STEP 3

 

Rationale: Why develop a vision and what it brings to the process

Visioning is a tool that helps make explicit where people want to go with their project--the sort of outcomes and impacts they want to help bring about. It can be quite motivating, particularly when done in a group setting, as it can generate a lot of discussion among the members of the group. This exercise also helps create a common vision in the group, if there is none beforehand.

The danger of visioning is that people can be unrealistic and overambitious to such an extent that what they produce is not really useful for planning. It is also important to do the visioning exercise in line with specific activities, avoiding abstract or very generalized visions.

 

Preparation for the exercise

 

HOW LONG IT TAKES :

5 minutes for individual reflection on the vision

40 minutes for each group to write out the vision

10 minutes for presentation and discussion

 

HOW TO DO A VISION :

Ask the participants to carry out a visioning exercise, which borrows from appreciative inquiry (see ILAC Brief no. 6 – Acosta and Douthwaite, 2005), to describe project success one-and-a-half years in the future. One-and-a-half years is chosen because most of the projects we work with work in complex environments where it is difficult to plan with any certainty for more than 6 months. Hence 1.5 years represents three time periods.

Projects working in simpler and more predictable environments would construct their visions further in the future. We have found that having a relatively short time horizon helps keeps the vision concrete. However, it is sometimes useful to construct visions for after the end of a project works to stretch participants to think about who will be using and promoting project outputs once the project has finished, and so who they really need to be working with.

 

Click here for a PowerPoint slide of a visioning exercise.

Look at our FAQ if you have any further questions on creating a vision.

Next step: iv. Drawing Network Maps