Interactive Theory of Change for Safer and Healthier Young Workers  

Conceptualising a results framework as a mapping exercise for key stakeholders to assess project impact in the country and documenting key findings. 

Future by Design has been instrumental in helping us to better scope our communication needs with all our relevant stakeholders, thanks to their innovative ideas. Their flexibility and sense of adaptation in an iterative and complex mandate was absolutely key to the success of our end-of-project communication campaign. They have a great capacity to respond effectively to their clients' expectations. They were excellent to deal with the numerous multi-language products that had to be developed, printed and disseminated, under tight deadlines.

- Louis-Pierre Michaud, Research, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, ILO SafeYouth@Work Project

SafeYouth@Work Project spans eight countries and four years of intensive advocacy, research, policy support, capacity building and awareness-raising on the specific occupational safety and health concerns of young workers. The project facilitated the dynamic exchange of initiatives and tools, innovative partnerships, and good practices in supporting OSH policies and legislation to address young worker vulnerability better. At the end of 2019, ILO convened an end-of-project workshop with a range of stakeholders, to assess the genuine impact of project implementation in the countries.   

Future by Design conceptualised and designed visual board and stickers, which follow a four-step process to obtain feedback on the implementation of main project outcomes in the countries. Participants were asked to answer a few questions to help them give a grade on their success to achieve project targets. Stickers were developed in neutral yellow and orange colours, with labels “space to grow”, “evidence of success” and “champion” to ensure that participants will provide honest feedback. The positive tone of stickers and their colours provided participants with the confidence to answer truthfully, which was invaluable for an accurate assessment of the project’s success.

Stakeholders who participated in the mapping exercise ranged from the UN Agencies, government, civil society organisations, youth. The session took place at the end-of-project workshop in October 2019 in Turin (Italy), and provided feedback served as vital input for development of the final project Theory of Change assessment. Global analysis offers insights into implementation success rates, strengths and weaknesses in project design, as well as rationale and trend analysis. This analysis provides lessons learned, unexpected results and sound recommendations on the potential where occupational safety and health for young workers can be improved further.