Visioning

In this first step, facilitators will need to reflect on exactly what they hope to achieve using visioning. Some points to think through include:

• Will the activity only be for monitoring or also creating strategies for change?
• What theme will be explored? Wellbeing, access, control, social capital, responsibility and opportunities?
• Online facilitation, interviews, workshops or focus groups?
• Change agents, beneficiaries, or staff?
• Individual or group activity?
• Longitudinally, observationally or comparatively?

Collect and prepare materials used for the visioning. This can be an A3 canvas or large brown poster paper. Also include markers or post-it notes. We recommended testing any tools with a variety of participants before starting. Add visuals and translate as required. Laminate cards or templates if they will be used frequently.

At the appropriate time, during the interview, workshop or focus groups follow these sub-steps:

1. Introduce the topic of visioning. What are you trying to explore?
2. Begin with the first box (far left) on the canvas or paper. What are things like now? Have participants draw or write notes within the box. Facilitators can support participants and encourage reflection.
3. Move to the last box (far right) on the canvas or paper. What do you want things to be like in the future? It may help to apply a timeline such as 1 year or 5 years. Have participants draw or write notes within the box. Facilitators can support participants and encourage them to dream and brainstorm.
4. Explore what sub-steps or milestones can help participants to reach this dream. The recommended A3 attached canvas has four milestone boxes. What are the barriers to achieving the dream? What are the supporting people, activities, or mindsets involved in this dream? Have participants draw or write notes within the box. Facilitators can support participants and encourage them to dream and brainstorm. Seek milestones that are actionable and trackable.
5. If in an appropriate group setting, allow participants to share their ideas with the wider group for discussion.
6. During the activity, make a note of important aspects that are useful for analysis: age, status gender, role, religion, ethnicity, experiences. Write down observations and probe participant(s) to explain their decisions. If applicable and with consent, take photos of the canvases for your records.

Later, it might be relevant to revisit the visioning canvases with participants. This can include using the milestones as monitoring points or reflecting on progress toward goals.

The final step is to analyse visioning responses to identify key themes to share with relevant stakeholders. 

• Compile visioning canvases. We recommend creating a spreadsheet or word document to summarise current status, future status and possible milestones. Use all relevant ‘data’ including text, drawings and observations.
• Conduct thematic analysis. Drawing on the compiled visioning, search for patterns and themes within the data. Explore differences by age, gender, ethnicity or other aspects. This may take a different shape if the analysis is longitudinal, comparative or retrospective.
• Generate insights. Bring together the compiled visioning and thematic analysis to create a set of insights from the data.
• Sensemaking workshop. In a workshop setting, explore the data with a group of key-stakeholders.

While visioning is best done in person, it can also be completed remotely using participatory methods.

Keeping in mind differences in access and literacy, think about different ways to facilitate and plan the activity.

See an example of participatory activities using Google Slide.

Learn more on the digital tools page.