TIP: Pay attention to the role that the public is expected to play in the strategy. Even if a determination is made that public demand and mobilization are not required for a policy goal to be achieved, what will be required to ensure successful implementation and sustained support over the long term? 3) What are the underlying assumptions about how change happens? Theories of change should do more than identify positioning and tactics. They should identify the underlying assumptions and beliefs about how the advocacy process will unfold to achieve policy goals. Doing this requires basing the theory of change on notions about how politics and the policy process work, what it takes to effect change in that process on a given issue, and the specific levers that advocates need to push to catalyze change. Underlying assumptions may be based on: Social science theories: Many research-based theories about the policy process and about the actors that play roles in it can form the conceptual underpinning of an advocacy theory of change. Those theories can come from such diverse disciplines as political science, sociology, psychology, social psychology, or communications, and may be about how the policy process works, the actors that participate in it, or different advocacy strategies. They may draw on, for example, theories about networks, coalitions, civil society, or community organizing and For a description of social science theories about the policy process, see Pathways for Change: 10 Theories to Inform Advocacy and Policy Change by Sarah Stachowiak at www.evaluationinnovation.org. mobilization. Values: Theories of change also may be grounded in advocates’ or funders’ own values and notions about what works. Some advocates or funders value policy change regardless of how it happens; others care about the achievement of certain steps and outcomes along the way. For example, some funders want to see the involvement of voices affected by the policies being debated. Others emphasize collaboration among advocacy groups. Still others value advocates’ use of evaluation and data to inform their ongoing work. Experience: While there is no guarantee that what worked before will work again with advocacy, assumptions about how change will occur may also come from previous experience, with successful or unsuccessful advocacy efforts. 7