Theory of Change: From Activity to Impact
October, 2025
By Fabian Käser
Global research collaborations seek to generate impact, ranging from contributions to sustainable development to advancing knowledge or building capacities (see Forms and Types of Research Partnerships). Result chains or theories of change are used to explain how planned activities are expected to lead to such impact.
Output, outcome and impact represent a simplified results chain that illustrates the logical and causal relationships between activities and a common goal. Results chains enable the planning of targeted activities aligned towards the common goal.
- Inputs describe the resources (such as funding, time, and expertise) required to carry out planned activities.
Example: Funding and staff time allocated to organise a workshop or write an article. - Activities are the actions undertaken to create a certain output.
Example: Organising the workshop or writing the article. - Outputs are the direct, tangible products or deliverables resulting from the activities.
Example: The workshop is held, or the article is published. - Outcomes refer to the short- to medium-term changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, or conditions that result from the outputs.
Example: Participants gain new knowledge and modify their behaviour, or the article stimulates a broader academic debate. - Impacts capture the broader, long-term effects and contributions of these outcomes to the overarching goal.
Example: Behavioural changes promote sustainable development, or the academic debate advances knowledge.
Results chains and theories of change, combined with evaluation indicators, are used – for example by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) – to demonstrate intervention logic of an intervention and to assess its effectiveness and impact.
Further Reading