Introduction (where to begin?)

Hi everybody!

Hmmm... ok. Let's see... Here I am, trying to begin a blog to help us to use Stories of Change and the Most Significant Change technique to improve our initiatives to making market systems work better for marginalised producers.

SoC are simple narratives where people tell us that there have been changes in their lives related or due to the projects we are implementing. they can be positive or negative changes, but be prepared to hear that they feel no changes at all!

SoC can be a powerful and versatile tool to monitor and adjust the course of our initiatives. They are also a manifestation of the voices of the people who really matter to us (mainly marginalised producers in developing countries). The Markets and Livelihoods Programme is committed to listen carefully to those 'storytellers', learn from them and let them know how their stories help us to improve.

On the other hand, MSC is a technique that allows us to identify the changes that are affecting (for good or ill) the greatest number of people or that the majority of people perceive as the most important.

If we want to get the best out of these tools, we have to use them together. It always helps me to think of MSC as the (qualitative) average of a set of SoC. I cannot be serious if I say that 'my' project has been a success if one farmer, out of 3,000, says that the project has allowed him to buy a Mercedes Benz! I believe that, as a development practitioner, I can really be proud of (or worry about) MSCs generated by initiatives that I am involved in.

Do you also share this belief?