focused participatory change processes
2. Be accountable to learning at individual, team and organisational levels
3. Grow a complex adaptive system view, & embrace uncertainty & experimentation
4. Commit to iterative, collective sense-making with inductive & data-driven reasoning
5. Lead from context & combine Outcome Mapping with other approaches as needed."