“It all starts with a vision.
If we want to be the best people we can be, and live the best lives we can win we need to be clear where we want to go. Then we need to take control of whatever is in our power, and make a plan to get there. Or we will be buffeted by fortunes. At the end of our lives we will wonder what our lives were for.
Visions and plans may evolve – new possibilities may occur. Experience may make us decide we no longer want some things or they are not possible. But we need to continue to have visions and make new plans through tracking and reflecting on what we have done.”
Vision Journeys are the underlying framework for all GAMEChange empowerment processes. Based on principles of Appreciative Enquiry, they start with the positive but also being realistic and hard-headed about the challenges. They combine in one diagram:
- Strategic planning principles
- SWOT analysis starting with opportunities
- Theory of change developed through action learning over time
One diagram combining meaningful pictorial representation of all these elements together means that people can always see their vision before them as the inspiration to continue when life is difficult. They can add details and track their progress in relation to the vision. They can easily see at a glance which processes and strategies work or do not work. In order to improve success from cycle to cycle they can easily track and do new diagrams for new journeys as life evolves.
Vision Journey:
Common Steps
1: Dream Vision: Where do we want to go?
Every journey starts with a dream. Dreams are big but also disappear when we wake up.
Put a big red sun circle at the top right of the paper. We are reaching upwards for the light of the Sun.
The vision contains the parts of the dream that we think are almost possible if we work hard for them. These can be as far in the future as we want. But the vision must be big enough to inspire us to get up in the morning when life is difficult.
Draw elements of our vision inside the sun circle.
In the top left corner we can put also your name, group/organisation and date. We could think of personal symbols, or write this information.
2: Current Situation: Where are we now?
Before we start on the journey we need to understand where we are now. We reflect on our current situation in relation to the vision.
Draw symbols inside a black circle at the bottom left of the paper. Think carefully. These symbols should be a concrete assessment of where our life is now for each of the elements in our vision. Not just a vague symbol for unhappiness.
Join the two circles with two black lines for the road. We start by assuming the road will go ever upwards towards the sun.
3: Opportunities and Challenges: what will help or hinder us?
Opportunities: Draw 10+ opportunities top of the road in green as things you plan to make happen. The more potential opportunities you identify the more likely you are to succeed and keep positive.
Challenges: Draw challenges underneath the road in blue as things you want to perish. Do a detailed but realistic risk analysis so that you can address or avoid them.
Analysis: Things more controllable (individual strengths and weaknesses) go closer to the road. Things that cannot be controlled (contextual opportunities and threats) go further from the road.
Balance the road: finally identify new opportunities so that opportunities still are more than risks. Or possibly abort plan. DO NOT RUSH. IT IS IMPORTANT TO TAKE TIME ON THIS STEP.
4: Target and Milestones: Practical progress to track
Vision Journeys have a medium term ‘SMART’ target as a thick green circle placed next to the vision to make the plan concrete. A ‘SMART’ target means: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound. The time-frame could be whatever time period makes sense for your vision eg one year, a key festival, harvest, next workshop etc.
Two to four milestone intermediate targets are then placed as thinner green circles on the way. The first milestone should be after 1 month so that action starts immediately. The other milestones can be equal distance, or specific times depending on eg agricultural calendar or a project monitoring event. Put circles and planned progress in green.
5: Action Plan: Practical strategies to track
What actions are needed to go from target to target? We put drawings in green for all the things we plan to do:
- to take advantage of our opportunities
- to avoid or address our challenges
- to achieve the things we have put in each milestone.
6: Track and reflect: Our plan for life
Vision Journeys are ‘living plans’. They are part of our lives, not just forgotten getting dusty in a cupboard. We periodically track progress over time, and reflect on reasons for progress or lack of progress.
- Things achieved (milestones, actions, opportunities, challenges) we ring in red as ripe fruits.
- Things that did not work/we no longer want, we ring or cross out in blue as perished mouldy fruits.
- Things that are still in process and still planned we ring in green. We can add any new plans/opportunities in green. We can add any new challenges in blue.
The tool, and also your experiences are also shared with other people to exchange experience of which strategies work and which do not.
7: Share: we cannot walk alone
If our visions are big, we cannot achieve them alone. We need to work with other like-minded people and also negotiate with those who may not immediately agree with us.
So we draw the key steps of the tool at the back of our notebook to share the steps of the Vision Journey to help other people also progress in life. Something like the example – both don’t forget 10 opportunities and 10 challenges
We practice and extend the network of people with whom we share. When others are empowered to clarify and work towards their vision, then we can also share ideas and experience of strategies that work and avoid strategies that do not.
We can also write songs, poems and theatre to help spread the tool and increase the feeling of solidarity with others.
vision Journeys:
diagram Template dna
Vision journeys have evolved since the end of 1990s from simple ‘Achievement Road Journeys’ and ‘organisational achievement road maps’ commonly used by NGOs as a participatory impact assessment tool.
Achievement Journeys became a core part of the PALS or GALS processes that Linda Mayoux facilitated from 2002 onwards, starting with PALS workshops Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) in Western Uganda where ANANDI gave a presentation by ANANDI on Road Maps they used in India. The Vision Journey as an individual life planning tool with vision, current circle and one lane came to her in a ‘burst of spontaneous inspiration’ while facilitating a group of KRC farmers with flipcharts of trees and the back of a jeep.
The Vision Journey then evolved further as an organisational and/or individual strategic planning tool with multiple lanes and SWOT analysis. Facilitation in community workshops with a wide range of different organisations for different purposes led to addition of a number of features for greater clarity:
- stipulation of adequate number of opportunities and challenges and alignment of placing of these nearer or further from the road to align with SWOT analysis.
- clear separation of milestones and actions – so the actions become the main emphasis rather than everything jumbled together.
- clearer colour-coding – rather than just attractive picture maps – to facilitate clarity and tracking
These enabled more in-depth and accurate analysis by and between people with high levels of education as well as those who never had access to formal education.
What are Vision Journeys?
strategic planning (Vision Journey), impact assessment and evaluation (Achievement Journey and tracked Vision Journey) PALS as GALS and more recent methodologies like Financial Action Learning System (FALS), Happy Family Happy Chain, iLEAD etc.
Vision Journeys are of two basic types that can be combined as a process or done separately:
- Vision Journeys look to the future. This is generally the first Vision Journey used so that people are immediately inspire with possibilities of future change, rather than getting depressed about what may have gone before.
- Achievement Journeys assess lessons from the past in relation to the future vision. This is useful as part of a later review where it is combined with planning the next vision journey to the future.
Journeys may be single track or multi-lane for different aspects of levels of a vision or plan.
Vision Journeys are useful for any issue, in any context and for any number of participants from individual level to very large collective planning processes.
Generic steps
Current adaptations of GAMEChange empowerment methodologies have systematised a number of generic steps.
A Vision Journey towards the future is usually the first and underlying framework tool:
- Vision
- Current circle and road framework with one or more lanes
- Opportunities and challenges
- Timebound SMART target and milestones
- Activities and achievement targets in the milestones on the way.
Vision Journeys then tracked progress over time with red ‘fruit circles’ around things achieved and other symbols marking things that prove more difficult. The Journey is then adjusted as required.
Champions draw the main steps in their notebooks and do a role play for peer sharing and continue do discuss experience of peer sharing.
The Road/strategic plan
The journey distinguishes between:
- vision/dream as ‘thinking big’ and long-term inspirational goal/s to motivate someone to get up in the morning when the going is tough.
- SMART ‘target’ or ‘ambition’ as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound (SMART) medium-term elements of the dream.
- Milestones or short-term periodic SMART achievement steps, starting with the first one after one month or earlier so that action starts immediately after analysis.
- Actions – SMART achievements are distinguishes from the actions to move from one to the next. It is the actions that are the most important for change over time.
Appreciative SWOT/risk analysis
- Starts with opportunities/strengths and identifies as many as possible (a very minimum of 10) as these are what will lead most to success and keep someone feeling positive.
- Does a thorough risk analysis because if risks/challenges/weaknesses/threats are not identified then things will happen to divert the road.
- Balance opportunities and risks – for every risk identify an opportunity so that the balance remains always positive – or maybe you need to go a different road.
Action learning/theory of change
Living action learning plan that is revisited, tracking progress, analysing what works and does not work, and and tracked over time, not left in a drawer until the next workshop or visit by the donor.
Learn from experience: start with a Vision Journey looking forward to the future. But also take time to analyse and appreciate your past achievements and struggles.
Consistent colour coding so that the plan is kept clear. Best to start with a draft in pencil, but then distinguish:
- red ‘ripe fruits’ are drawings and circles for vision and achievements/actions done.
- black ‘native fruits’ are what is already there.
- green ‘unripe fruits’ are drawings and circles of positive things yet to be achieved or actions yet to be done. Once one thing is achieved, think of some new green fruits.
- blue ‘perished fruits’ are drawings, crosses and circle for things thatare to be avoided, no longer want or you know from experience now will not work.
building a Change Movement
- Share the steps with other people in your households, communities and networks so that they can do their own plan – not copy yours.
- Meet together regularly to share experiences of what works and what does not works.
- Develop collective plans over time for individual and collective actions to support each other – change starts with the individual, that is where you have responsibility and some control, But not all things can be done alone. And not everything should be just for you if you want a community, society or world that is good to live in.
Simple Journeys
The first Vision Journey (individual) is a simple one-lane plan to achieve one or more elements of a bigger vision.
Some other vision journeys like business plans may also only have one vision. In this case gender issues are important in drawing the vision symbols, opportunities and challenges and targets and actions.
Multi-lane Highway
Multilane Highways represent visions and plans for different levels or dimensions of an issue. It can combine visions, targets and plans on different levels eg personal/ household/ collective or production/market/cooperative. It can also combine different dimensions of an issue eg livelihoods/coffee production/health with eg gender balance and leadership on one diagram. Seeing these dimensions in parallel enables analysis of complementarities and interlinkages.
Multilane Highways also provide a core monitoring and tracking tool that can be consolidated and aggregated from individual level to households or groups to organisations and movements.
Multi-lane Vision Calendars
Multi-lane Vision Calendars are an adaptation for seasonal activities like businesses, livelihoods or financial management where monthly targets are important. Calendars have as many lanes as necessary for detailed planning and monthly sections.
toolkit facilitation examples
SNV Ethiopia Soulmate Visioning
SNV Ethiopia Vision Journey
Achievement Journey
Developed in 2020 for IFAD with Asel Kuttubaeva, Tribhuban Paudel and Beatrice Gerli for Happy Family Review as part of IFAD’s Rural Women Economic Empowerment Joint Project in Kyrgyzstan and Nepal.
Business Innovation Management Calendar
Developed in 2019 for IFAD with Asel Kuttubaeva for Business Action Learning for Innovation (BALI) methodology as part of IFAD’s Rural Women Economic Empowerment Joint Project in Kyrgyzstan
Financial Management Calendar
Developed in 2017 for Oikocredit with Intan Dharmawati, Malou Juanito and partners NWTF and ASKI in Philippines for Financial Action Learning System (FALS) methodology as part of Oikocredit’s Bridging the Gender Gap in Responsible Finance project.
Leadership Multi-lane Highway
Developed in 2020 for Oxfam Novib with Katja Koegler and partners in Mali, Niger and Pakistan for Marriage No Child’s Play project..