Edit Right AdvisorsModel 1C of Strategy Studio. Plan it right.
Change Canvas
Change Canvas is Edit Right Advisors' theory of change and program design canvas. Built on the problem, context, and target groups, it maps how activities lead to outputs, immediate outcomes, intermediate outcomes, and impact. It is designed backwards from impact, and every link is tested for its causal explanation, assumptions, evidence, risks, and equity and inclusion.
What is Change Canvas?
Change Canvas is Edit Right Advisors’ theory of change and program design canvas. Many calls score the program logic directly. Left unsolved, a weak logic costs points at review and carries into the logframe, the MEL plan, and every report that follows. Change Canvas helps your team build the logic step by step, test it honestly, and turn it into a design that can be funded, monitored, and evaluated.
When should you use Change Canvas?
Use it if a funder has asked for a theory of change or logframe, or your program logic jumps from activities straight to impact.
In your words: “The donor wants a theory of change, and ours is a diagram nobody can explain.”
How does Change Canvas work?
The canvas reads from bottom to top and is designed backwards, from 05 Impact down to 01 Activities.
- Base: Problem, context, and target groups
- 01: Activities
- 02: Outputs
- 03: Immediate outcomes
- 04: Intermediate outcomes
- 05: Impact
Every link is checked for five things: causal explanation, assumptions, evidence, risks, and equity and inclusion.
What you get
- Outputs: a theory of change diagram and narrative, ready to convert into a logframe with indicators.
- Result: a program logic your team, your funder, and the people you serve can understand, fund, and measure.
Delivered through SS-01 Strategic Advisory and Program Design.
What we need from you
- The problem, the context, and the target groups
- The evidence available on what works
- Your team’s program experience
Who it is for
- NGOs and community-based and similar organizations: build a theory of change and logframe that hold together.
- Funders: receive results logic that links activities to impact.
- Government: see assumptions, risks, and equity and inclusion made explicit.
- Researchers: get causal links, assumptions, and evidence set out for testing.
Illustrative example
Illustrative example only. This is a generic scenario, not a client result.
An NGO’s education proposal jumps from “train teachers” straight to “better learning.” Using Change Canvas, the team starts at impact and works backwards through intermediate outcomes, immediate outcomes, outputs, and activities. Each link is tested for its causal explanation, assumptions, evidence, risks, and equity and inclusion. A missing step, such as teachers applying new skills in class, becomes an explicit outcome with an indicator in the logframe.
Recognized practice behind Change Canvas
- Theory of change. Change Canvas follows theory of change practice, including backwards mapping and explicit assumptions, as set out by the Center for Theory of Change.
- Logframe. The output converts into a logframe with indicators.
- OECD DAC criteria. Clear logic prepares the design to be judged later for relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability.
- GEDSI analysis. Equity and inclusion is tested on every link, not added at the end.
Sources: Center for Theory of Change; OECD evaluation criteria.
Edit Right models are our own structured adaptations of established practice. Naming a benchmark, author, or institution does not imply accreditation, membership, or endorsement.
How Change Canvas connects
1A Readiness Radar
Explore the model1B Priority Prism
Explore the model3A MEL Map
Explore the modelParent framework: Strategy Studio
Back to the frameworkFrequently asked questions
What does designing backwards mean?
It means starting from the impact you want and working down to the activities that lead to it. This keeps every activity tied to a result.
What is checked on each link?
Every link is checked for five things: causal explanation, assumptions, evidence, risks, and equity and inclusion.
Can Change Canvas support our MEL plan?
Yes. The logframe it produces feeds Grant Gearbox proposals and the results logic in 3A MEL Map.
Key terms
- Theory of change: An explanation of how and why activities are expected to lead to change, including assumptions.
- Logframe: A table that sets out the results logic with indicators, sources, and risks.
- Results chain: The sequence of activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact (OECD DAC).
- Assumption: A condition that must hold for one level to lead to the next.
Not sure Change Canvas is the right place to start? Book a free call: editright.io/call We will listen, tell you honestly whether it fits, and suggest a first step.
Email hello@editright.io or call +1 314 998 0221.
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