Programme Design & Strategy

A clearly designed programme can often provide the foundational clarity that informs the execution and outcomes that it will deliver as it goes through the policy pipeline.

We help organisations move from a general intention to improve outcomes to a specific, evidence-informed programme design that is practical to implement, scalable, and built around a clear results logic from the outset.

Our process typically begins with a needs assessment — understanding the problem an organisation is trying to solve, the context in which it operates, and what existing evidence says about effective approaches to similar problems elsewhere. This grounding in evidence is deliberate: too many programmes are designed around what has worked for an organisation before, or what is currently being funded, rather than what the evidence suggests is likely to work for the specific population and context at hand.

From there, we support the development of a Theory of Change and results framework that make a programme’s logic explicit and testable, and we work with partners to build implementation strategies that translate this logic into operational plans — sequencing, resourcing, partnerships, and delivery mechanisms. Throughout, we aim for designs that are ambitious in intent but have a strong relationship to the constraints of the implementation ecosystem, recognising that a well-designed programme that cannot be delivered as intended will not achieve its outcomes regardless of how sound its underlying logic is.

Our technical advisory work extends beyond initial design into implementation support, helping organisations troubleshoot as programmes roll out, adapt designs in response to early evidence, and strengthen the institutional capacity needed to sustain a programme beyond the design phase. We also support evidence translation — taking research findings, whether from our own evaluations or the broader literature, and working with partners to identify the practical design implications for their specific context.

This work sits deliberately close to our evaluation practice. Because we design programmes with an eye to how they will eventually be evaluated, and evaluate programmes with an understanding of the operational realities of implementation, our programme design work tends to produce interventions that are both theoretically sound and empirically testable.

We have supported programme design for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Princeton University and ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), among others, working on Health & Nutrition, Governance & Public Policy and Gender, Equity & Social Inclusion (GESI) from early-stage concept development through to full implementation strategies.