Theory of Societal Change
The Challenge
Helping a society to change is a big task.
Lasting change requires people to be more than just aware of the issues that need to be addressed. They need to learn new ways of doing things, be personally motivated and willing to try them and then to actually put those changes into ongoing practice. This movement of change in knowledge, attitude and practice needs to occur at both an individual and group level.
Such change also has to involve the rights holders (member of the community) as well as the duty bearers (authorities, leaders) functioning together.
Our Approach
ITDC impacts individuals and groups for the purpose of empowering them to positively impact societal structures while considering community rights and resources.
It is our belief that empowered individuals and groups will have this transformational ability as long as there is a framework for such individuals and groups to do activate it. ITDC empowers the individuals and groups to learn to establish this framework in order to ensure that the society’s structural level is also impacted.
ITDC cooperates with donors regarding their focus areas or building blocks. Overall ITDC values areas such as good governance, democracy, gender equality, education, livelihoods, environment protection and local capacity building are exemplified in what we do and how we do it.
Societal change comes through two areas. The first impact starts with individual awareness and extends to group practices. This is the direct impact of ITDC projects. The second impact moves from the group practices to social structure impacts. This is the indirect impact of ITDC projects and it stems from individuals who have been transformed by what they have experienced.
