Strategic framework design for adaptive long-term planning.

Background

The International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) contacted Bec for support with further developing an existing strategic framework into a more adaptive framework that was also able to be more flexible and be presented in a non-traditional format. This brief recognises the dynamic contexts IWDA will be operating in over the coming decade. There was a concurrent need to conceptualise a theory of change, able to evolve over time and ensure capacity for the strategy to evolve.

Opportunity for futures

IWDA operates in Australia and across the region to resource diverse women’s rights organisations primarily in Asia and the Pacific and contributing to global feminist movements to advance our vision of gender equality for all. In recent years IWDA has made a significant effort to decolonise their practice.

Approach

To ground the process in existing decolonial work and non-traditional approaches to presenting strategies (or similar content), the strategy was broken into key components. The following components were the main focus of the work, in part due to the brief and in part because these elements lend themselves best to non-traditional visual communication:

• Context – through the consideration of dynamic contexts and multi-level perspective
• Adaptive planning cycle – through the development and structuring of a strategic plan
• Our Theory of Change – through the extension of the strategic plan with actions and prompts, centred around IWDA’s vision and purpose

The design of these elements was considered important to further informing the approach taken to the strategic plan.

The timeframe for this project was short and the client was impressed by the breadth and depth of information developed and delivered. IWDA used this work to platform the continued development of their strategic planning, culminating in their 10-year strategic framework.

“We are so grateful for the work you did to help us develop our theory of change – as you’ll see, it continued to evolve through the process and while the final version looks quite different, we integrated many of the elements you brought to us, particularly the adaptive planning approach and the idea of working across the local / national / regional / global level to create change. We’ve acknowledged Relative Creative amongst the consultants who contributed to the process and really wanted to reiterate our gratitude to you!”
Alice Ridge, IWDA