Community First Development’s Stories of Change

Community First Development’s Right Way Evaluation centre what they call a Story of Change.⁴Community First Development, Right Way Evaluation: Telling our own stories of change, 2025, 5. They note that many organisations rely on logic models or theories of change, which are grounded in non-Indigenous approaches to measuring impact and effectiveness.⁵Community First Development, Right Way Evaluation: Telling our own stories of change, 2025, 5. Stories of Change intentionally move in a different direction. Inspired by the idea of an ecosystem, the Story of Change model is designed as a living, interconnected system.

Community First Development have their own Story of Change. At its centre is self-determination, which forms the core. Surrounding this are the “organisms”, representing the outcomes they aim to support. Enabling the system to thrive are the key elements (Community First Development’s people, ways of working and governance structures) which sustain the whole.⁶ Community First Development, “Creation of a new Story of Change,” July 2019, [link].