DESIGNING PROJECTS IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

The “systems view” encouraged by RAPTA means that
different interventions and stakeholder partnerships
may emerge than in the original concept. Some problems,
key points and interventions identified through
RAPTA may fall outside the initially-envisaged source
of funding, requiring some re-thinking. Applying the
RAPTA process can influence project budgets, as
RAPTA emphasises components such as learning that
are often under-resourced.
Scoping comprises:
• Step 1 Explore context, problems, and aspirations
of the stakeholders and define project goal.
• Step 2 Define provisional scope, scale and location
of the project.
• Step 3 Review relevant past work and consider how
the project will build from this.
• Step 4 Identify stakeholders and governance structures
relevant to the phase of the project cycle.
• Step 5 Review how resources are to be allocated
to the different RAPTA components in the current
phase of the project cycle.
• Step 6 Revisit and revise Scoping to reflect learning
from other RAPTA components.
2.2 MULTI-STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Multi-Stakeholder Engagement and Governance
(also referred to as Engagement and Governance)
provides the process for ethically and transparently
getting the right people involved, in the right way, at
the right time. This is a basic requirement for most
development projects, but some aspects of standard
practice may need to be adjusted to reflect
RAPTA concepts.
Effective multi-stakeholder engagement and project
governance is critical to the development of locally-appropriate
interventions, their acceptance by
stakeholders and effective project implementation
because it brings together the diverse knowledge
held by stakeholders, governments and the funding
agency. It also builds a shared understanding of the
many perspectives that exist about the problems and
their possible solutions. It establishes roles, responsibilities
and accountabilities. To work well, stakeholder
dialogue should be supported by facilitators experienced
in resilience, adaptation and systems analysis.
These aspects are emphasized in RAPTA because
working across scales and sectors increases the
chances that power and knowledge differences exist,
and that complex ethical considerations may arise.
These aspects are especially important where the
project is focussed at the “transforming the system”
end of the spectrum.
Engagement and Governance is essential in all phases
of the project cycle. It comes early in the application
of RAPTA, and is strengthened and modified as the
project develops.
Engagement and Governance comprises:
• Step 1 Explore the range of approaches to
multi-stakeholder engagement and identify those
relevant to your project.
• Step 2 Conduct stakeholder analysis.
• Step 3 Establish or review project governance arrangements.
• Step 4 Consider the requirements for dialogue, and
the role and level of skills required of the facilitator.
• Step 5 Develop a multi-stakeholder engagement
plan, or review and revise the existing plan, for
each RAPTA component.
2.3 THEORY OF CHANGE
Developing a theory of change is good practice
in sustainable development projects and is often
required by funders. It can be used:
• to capture the rationale for the design and implementation
of interventions
• to place the linked activities, outputs, outcomes
and impacts within a logical framework (sometimes
called a log frame); and
• retrospectively, to evaluate the impacts, costs and
benefits of the project.
Existing theory of change methods are enhanced by
RAPTA through a systematic consideration of resilience,
adaptation, and transformation. For example, there is
deliberate consideration of the options for transformational
versus incremental change. The Theory of
Change component is closely linked to adaptive implementation
pathways (Options and Pathways), and both
components inform each other during the project’s
duration. The multi-scale perspective inherent in RAPTA
encourages a nested approach that links goals, activities,
outputs and outcomes of the individual project
28 Overview of RAPTA process