Acknowledgements

Contents

Especially, I would like to thank Aryne Sheppard for her great support and tireless

commitment during the making of this guide including many late nights and early

mornings of writing and editing, and Ina Lohner for her tremendous amount of

Introduction Page 2

dedication and creativity in shaping the graphical side of this guide.

I am grateful for valuable feedback on draft versions of this guide from the advisory

The Challenge

Why does activism need re.imagination? Page 4

group: Adrián Beling, Elena Blackmore, Charlotte Boisteau, Gonzalo del Castro, Richard

Hawkins, Stefan Tuschen and Job van den Assem. Many thanks to Anne Knol and

The Vision

Re.imagining our future Page 22

Philippa Parry for their contributions and support during the early phases of the project,

2.1 Understanding the system Page 22

and to many others in the Smart CSOs community who provided valuable ideas and input.

2.2 The Great Transition - a vision

to tackle multiple crises Page 27

- Michael Narberhaus, October 2015 -

The Model

Re.imagining change - the Smart CSOs

model for system change Page 34

Edition 2015: Re.imagining Activism: A practical guide for the Greate Transition

Publisher: Smart CSOs Lab / Michael Narberhaus

Re.imagining our strategies Page 39

The Strategies

Authors: Michael Narberhaus and Aryne Sheppard

4.1 Moving from mainstream

Design, Illustration and Layout: Ina Lohner

activism to systemic activism Page 40

The design of this guide was kindly funded by Brot für die Welt, Germany.

4.2 The roles of systemic activism Page 56

Re.imagining our organisations - What

The Organisation

needs to change in our organisations and how

can we initiate change? Page 66

Re.imagining ourselves as activists - How

The Activist

The Smart CSOs Lab is a space where activists and change agents from civil society

can we transcend our current paradigms and

come together as a community of practice to learn how to make change in the way

think differently as activists? Page 78

civil society thinks, acts and operates. The ultimate aim is to give large-scale im-

pulses for an activism that works effectively towards systemic change. Check here

Re.imagining funding - How to become a

The Funder

for more information: www.smart-csos.org

systemic funder? Page 91

Endnotes Page 98

Glossary Page 100

CC BY-SA 3.0

Worksheets for self-assessment Page 102

Introduction

Most activists and social change leaders today would argue that a sus-

advocating alternative models of society and economy. They all work

tainable future will only be possible by making profound changes to our

towards a just and ecologically sustainable world and are keen to learn

lives and our political and economic systems. Yet in many campaigns

how to create more effective strategies for deep systemic change.

and strategies this is not reflected. Not few would agree that neo-liberal

Re.imagining Activism provides practical advice and questions to ask

capitalism is at the root of many ecological and social problems. But for

ourselves when we want to change organisations, campaigns or become

many activists terms like system change, Great Transition, paradigm

active on system change in another way. What obstacles do we need to

shift are too big, too utopian or too abstract and very difficult to be

overcome and how can we achieve this? Inside, you will find examples and

broken down into tangible strategies and steps. If it is already so difficult

case studies of other activists who have interesting experiences to share.

to achieve our small little steps - and often we don’t achieve them - what

A small caveat: This is not a recipe book for changing the world. There are

sense does it make to work towards utopia?

no easy answers. The work of systemic change requires experimentation

The idea of changing our economic system and

We live in capitalism. Its

and jumping into deep waters. But we can learn from others about how

the underlying culture that supports it can seem

power seems inescapable.

best to jump. The Great Transition is a leap into a new world. Without a

like an impossible task. But the current system

So did the divine right of

bold vision we will never change the world. What might seem impossible

was not given by the laws of nature. Instead it

kings. Any human power

today can become reality tomorrow.

was created and continues to be shaped by hu-

can be resisted and changed

The contexts in which our readers are active differ in some cases widely.

man beings. And as such we as human beings

by human beings.

We take this into consideration and address different circumstances

can change it again. In fact, only if we take on this

- Ursula Le Guin -

to allow a wide range of activists to become involved in the Great

task collectively, will we have a chance to create a fairer and much more

Transition. In spite of the important differences especially between

equal society where current and future generations thrive in harmony

professional change agents and voluntary activism, the common

with nature.

challenges outweigh the differences and it is fundamental to overcome

The purpose of this handbook is to help bring the dream of the Great

existing divides for the Great Transition to succeed.

Transition to life. Based on the research collated and the ideas and ex-

periences generated by the Smart CSOs Lab, we provide guidance and

support to activists who want to make a meaningful contribution to this

deeper change.

It was written for grassroots activists and social change leaders wor-

king on diverse issues such as climate change, poverty, equality, health,

human migrations and gender equality. It is for anyone committed to

building or others who are already involved in the world of building and

Chapter 1

Being too pragmatic

Focusing on the short-term impacts of our work is important and neces-

sary to avoid harm to people and the environment. The urgency is real:

Why does activism need

the climate is warming, people are suffering and species are being lost.

Much of what civil society organisations do is the pragmatic and impor-

re.imagination?

tant work of helping the poor, the marginalised and the environment in

real time. But we need to acknowledge that fixing symptoms is not the

same as dealing with underlying causes.

Are you an activist engaged in solving global issues like climate change,

Almost by definition campaigns have to be

poverty or human rights? Do you believe that many of the ways

There are a thousand hacking

pragmatic. Campaigners have to set measur-

today’s activism and civil society organisations are trying to address

at the branches of evil to one

able short-to-medium term goals to engage

these problems are ineffective? Here we explore some of the reasons

who is striking at the root.

audiences and remain credible with their

why this could be the case …

– Henry David Thoreau, 1854 -

funders.

But

campaigns

are

problematic

Systemic global crises

Most indicators measuring the health of the planet show a negative

trend: Climate change, biodiversity loss, acidification of the oceans and

shrinking freshwater resources are all serious threats to life on earth.

Global inequality has been on the rise for decades.

These crises are increasingly intertwined. Issues such as economic de-

velopment, climate, finance, biodiversity, security and migration have

become highly interdependent and mutually reinforcing, and cannot

be adequately addressed with a focus on single issue solutions. These

systemic global crises require a deep rethinking of our economic, po-

litical and social systems.

Unfortunately, most activism is not yet promoting such deeper

systemic shifts, nor is it embracing the complexity of systemic change

in its strategies.

Here we analyse a number of core reasons why civil society organi-

sations and grassroots activist networks are not utilising their full

potential in tackling the deeper systemic issues:

Why does activism need re.imagination?

4 5

when focused exclusively on quick fixes: they don’t deal with root

Winning the campaign but losing the planet?

causes and can create the illusion that they will solve the problems

when they actually don’t.

In 2013 Greenpeace won again. With another of its famous campaigns,

Greenpeace achieved a commitment from German car manufacturer

Most campaigns that promote a shift in technology (see example) or

Volkswagen to stop lobbying against stricter European regulation on

aim to raise funds for aid in the fight against poverty share this pro-

car fuel-efficiency and to make its own cars more fuel-efficient. On

blem. Making the production systems/global supply chains of con-

the organisation’s own terms the campaign was clearly a success:

sumer products more energy and resource efficient and less toxic is

it was powerfully creative (with Star Wars’ Darth Vader as the main

important, but with current growth rates of consumer products the

character), it mobilised over half a million people and it achieved a

overall impact of these measures is playing catch up in a game that we

clearly defined short-term campaign goal. Greenpeace celebrated:

won’t win.

“[This] is big, because using less oil means less pollution, less impact

Aid transfers and technical support aimed at fighting poverty and

on the climate and less pressure on ... the Arctic.”

coping with emergency situations can be vital to alleviate suffer-

No doubt, fighting nasty corporate lobbyism and advancing vehicle

ing, but they don’t tackle the root causes of poverty and can create

fuel efficiency are good things. However, the messages Greenpeace

dependency on aid. In addition, development cooperation aimed at

sends with this type of campaign might be counterproductive in the

economic development is often reproducing production and con-

long run because it underestimates the power of narrative. Presenting

sumption patterns of the global north that are incompatible with the

fuel-efficient cars as a major step towards saving the climate is

existence of planetary boundaries.

dishonest because in the current context, more fuel efficiency might

As long as we don’t put enough effort into mobilising people towards

actually increase car usage (rebound effect) and without a major

deeper system change, not only will we fail to solve our problems, we

change in mobility patterns (trends towards SUVs and a projected

might perpetuate them. Too much pragmatism and focusing too much

increase from 1 to 2 billion cars globally in the next decade) the cam-

on tactics can reinforce the unsustainable status quo.

paign will have won another battle while we are losing the planet.

Without putting the campaign into the wider context of what needs

to be done and start taking people on a journey with a narrative of

deeper change, such campaigns can reinforce the unsustainable

How do you define success in your work?

paradigm rather than helping to change it.

Are you setting the right objectives?

People working within Greenpeace’s network are increasingly aware

of the shortcomings of these campaigns. Discussions about how to

Are the objectives of your change strategies designed to

create more systemic campaigns and how to integrate the problem of

contribute to effective long-term change?

economic growth into the organisation’s work are starting to happen.

Why does activism need re.imagination?

6 7

Playing the game of politics and business

Governments and large corporations are the most powerful insti-

tutions in our society today. Over the past decades as civil society

organisations became increasingly professionalised, they believed

that the most effective way to influence power was to build up their

policy expertise and become credible and respected stakeholders

for government and business. CSOs regularly participate in consul-

tations and policy processes at the national and international level

(like the UNFCCC and SDG) and many have created partnerships with

large corporations. As a result, civil society organisations have had

considerable influence on policy decisions, especially when they have

skilfully combined effective mobilisation of the public with their

advocacy efforts.

However, somewhere along the way many CSOs have lost their radical

touch and have been increasingly instrumentalised by governments

and business. Possibly as a result of getting involved in day-to-day

politics, they drifted into tactics and lost sight of the strategic

perspective. While this might be a price worth paying for the sake

of making the system more bearable in the short-term, it is clearly

problematic from a system change perspective. Today’s political

and economic institutions are driven by a complex web of vested

interests that make them highly resistant to any fundamental

change. Mainstream advocacy is at its best contributing to in-

cremental change and its worst strengthening the current system.

Later in this guide we will talk about the alternatives …

To what extent do you believe that your advocacy work is

contributing to long-term systemic change?

Why does activism need re.imagination?

8 9

As there’s no better alternative, let’s join

Trying to solve problems issue by issue

the Action/2015 campaign

Activism has a long and arguably successful history of focusing on

particular problems. Indeed, many fights have been won by focusing on

The Action/2015 campaign is a global campaign calling “to end poverty,

single issues - the history of human rights struggles as well as that of the

to meet fundamental rights, tackle inequality and discrimination as well

environmental movement is full of these wins. And even today, a case

as achieve a transition to 100% renewable energy.” As of July 2015, 1,600

can be made for focusing on single issues, for example the gay rights

organisations had signed up. The campaign aim is to achieve ambitious

movement has had tremendous successes in recent years.

outcomes at the September 2015 global agreements on the Sustainable

But given the systemic and complex nature of today’s problems, issue-

Development Goals as well as at the December meeting in Paris focused

by-issue responses are often inadequate. One consequence of focusing

on a global agreement to tackle climate change (COP21).

on single issues is that we tend to fix symptoms

Action /2015 mimics the shallow narrative of the official UN SDG texts

rather than tackle root causes. Another is that

There is no such thing as

and doesn’t make any reference to the deeper root causes of poverty and

we focus on developing great expertise on issues

a single-issue struggle,

climate change let alone the deeper structural changes to tackle these.

rather than deepening our understanding of the

because we do not live

It clearly lacks the ambition for any deeper systemic change and is play-

single-issue lives.

systemic connections between issues.

ing the same game that civil society has been playing so often at these

- Audre Lorde -

It is often directly the institutional donors or

processes: At its best it makes constructive proposals that improved the

the organisational fundraising departments pushing to focus on

outcomes to some extent but without being capable or even aiming to

narrow short-term issue oriented outputs rather than engaging with

tackle the deep institutional lock-ins of these processes that result from

the complex long-term big picture.

the national vested interests that governments mostly defend.

While many organisations involved in the Action /2015 campaign might

not bother too much about these shortcomings, some organisations that

do believe in the need for a deeper shift are signing up to this campaign

To what extent are you focusing on problems and single issues

as they cannot see alternative ways of engagement to following the

rather than tackling root causes?

official institutional agendas. More reasons that we have to build these

alternative ways to get real on systemic change …

What role are your donors and fundraisers playing in this?

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Suffering from the eleventh hour syndrome

With the justification of having to save the world, such activism can un-

knowingly reproduce the patterns of speed, efficiency and growth of the

Understandably, many activists feel a powerful sense of urgency around

world we aim to change. Urgency is the reason given for not working at

their work. Sensing the approaching apocalypse, we work more and

a root cause level - we often hear “there’s no time to transform values”.

faster to avoid disaster. After all, it is our responsibility to save the world

The eleventh hour syndrome also prevents activists from building

before it is too late. This is the eleventh hour syndrome.

reflection into their work. We are always racing to get things done

We have to raise more funds, create more meetings, travel to more con-

instead of noticing patterns and adapting strategies our as we go.

ferences, write more reports, send more emails. Activists often find

Moreover, in the long run, attempting to motivate our audiences with

themselves racing against the clock but the work is never done. As a

messages of urgency and scenarios of threat doesn’t work - it becomes

result, activists suffer disproportionally from stress and burnout.

normality and the effect vanishes.

There are deeper psychological issues at play that we need to deal with.

We need to become conscious about some of the personal motivations

lying behind this syndrome. In chapter 6 we will dig into this …

To what extent does your activist work stresses you out?

Are you driven by a sense of urgency?

How much time are you dedicating to reflection?

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Fighting the enemy

right. In social media we are linked to communities that mainly

think alike and in times of information overflow, we only read what

The identity of most social movements is defined by the ideas of re-

re-confirms what we already think. Those who disagree often stay

sistance and struggle against a ruling class, an oppressive govern-

silent because they fear the backlash, the so-called spiral of silence.¹

ment, a wealthy elite etc.

We become a mob with uniform thinking.

Activists are very fast and effective these days in identifying and

We humans in general like to add a face to a problem. We prefer to think

fighting enemies. Be it the richest 1% responsible for global in-

that if something bad happens it is someone’s fault - and of course in

equality, be it the British professor who made a sexist comment or be

doing so we are often right. Oppression is not a natural phenomenon.

it Mrs Merkel who took over Greece with a coup d’état, the Twitter-

People in powerful positions (for example in government) have a

storm is very fast in targeting the enemy.

responsibility for their actions.

Social media tend to have a reinforcing effect on the reduction of

However, the personification of the enemy goes along with a re-

complexity and quick agreement about who is wrong and who is

duction of complexity. At its best, defining an enemy sharpens

messaging and makes a campaign more effective and at its worst, it

misunderstands the problem and fights the wrong enemy.

The systemic problems of our times are not the particular fault of one

group or another. Instead, if there is one main enemy, it is the system.

The systemic shift that is needed requires changes at many different

levels. Whilst the abuse of power by certain privileged groups

resisting systemic change is without doubt a key factor in the system,

dividing the world between good and bad people doesn’t take us very

far. It is important that we learn that we all are part of the system

and interact with it. We need to deal with complexity. In the coming

chapters we will explore how …

To what extent do you define your strategy as a struggle

against someone?

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Reproducing problematic values

Putting monetary value on nature will not save it

Most civil society organisations and activist networks try to win the

In 2015 WWF published its report Reviving the ocean economy. The

rational argument (e.g. with coherent, scientifically sound analysis

report, co-written by the business consultancy Boston Consultancy

and policy proposals) or they try to win the political argument by

Group, puts a monetary value of $24 trillion on the oceans. The central

creating smart memes and frames to influence day-to-day politics.

argument for WWF’s call for protecting the oceans through global

agreements like the SDG and COP21 is an economic one, i.e. that

The question of how our organisations and networks impact cultural

oceans provide immense value for the global economy. The logic of this

values and why this is important is still mostly a blind spot.

strategy is clear: WWF believes that speaking the economic language of

By putting our faith in the power of the rational argument we under-

decision makers is the most effective way to reach their goal.

estimate the importance of the subconscious mind in people’s

If markets were the solution to ocean destruction, this might be a valid

behaviour and decisions. At the same time we are often not aware

approach. But they aren’t. The economic argument suggests that if

that we do have an influence on cultural values, but often in a way

we could make a profit out of destroying the oceans (say, $48 trillion)

that it doesn’t help our causes. Nothing is free of values. In the

we should do it. But oceans are an integral part of life on earth and

way we communicate and with the messages we transmit we com-

cannot be separated out and valued like financial assets. They cannot be

municate values. With everything we do and how we behave as

substituted once they are gone.

individuals and organisations, we embody a range of values.

Unintentionally, we often reinforce the dominant extrinsic values

WWF’s strategy of framing the protection of nature in economic terms

and our current culture of self-interest and consumerism. This is

is very problematic because it reinforces the values and frames that are

problematic because research has shown that the more dominant

causing the problem in the first place.

materialistic values are, the more unhelpful a person’s behaviour

will be with regard to bigger-than-self problems, like climate change,

inequality etc.²

In the coming chapters we will explore this trap and how a deeper

understanding of cultural values and frames can make our cam-

paigns and organisations more effective.

What are the values underlying your current

campaigns / work?

To what extent are you aware of your potential

impact on cultural values?

To what extent do you believe that you are

engaging helpful or unhelpful values?

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Why the Make Poverty History campaign failed

Using money to keep the world as it is

In 2005 the Make Poverty History campaign mobilised millions of

Funding schemes are one of the core reasons CSOs are pursuing

people all over the world. Nearly a quarter of a million people

narrowly focused symptoms oriented strategies. Over the last de-

marched in Edinburgh ahead of the G8 summit. The organisers of the

cade many grant makers, including private foundations and public

historic protest were a coalition of 540 CSOs who formed the Make

funders, have further pushed their grantees to focus on clearer

Poverty History UK campaign.

measurable goals, thereby suppressing innovative, more risky and

systemic approaches.

From a short-term perspective, the campaign was a huge suc cess,

partly due to its empowering de-centralised campaign strategy and

The reasons for these funding strategies seem to fall into two

the novel and efficient use of text messaging. Celebrity endorsements

categories:

and a Live8 concert meant the campaign received high coverage by

First, many philanthropists who set up and control private foun-

the media. As a result of the campaign, the percentage of the popu-

dations as well as governments who are ultimately responsible for

lation who stated they were very concerned about extreme poverty

public funding schemes have an active interest in preserving the

increased to 32% from 25%.

status quo. These funding schemes are intentionally designed to

However, in 2011 this index fell back to 24%, lower than before the

avoid deeper system change and to preserve the value of the

campaign. Why did this happen?

philanthropists’ financial investments and wealth - their preferred

instruments are aid to tackle poverty and technology to help the

The Finding Frames report from 2011 suggests that the campaign

environment.

strengthened the values and frames of self-interest, free market and

consumerism, which in turn don’t create the long-term commitment

Second, other private funders don’t face these issues of vested

to end poverty. The messages where tackling poverty is understood

interests (or to a much smaller degree), but their organisations are

simply as making donations to charities proved too strong and the

often very conservative and too risk-averse to embark on innovative

use of celebrities in the campaign led to the unintended promotion of

system change strategies. For these organisations a core contra-

extrinsic values with potential harmful effect on the public’s deeper

diction persists: the wealth the foundation is built upon is the result

motivations to act on the issues the campaigners care about in the

of the very unequal system that it now pretends to change. Most

first place.⁴

funders have not yet tackled the problems that come along with

the power of money. These organisations are very hierarchical and

non-transparent. Their inability or reluctance to develop relation-

ships of trust with their grantees makes it difficult to jointly create a

common understanding about proper system change strategies and

ways to evaluate them in a more appropriate way.

In chapter 7 we will explore how grant-making organisations can join

the system change movement …

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Vested interests in philanthropy:

To what extent is your foundation (or your funder) asking your/

the Gates Foundation

its grantees to pursue narrowly defined issue-focused work?

Some of the world’s biggest and best known NGOs came together in

2013 to see how they could gain more support for their work. On the

How do you measure and evaluate success?

face of it, it sounds reasonable. Don’t we all want to work in more

conducive atmospheres? But the devil’s in the detail.

To what extent do the funding schemes encourage innovative

systemic strategies?

The Narrative Project was launched in 2014 by the Gates Foundation to

its circle of international charities who work to fight poverty. It states

How open and transparent is the funding organisation?

that the main barrier to the sector’s effectiveness was “the decline of

public support for our work,” meaning fewer and lower donations.

The project claims to use frame analysis yet does not identify nor ques-

If you would like to dig deeper into some critical analysis on

tion the frame upon which it itself is based: that aid to poor countries

mainstream activism, here are some great resources:

is the most effective way to fight poverty and all that the public need to

do is give more money.

● Gustave Speth: The Bridge at the Edge of the World (2008)

We might ask ourselves why the Gates Foundation wants to create a

● Gustave Speth: Angels by the River (2014)

cohesive narrative on aid across the development sector. Why encou-

● Noami Klein: This Changes Everything (2014)

rage others to keep seeking public support rather than question their

● Movement Strategy Centre: Out of the Spiritual Closet - Organizers

own actions’ effectiveness? At least a part of the answer seems to be

Transforming the Practice of Social Justice (2010)

present in Bill Gates’ review of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-

First Century: he believes that the world is getting more equal, not less;

In order to tackle the above issues we need to work at the personal,

that only excessive, family-gained wealth concentration is problematic;

organisational and social change strategy levels. We will explore ways to

and that the biggest debate to be had is on the type of taxation we

address these issues in the coming chapters.

need. It seems to have been an admirable effort in non-systems

thinking, a de-politicised separation of taxation and wealth from their

part in a system, which ensures that the poor keep getting poorer.

Why does activism need re.imagination?

Chapter 2

in hand with an acceleration of the pace of life. Even though the former

was intended to create more available time for the individual, late

modern society does not enjoy the luxury of more leisure time. On the

contrary, we seem to suffer from a constant time shortage by trying to

Re.imagining our future

do more things in the same amount of time: we live faster, work faster

and we consume faster.⁵

2.1 Understanding the system

DESYCHRONISATION: One perspective on these multiple crises is to see

It’s hard to deny - we are living in times of multiple global crises:

them as the consequence of a desynchronisation between different systems:

ECOLOGICAL CRISIS: Why are we consuming more resources than

• The ecological crisis results from resources being used at an ever-

nature can renew? Why are carbon emissions rising and a climate

faster pace for an ever-growing economy and nature that cannot keep

catastrophe approaching? Why are we in the midst of the sixth mass-

up with this pace. The systems are out of synch.

extinction of species?

• The spiritual crisis is the result of our minds not being able to keep up

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS: Why are our societies increasingly

with the pace of modern life, a pace we cannot determine ourselves:

unequal with the richest 1% owning 50% of the global wealth? Why is

digital globalisation and the fast paced consumer society lead to an

social cohesion breaking down? Why is nationalism on the rise?

alienation from space, from work and even from oneself. Burnout is a

SPIRITUAL CRISIS: Why do we experience increasing stress and

frequent consequence.

spiritual emptiness? Why are the illnesses of burnout and depression on

• The social and economic crisis is the result of an ever-faster capital

the rise in many rich countries?

accumulation of some and the impoverishment of others who can’t

DEMOCRACY CRISIS: Why are so many people losing faith in politicians

keep up with the pace of production and wealth accumulation. The

and the democratic process? Why is election turnout decreasing in

latter fall behind or leave the race altogether.

so many countries? Why are nationalist and extreme right parties

• The democracy crisis is the result of a political system and democratic

on the rise?

decision-making processes that can’t keep up with the accelerating

There are many answers to these questions but unlike other moments

global economy. Politics becomes reactive: we have to adapt to global

in human history, we increasingly understand that these crises do not

markets to stay competitive. This type of politics no longer speaks to

stand alone and they are not localized. Instead they are global, systemi-

citizens. They get alienated from democracy and search for alternative

cally interlinked and they share the same root causes.

anchors in extremist options that promise (false) stability and commu-

ACCELERATION: German sociologist Hartmut Rosa believes that the

nity or they become apathetic.

logic of social acceleration in modern societies lies at the root of these

crises. The main argument here is that technological progress accelerates

the production of goods, contacts and options for humans, but the time

we have available for these doesn’t change. Technological acceleration

affects the digital sector in particular, but paradoxically, also goes hand

Re.imagining our future

To what extent do people in your organisation, network or

movement have a common understanding of the underlying

root causes and system logic?

This is a fundamentally important step if we want to develop more

effective strategies to tackle the issues we care about.

If you would like to learn more about root causes of our multiple

systemic crises, here are some resources:

● Hartmut Rosa: Social Acceleration - A New Theory of Modernity (2013)

● Donella Meadows: Leverage Points - Places to Intervene in a System

(1999)

ROOT CAUSES: If acceleration is part of the underlying logic of our

global social, economic and political systems, then what are the root

causes and drivers of this acceleration?

Social acceleration is not only a phenomenon of capitalism, it happens

in socialist economies to a lesser degree. However, the capitalist system’s

core element, capital accumulation (interest and profit) makes it

especially growth obsessive. Capitalism in its current form cannot live

without growth and the pace of technological innovation is accelerating

further and further.

The logic of growth can also be found deeply embedded in our mental

and cultural conditioning. We are living in a culture of more - for some

of us it’s more money, for others it’s more traveling, more contacts, more

experiences …

Re.imagining our future

What is systemic change?

2.2 The Great Transition - a vision

By definition the term systemic change can refer to change in any

to tackle multiple crises

system: the whole national school system, the global food system, the

local waste system etc.

In our times two problematic dogmas persist:

Systemic change is required when efforts to change one aspect of a

• The mechanisms of markets and competition (the invisible hand) are the

system fail to fix the problem. The whole system needs to be transformed.

best to create wellbeing in our societies.

Systemic change means that change has to be fundamental and affects

• Economic growth is necessary to increase wellbeing, to improve the living

how the whole system functions.

conditions of the poor and to reduce inequality.

Systemic change can mean gradual institutional reforms, but those

However, the extreme levels of inequality we have reached make it

reforms must be based on and aimed at a transformation of the funda-

more than clear that the invisible hand only works for the few and that

mental qualities and tenets of the system itself.⁶

wealth is not trickling down like we have been told. In addition there is

When our objective is systemic change, we need to look at the whole

an undeniable contradiction between the fact that economic growth

system including all its components and the relationships between them.

increases CO₂ emissions and that climate change destroys the very

living conditions of the world’s poor that economic growth pretends to

Most systems are by nature dynamic and complex and systemic change

improve in the first place.

cannot be planned. Instead systemic change requires innovation, experi-

mentation as well as constant learning and adaptation.

Still, too many people can’t let go of the idea that our current econo-

mic system is the one best adapted to human nature and that trying

There is not one agreed upon definition for systemic change: some

to change it would entail catastrophic consequences. For many, the

refer more to the what of change (fundamental) and others to the how

collapse of the Soviet-style socialism is proof that there is no alternative

of change (involving all system actors, innovation, emergence) - it has

to capitalism or that the fall of the Berlin wall was the end of history as

to be both, but in addition it has to include a realistic consideration of

argued by Francis Fukuyama.

power in the system and how to deal with it.

Contrary to these dogmas, the idea of the Great Transition is based on

Setting the system boundaries is fundamental. Many system change

the conviction that our current societal order and economic system

projects and approaches are not tackling the real root causes because

(neoliberal capitalism) are not set in stone and that there are better

the wrong system boundaries are set. Many of today’s crises (e.g. ecolo-

alternatives beyond the false dichotomy of capitalism /socialism.

gical, social) might be ameliorated if looked at in a sub-system (e.g. food),

but in order to identify more effective leverage points we need to go

Nobody knows exactly what a sustainable world will look like and

deeper and beyond these system boundaries: ultimately today’s major

how we’ll get there. There is a need to experiment with a diversity

crises are global and deeply cultural (late modernity - see Hartmut Rosa

of ideas, approaches and policies. The vision of the Great Transition

among others). They are tied up with our economic, political and social

is a conceptual framework with principles and pillars for a sustain-

systems in the broadest sense.

able global economy and society that provides a basic and flexible

direction and pathways to get there⁷.

Re.imagining our future

Regarding the scale of change it envisions, the Great Transition is

The Great Transition does not suggest that everything humanity has

comparable with the industrial revolution of the 18th - 19th century. As

created is bad and should go. Much can and should be preserved. The

described by Karl Polanyi in his book Great Transformation (1944) it was

establishment of universal human rights and the role of the state

precisely during the industrial revolution that Adam Smith’s free market

in guaranteeing equality and social security are achievements that

postulates were systematically put into practice and the basis of the

should be preserved (or recuperated where growing neoliberalism

market society (market economy and nation state working in unity) was

and nationalism has put them at risk). The Great Transition is not

shaped and expanded.⁸ Over the past few decades, market expansion

a call for violent revolution - it is an attempt to avoid total system

has accelerated and invaded almost every sphere of life. It has become

break down on the way to a sustainable future. The seriousness of

the main mechanism directing our society. And we are not even questi-

today’s systemic crises might well mean disruption, social upheaval

oning if this role is positive or not.⁹

and institutional breakdown, but the ultimate objective is a politi-

cal and economic transition without violence where we keep what’s

One of the most corrosive effects of putting a price on everything is on

worth keeping and change what needs changing.

commonality, the sense that we are all in it together. Against the back-

ground of rising inequality, marketising every aspect of life leads to a

condition where those who are affluent and those who are of modest

means increasingly live separate lives. We live and work and shop and

play in different places. Our children go to different schools …

- Michael Sandel -

The Great Transition proposes that we reject the role of the market

as the underlying principle of our society and create a system that

is not dependent on continuous economic growth. For this we need

to fundamentally reinvent our core economic and political insti-

tutions. This will only be possible with the active involvement of civil

society and a deep cultural shift that unleashes untapped political

power and the desire for transformational change.

Re.imagining our future

Here are some fundamental aspects

of the Great Transition:

Economic re-localisation An important element of the future

system will inevitably be a huge re-localisation of economic value

chains. Current global supply chains don’t make much sense from a

human needs perspective and cannot work within the logic of eco-

A process of profound cultural change The Great Transition

logical limits. A higher proximity of the economy and the strict use

cannot be a top down project. Instead it requires in-depth participa-

of the principle of subsidiarity will be more sustainable, just and

tion of civil society in the process of social innovation and democra-

democratic.

tic deliberation to create new social settlements.

Taking care of our global commons Interdependencies at so

Wellbeing as the ultimate goal The wellbeing of current and

many levels will demand the design and creation of effective and

future human generations as well as of other living creatures has to

democratic governance systems, particularly at the global level. New

be at the core of the system. Economic growth cannot be the main

institutions and economic mechanisms (at all levels) have to be de-

societal goal.

signed to ensure human activities re-generate the global commons.

A culture of sufficiency Consumerist culture must be replaced

Putting equality at the heart of the system We must ack-

by a culture of sufficiency. If consumerist culture is a social con-

nowledge and reverse current and historical inequities including the

struction created during the mid-twentieth century (kicked off by

unequal use of resources across the globe, unjust labour practices

Edward Bernays using psychoanalysis to market products and spur

as well as the invisibilisation of minorities such as indigenous and

mass production¹⁰), an evolution towards a culture based on human

peasant communities and other forms of marginalisation.

needs is perfectly imaginable.

For some, the vision of such a transition seems utopian and it might

Elimination of the logic of growth The current capitalist sys-

well be. Nobody knows if the Great Transition can be achieved, but it

tem is growth dependant. When growth stalls, huge problems like

is the only possibility we have to truly create a peaceful, just and

mass unemployment follow. The new post-growth economic system

sustainable world.

needs to have a DNA change to eliminate its dependency on growth.

The good news is that things are already happening. Every day more

The economy will only grow where it has to grow, e.g. where growth

people in radical pre-figurative movements are exploring ideas and

fulfils real human needs.¹¹

experimenting with system change (see box on page 32). All of these

Rethinking the role of the market The market has to serve

movements share a core critique of market capitalism and advocate

society and not the reverse. There are many forms of economic (and

for alternative visions. Each of these movements hold strong ideas

non-economic) organisation that are not market based. If they are

about alternatives to the current system. Many of their activists

better suited to fulfil human needs, they should substitute current

have been advocating for them for a long time. These are important

market approaches (see also box on page 32).

processes on the journey towards a new social settlement. But it will

Respecting ecological limits New institutions and economic

require more exploration, organising and deliberation with much

mechanisms (at all levels) have to be designed to ensure human

broader and wider parts of society. A revitalised democracy will play

activities operate within ecological limits.

an important role.

Re.imagining our future

System change movements pre-figuring the future

P2p movement

- promotes self-organised, non-hierarchical

collaboration in the form of mostly digital networks for co-production.

Commons movement - promotes a form of self-organisation and

The movement in general sees itself in opposition to the enclosure of the

cooperation (commoning) between people to regain or protect free

knowledge commons through copyrights etc. It works towards a future

access to cultural or natural resources (the commons). Currently, these

economy where self-organised production and consumption substitutes

commons (e.g. knowledge, internet or land) are often enclosed by market

the current capitalist corporate economy. For many digital commoners

and state actors so cannot be freely accessed. Enclosure increases and

the reality of ecological limits is not a core concern.

perpetuates inequality. The Commons movement strongly emphasises

the act of commoning but is often ambiguous about the roles public

Buen vivir movement - promotes harmony between human beings

institutions and the market will play in a future system.

and between human beings and nature, and subjugates the rights of the

individual to those of peoples, communities and nature. Rooted in the

Degrowth movement - promotes a controlled decline of economic

worldview of the Quechua peoples of the Andes, Buen Vivir describes

production (degrowth) and a new equilibrium relationship between

a way of doing things that is community-centric, ecologically-balanced

human beings and nature. The aim of the Degrowth movement is to

and culturally-sensitive.

maximise wellbeing within ecological limits.

Intersectional feminist movement - promotes a dismantling

of the interconnected structures of oppression and a cultural and

institutional shift towards gender equality. It sees the root causes for

many of today’s problems /crises in patriarchy that has persisted over

the course of history and has created and sustained the capitalist system.

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this chapter,

The movement argues that feminism has to be at the heart of a transition

here are some great resources:

to a new sustainable and just societal and economic order.

● Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead (2002)

Solidarity economy movement - promotes economic organi-

● Karl Polanyi: The Great Transformation - The Political and

sation rooted in democracy, solidarity and ecological sustainability. It

Economic Origins of Our Time (1944)

is closely linked to the cooperative movement as one way to organise

● Michael Sandel: What Money Can’t Buy - The moral limits of

in a more equal and democratic social order. For some the solidarity

market (2012)

economy movement is about the abolition of capitalism and for others

● Fred Block and Margaret Somers: The power of market

it is about a humanised capitalism. The movement is often not explicit

fundamentalism (2014)

about a post-growth economy and ecological limits.

● Degrowth - A Vocabulary for a New Era (2015)

Re.imagining our future

Chapter 3

Re.imagining change -

the Smart CSOs model for

system change

We don’t love models for the sake of modelling or to have a nice intel-

lectual discussion. Instead we have found that models can be practical

and important tools for re.imagining our strategies. The questions at

the core of the Smart CSOs model are: How do systems change? And

what does existing knowledge tell us about how our broken economic,

political and social systems could be fundamentally transformed so

that life on earth can flourish within the means of the planet?

The empirical experience from

The model holds a number of core messages that are important to inte-

You keep pointing at the anomalies

transition research

(Geels et al)

riorise when developing our activist strategies:

and failures of the old paradigm,

helped us see how change happens at

you keep speaking louder and with

different, interconnected levels. We

If we want to change the system, trying to convince the incumbent

assurance from the new one, you

adapted these findings to our own

system players (Regimes) to fundamentally change is often futile.

insert people with the new paradigm

needs. In the Smart CSOs model

Most campaigns and advocacy strategies are currently focused on

in places of public visibility and

there are essentially three levels that

trying to shift the behaviour of governments, businesses and consumers.

power. You don’t waste time with

are important to look at: the Culture,

While this can be successful in promoting incremental change, it is usually

reactionaries; rather you work with

the Regimes and the Niches levels.

ineffective from a system change perspective. Empirical research shows

active change agents and with the

The Culture level is where the domi-

that institutions resist change very strongly and often self-stabilise

vast middle ground of people who are

nant societal values and worldviews

when being pushed to change.

open minded.

lie and eventually shift. The Regimes

- Donella Meadows on how to

level is where the dominant politi-

change paradigms -

For systems change, we need to work at multiple levels at the

cal, economic and social institutions lie and where new or transformed

same time (Culture, Regimes and Niches).

institutions emerge. The Niches level is where pioneers experiment with

We need a much broader perspective on change that involves an

ideas and seeds of the new system.

understanding of the role of culture and radical innovation processes in

Re.imagining change - the Smart CSOs model for system change

catalysing change. We need to become skilled at identifying and making

We need to learn how to create positive feedback loops between

use of meaningful windows of opportunity for change in the old system.

the three levels.

For a suc cessful Great Transition we need to make change efforts

Activists, organisations and campaigns need to learn how to

at all three levels that reinforce one another to create positive feed-

shift societal values and frames

back loops. The strategic question here should always be: What

Most campaigns and activist strategies are not paying sufficient

effect could my action have on any of the levels and what feedback

attention to the importance of culture in change. We rely too heavily

loops could it catalyse?

on the power of information and rational argument. We communicate

and represent values of self-interest, consumerism and growth, there-

To conclude ...

by perpetuating the current culture. The Great Transition demands a

The Smart CSOs model loses most of its value if we interpret it in a

shift towards sufficiency, well-being and solidarity. Activists, organi-

simplistic way. For example, be careful not to classify any given activist

sations and campaigns can play a much more positive role in cultural

strategy or approach into one of the three levels without evaluating

change if they embody and communicate the values of the new system.

what core message the change level holds or what feedback loops might

be created, supported or weakened. While the model is a useful and

Pioneers are building the new system. They require our support.

flexible tool for strategic conversations, it is not an all-explaining

While there is a growing number of experiments with alternative

wonder box. We need to populate it little by little with knowledge

economic models, most are simply tolerated by mainstream institutions

and wisdom, from both theory and practice, to improve our under-

or co-opted by the system to play by current market rules. In many civil

standing of system change strategies.

society organisations, emerging radical system innovations are poorly

understood; they possess insufficient faith in their ability to support and

This model can help activists assess the potential of current strategies to

nurture niches to eventually become systems of influence. Disruptive

encourage (or hinder) the Great Transition. It can also support strategic

innovators creating the seeds of the new system require support and

conversations focusing on new system change strategies and how they

protected spaces to incubate their innovations. If we can support these

can mutually reinforce one another. In the next chapter we will explore

pioneers by helping them build communities of influence, they will

some of these insights in more detail.

become stronger, scale their innovations and eventually institutionalise

a new system.

If you would like to learn more about the Smart CSOs Model

Instead of playing the game of politics, we need to use windows

for System Change, here are some great resources:

of opportunity in the old system to advance system change.

System change is resisted by an elite and by institutions that defend

● Smart CSOs Paper - How to break out of the systems trap? (2013)

and often abuse their positions of excessive and uncontrolled power. As

● Smart CSOs Report - Effective Strategies for the Great Transition

long as groups with an interest in the status quo continue to effectively

(2011)

control the system, system change pioneers will be unable to institutio-

nalise new economic models. Campaigns of protest, confrontation and

resistance are necessary strategies in any system change portfolio.

Re.imagining change - the Smart CSOs model for system change

The 10 principles for

systemic activism

Chapter 4

The following is an attempt to summarise the most important lessons

we have learned about systemic activism in our community of practice.

Throughout this guide we refer to these principles. We believe that

Re.imagining our strategies

taking them to heart can make a difference.

System change cannot be controlled in complex systems due to

In this chapter we will explore how to make meaningful steps to more

uncertainty. Be strategic, learn and adapt as you go.

systemic approaches and strategies. We have some examples and tools

Continuously expand your consciousness by learning to under-

to offer to make this as practical as possible. We propose a number of

stand your underlying belief systems and those of others.

roles that are each important to effectively support the Great Transition.

Think long-term in your strategies - it’s OK to lose short-term

Of course not every network needs to take on all of these roles; they can

fights for the sake of long-term benefits.

be fulfilled by different networks and organisations so that their efforts

complement one another.

Always look for effective leverage points and root causes.

Frame your campaigns around them.

For the sake of this chapter we are assuming that your activist group,

network or organisation has reached the decision that it wants to move

The main enemy is the system and the culture that supports

towards more systemic approaches and that it is able to deal with the

it - they shape everyone’s behaviour. Even the powerful and

funding challenges this might entail. In chapter 5 we will deal with the

privileged are locked into the system.

organisational challenges this involves and in chapter 7 we will discuss

Always consider the effects your actions might have on the

how funding can become more systemic.

different levels of change (Culture, Regimes and Niches) and

what feedback loops they could catalyse.

Ultimately the Great Transition will lead to new social

settlements as a result of re-democratised deliberation - it

can’t be decided by small groups of elites.

At the end of this guide you will find a worksheet for self-assessment

Always try to express and encourage intrinsic values like

of your strategies from a system change perspective. The 11 questions

compassion, empathy and creativity through your activities

aim to help you analyse your strategies and provide guidance to iden-

and in the stories you tell.

tify opportunities to start changing your campaigns and strategies in a

Be authentic - an over-reliance on tactics can be problematic if

meaningful way. You can also download a pdf version of the worksheet

your authenticity is at risk (i.e. you have to sacrifice your values).

here: smart-csos.org/publications

Avoid reproducing structures of oppression (sexism, racism,

inequalities) in your movement.

Re.imagining change - the Smart CSOs model for system change

Phase One:

Strategic tools for systemic activism I

Becoming a supporter of

the Great Transition

Working with values and frames

This phase is about avoiding harm. Every campaigning organisation or

Values

network that believes in the need for a Great Transition should at the

Values play an important role in social change. Cross-cultural

very least review and potentially adjust their campaigns to ensure every

research in social science has identified a set of consistently occurring

effort made and every pragmatic campaign designed for incremental

human values. Social psychologists refer to one cluster as extrinsic, or

change supports the opportunity for more disruptive change in the

materialistic. These are concerned with our desire for achievement,

future. In particular we should:

status, power and wealth. Opposite to those are intrinsic values.

They relate to caring, community, environmental concern and social

Frame campaigns in a conscious way by being aware of the

justice. Although each of us carries both, the importance we attach

values and frames that you communicate and their impacts.

to one set of values tends to diminish the importance of the other.

• Avoid campaign goals that are in any way conflictive with the

When power values like social status, prestige and dominance come

principles and aims of the Great Transition.

first, the universal values of tolerance, appreciation and concern for

• Design campaigns in a way that it communicates values supportive

the welfare of others are suppressed.

of the Great Transition, e.g. we should avoid references to consumerist

The U.K.-based Common Cause group is synthesizing this growing

and self-interest values.

body of values research. It offers guidance to CSOs on ways to

• Avoid frames that reinforce the market and growth paradigm for the

engage cultural values to further their causes. Because values are like

sake of short-term objectives.

muscles - they get stronger the more we exercise them - activists

can consciously stimulate intrinsic values in communications and

First steps on framing

campaigns.

Imagine you work for a NGO that focuses on humanitarian aid. You

recognise that the way that you talk to the public about aid reinforces a

Researchers have also discovered what they call the values bleed-over

hierarchical worldview and you fail to explain why poverty exists. You

effect. Because values tend to exist in clusters, when one is activated,

could start to reframe your communications to reflect a more egali-

so are compatible neighbouring values. For example, people reminded

tarian and empowering worldview, and focus your campaigns on the

of generosity, self-direction and family are more likely to support

causes of poverty and crisis such as tax avoidance or climate change …

pro-environmental policies than those reminded of financial success

and status.

Create system awareness and develop a systemic understanding

The lesson for systemic activists is that we need to be conscious about

of root causes and leverage points. Any campaign - even the

the values we are activating and reinforcing through our work. Our

most incremental - should be the result of careful consideration

current culture is dominated by extrinsic values whereas intrinsic

that follows intensive systems thinking exercises. Your campaign

values are weakened. Re-balancing cultural values is central to the

strategy should be designed to support deeper systemic change as

Great Transition and we need to learn how we can have a positive role

much as possible while the campaign might maintain a pragmatic

in shaping values.

short-term objective. We need to learn about systems thinking …

Frames

Words are not as neutral as we often believe. There is a hidden world un-

Re.imagining our strategies

derneath our words. Frames operate behind the scenes, affecting how

Strategic tools for systemic activism I

we view things, large and small. They are like little stories triggered by

The Pope gives a lesson on Great Transition framing

the words we hear and the experiences we have. The way we see things is

With his very political encyclical Laudato Si in May 2015 Pope Francis

influenced by the words we use. For example the phrase tax relief makes

gave an important lesson on how to strategically frame the global sys-

us think of taxes as a burden, as something we need relief from instead

temic crises (especially climate change and inequality). Activists can

of something that contributes to society for our collective benefit.¹²

learn a great deal from this carefully written piece of communication.

Frames can be engaged deliberately and they are all the time: it’s called

The guru of cognitive linguistics George Lakoff was thrilled: “The pope

framing. The advertising industry is particularly good at framing, or if

has framed the issue so powerfully, often in language that flows most

you like, at manipulating us through its strategic choice of frames. For

easily and readily from a Pope, and yet makes so much moral sense,

example, car ads show us empty roads to associate cars with freedom

whether you are Catholic or not, religious or not.”¹⁴

instead of associating them with negative side effects like traffic jams

The title of the encyclical On Care for our Common Home establishes

and pollution.

the most important frame right from the start: Using the metaphor of

One of the important challenges we face when we think about framing

the Earth as Home, he triggers a frame in which all the people of the

for the Great Transition is that growth is generally associated with

world are a family, living in a common home. As a family we should

something positive, something that we can’t live without. Growth is also

care for each other. A home is something we all depend on, physically

considered a deep frame that we cannot easily change because it is so

and emotionally.

deeply embedded in our brains. In the book Framespotting, Laurence and

When the Pope says, “The alliance between the economy and tech-

Alison Matthews suggest a way to reframe growth as something that is

nology ends up sidelining anything unrelated to its immediate inter-

definitely good (because children grow and we celebrate this) but only

ests”, he sharply points toward the underlying system logic of market

up to a point. Adults don’t grow. Maturity is when you outgrow growth.

fundamentalism lying behind inequality and the climate crisis.

“The best story of our times may be a coming of age story: if we can rea-

Unlike so many mainstream campaigns, Pope Francis shows he is a

lise that a childish fixation on endless growth should give way to a more

superb systems thinker when he states: “To seek only a technical

mature outlook, we will have grown up.”¹³

remedy to each environmental problem which comes up is to separate

what is in reality interconnected and to mask the true and deepest

If you would like to learn more about values and

problems of the global system.”¹⁵

frames and how this can be applied in your strategies,

Maybe next time we are in search of effective frames for a system

here are some great resources:

change campaign, we should reread the encyclical Laudato Si. Surely

● Common Cause Handbook (2011)

● Finding Frames - New ways to engage the UK public on global poverty (2011)

● Common Cause Handbook for Nature (2013)

● George Lakoff: Don‘t think of an Elephant (2004)

● Laurence and Alison Matthews: Framespotting - Changing how

you look at things changes how you see things (2014)

Re.imagining our strategies

Strategic tools for systemic activism II

As a first step, spend time mapping your system or problem of interest. A

How to identify effective

systems map is a visual representation of a complex system that helps you

leverage points

identify its components, their connections and the rules governing them.

For the Great Transition to become a reality, we must find places in the

Free mapping tools are available online but hand-drawn diagrams can work

current system in which to strategically intervene for positive change.

just as well. The iceberg model shown here is a simple way to start revealing

Donella Meadows (1999) called these places leverage points. Leverage

system patterns, structures and unconscious assumptions. Increased

points are points of power that when pushed, cause changes in other

leverage for change can be found by diving to deeper levels of the

parts of the system; some are more powerful than others. For example,

iceberg. Addressing these deeper system levels can counter short-

changing the goal of a system is a more powerful intervention than

sighted decision-making and gets us off the symptoms-solving treadmill.

adding a new rule. Imagine if growth in human wellbeing were the goal

Another important tool for analysing complex systems is the causal

of our current economic system rather than growth in GDP! That would

loop diagram. These diagrams graphically depict system variables and

be a more transformative change than simply implementing a new policy.

the causal links between them. Importantly, causal loop diagrams help

As systemic activists, our aim should be to find the most powerful

us identify positive and negative feedback loops so we know which

leverage points possible or what we call root causes. Although there is

direction to push for change. Meadows offered a tragic example of

no simple formula for identifying them, we can get better at identifying

misunderstanding causal loops: world leaders have correctly identified

leverage points and learn how to push them effectively.

economic growth as a powerful leverage point in our world system -

they just push in the wrong direction. As chains of causes and effects

are revealed through analysis, systemic activists can better identify

why the system behaves the way it does and which variables they can

strategically influence.

Adapted from Senge, P. (1990)

Re.imagining our strategies

Strategic tools for systemic activism II

Examples of promising system interventions/leverage points

Once we have identified a promising leverage point, we need to explore

potential windows of opportunity and our strategic capacity to move in

Here are just a few leverage points in our economic, political and social

this direction.

systems that we might want to work on. They could be considered high

or very high leverage points due to their potential to shift the system

considerably towards the Great Transition.

If you would like to dig deeper into how to use systems

Reducing working hours - A re-distribution of work, i.e. fairer alloca-

thinking and identify effective leverage points, here

tion of work, can be an effective leverage point to reduce unemployment

are some great resources:

and increase equality, as well as reduce carbon emissions, build stronger

social connections and improve physical and mental health.

● Linda Booth-Sweeney and Dennis Meadows: System Thinking

Basic income - Many believe that an unconditional basic income

Playbook (1995)

(i.e. every citizen receives an income by the state regardless of his / her

● Donella Meadows: Leverage Points - Places to Intervene in a

working situation or other conditions) could be a very strong instrument

System (1999)

for improving equality, ecological sustainability and wellbeing.

● www.donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-resources

Cooperatives - Housing cooperatives (owned by the people who live

● www.Thwink.org: Root Cause Analysis - How it works at Thwink.org

there), workers cooperatives (owned by the people who work there) or

consumer cooperatives (owned by the people who use the services) can

be a powerful means to reduce the growth obsession of the economy

and to create a fairer and more equal society.

Local currencies - Complementary local currencies are seen by many

as an important means for more resilience at local and regional levels.

They can foster localisation of the economy and therefore be ecologically

more sustainable.

National indicators of progress One of the highest leverage

points according to Donella Meadows is the goal of the system. The most

important indicator of modern economies is the GDP: success of the

system comes down to measuring economic growth. If we want to

change the system, we need to change its goal. Bhutan’s Gross National

Happiness indicator is one example of an alternative.

Re.imagining our strategies

Phase Two:

Phase Three:

Becoming connected for

Becoming a driver of

the Great Transition

In our Chapter 1 assessment, we saw that our networks and organisations

Only in this phase are we developing true system change capacity. Through

often exist in silos, unable to collaborate. We need to overcome this

rigorous processes of questioning our own worldviews and assump-

silo mentality.

tions we develop a new consciousness and systems understanding.

Through the application of analytical systems thinking tools we develop

Join a community of practice - Connect and learn with networks,

strategies and narratives focused on effective leverage points.

organisations and movements involved in diverse struggles to

expand your horizon beyond the issues you care about most. This is

What if the Stop TTIP campaign had told such a story:

an important first step before thinking about coalitions or institutional

Governments are desperately fighting for a return to high economic

arrangements of any kind. Even if your organisation is not yet ready

growth and are willing to sell anything that might be in their way - our

for the Great Transition, you can personally join such communities

rights, health and environment among them …. But wait a minute!

of practice. By connecting with others and learning together how to

Something’s wrong here. We cannot sacrifice everything we value - health,

change the system you will be contributing to the emergence of a

rights, environment, our livelihood - for the sake of say an additional 0,1 %

of economic growth. And is more global trade really a good thing in the

movement for system change. .

first place? Will it create more wellbeing or will it just destroy the environ-

ment while it makes a few rich a little bit richer? We need to discuss, where

A safe space for learning

are the limits to this all? What alternatives are there that can improve

One of the success factors of the Smart CSOs Lab is that individuals join

wellbeing for all including future generations? In the meanwhile let’s join

out of their personal motivation to learn about systemic change. They

our forces and stop TTIP to avoid making things worse.

take their organisational hats off when they are in the space of the lab.

The members of the community are involved in diverse struggles of

activism but are united by a common purpose of respectful joint learning

in a non-hierarchical space where they develop the necessary trust

Put a system change vision in place - This is of course not something

outside their institutional rules. The community provides a backbone

you will do in two days. It is part of a bigger organisational change

for the difficulties members face when promoting systemic change in

process (see chapter 5). The new vision is the framework of reference for

their institutional contexts.

everyone in your organisation / network and is therefore fundamental

to move things in the same direction.

Connect with and learn from the pioneers of the new

Develop a common system change story with other movements.

system - Acquiring an understanding of the seeds of the new system

• Deconstruct the old stories by asking questions like: What are the

will take you on a journey towards a more systemic world view and

stories we need to change? What are the underlying assumptions?

reinforce motivation for deeper change. Only if we understand what

Are there larger mythologies of the dominant culture that must

is already going on in these pre-figurative movements can we

be challenged?

identify appropriate roles for ourselves and our organisations in

the Great Transition.

Re.imagining our strategies

Strategic tools for systemic activism III

• Construct a new story by creating an understanding of existing

Street started to gain attention there was a broken story that provided

stories and cultural assumptions around an issue and ask: How does

fertile ground for a new story to emerge, one that Occupy was shouting

our story target underlying assumptions in the dominant story.

out into the world. This was the failing American Dream. The new story

that has continued to grow ever since is the story of the 99% vs. the 1%.

Embed your campaign communications into a system change

Winning the Story Wars argues that we need to identify the perennial

narrative - Now you are a driver of the Great Transition. You have

stories that are starting to break and tap into these myth gaps with

worked hard and have developed your systems change literacy. Your

powerful new stories that have the potential to replace the old ones. For

campaigns will never be the same again because no matter what

the purpose of advancing the Great Transition, there are a number of

your campaigns are about, you will skilfully embed them into a wider

failing stories that are calling to be replaced. Here are three:

narrative of systemic change.

The broken story of economic growth - while the story is still

powerful, there is a growing sense that economic growth is incompatible

with tackling climate change. It is showing cracks. A better/new story

would focus on wellbeing in a much broader sense than material wealth.

Strategic tools for systemic activism III

The broken story of the invisible hand - in times of growing

inequality, the belief in the invisible hand is vanishing. A better/new

story is that a more cooperative economy suits human nature and helps

the planet and people to thrive.

Storytelling

The broken story of technological progress - while this story

is still powerful, the understanding is growing that the acceleration of

Storytelling is an effective and increasingly popular communication tool

technological innovation is part of the problem rather than the solution.

because contrary to the standard presentation of facts and numbers,

A better/new story would deconstruct the link between wellbeing and

it touches people on an emotional level. Stories make it much easier

continuous innovation.

for us to remember the intended message. Today, storytelling is often

being used to serve a short-term campaigning goal without necessarily

considering its long-term impact on the way we think about the world

and how we make sense of reality.

But stories can have much deeper cultural impact. In his book Winning

If you would like to dig deeper into how to use

the Story Wars acclaimed storyteller Jonah Sachs writes about the

storytelling effectively for systemic change, here

stories that have been told for generations, across centuries and even

are some great resources:

millennia. He calls these stories that make sense of the world myths.

Sachs argues that especially in our times, some stories that have been

● Jonah Sachs: Winning the story wars (2012)

valid for very long are no longer making sense to a growing number of

● Patrick Reinsborough & Doyle Canning: Re:Imagining Change (2010)

people - these are called myth gaps or broken stories. When Occupy Wall

● www.storybasedstrategy.org (check for Story Based Strategy Chart)

Re.imagining our strategies

Work with different roles - Not all systemic change is about

campaigning. In the next section we will introduce different ways

Systemic activism requires

systemic activism can contribute to the Great Transition. Systemic

activism requires fighting the old, supporting the new, creating new

discourse, building movement and working with a different level of

fighting the old,

consciousness. There’s a lot to do. Let’s see how …

supporting the

The Rules - Experimenting with different

approaches and roles of systemic activism

new,

The Rules is a global decentralised network of activists committed to

deep system change. As we explore different roles of systemic activism,

The Rules is difficult to define. It was created in 2013 by a small group of

creating new

experienced campaigners with an excellent understanding of the failures

and challenges of traditional campaigns and institutionalised civil society.

discourse,

So they embarked on a truly innovative journey.

The Rules attempts to target key leverage points in the economic system

building movement

as a way to advance system change. As one example, in 2013 it campaigned

against the City of London as the Tax Haven of the World (i.e. its role in

spurring tax avoidance of truly astronomic levels). It provides research

and framing, funding and logistical support to grassroots movements,

(e.g. Ekta Parishad, Kenyans for Tax Justice) and facilitates large coalitions

of organisations to swarm around specific leverage points and issues

working with a

(e.g. Our Land, Our Business, targeting the World Bank). Importantly, for

such campaigns, The Rules connects Southern and Northern movements

for maximum grassroots movement power.

different level

More recently, The Rules has focused on deconstructing the narratives

around capitalism and neoliberalism, and attempting to introduce a

of consciousness.

more powerful logic around the need for deep change into mainstream

narratives.

The Rules mindfully chooses its frames to engage people. As one

example it is engaging in reframing the story of poverty as something

created by humans that requires system change and which cannot be

addressed by charity.

Re.imagining our strategies

Questioner

Supports deliberation on

Acupunturist

fundamental questions and

4.2 The roles of

Uses windows of opportunity in

helps create new discourse

systemic activism

the political/economic system to

and a cultural shift.

target key leverage points that

Here we introduce the different

can help shift the system.

roles of systemic activism that your

organisation or network can take on.

Some might want to take on a few

roles at once. Others will focus on

one. This is a question of capacity

and the theory of change you believe

in. Ultimately, the Great Transition will

require diverse but complementary

strategies and roles. The systemic

activism roles described below are

meant to be strategic drivers of

the Great Transition so we haven’t

included the role of the pioneer,

namely those doing important work

in their niches. Instead, they focus on

supporting the seeds of the new

system, movement building, fight-

ing the power of the old system and

helping shift entrenched narratives.

Broker

Creates meaningful connections and

Gardener

learning cycles around the question of

Helps the new system emerge

system change between movements

by naming, connecting, nur-

and networks at multiple geo-

turing and illuminating the

graphical levels, including globally.

pioneers of the new system.

Re.imagining our strategies

The Acupuncturist

Targeting fossil fuel divestment as a key leverage

point for system change

Uses windows of opportunity in the political/economic system to

target key leverage points that can help shift the system.

Arguably the most interesting campaign of the climate change move-

ment in the last few years is the Fossil Free Divest campaign kicked off

Social innovation labs have become quite popular in recent years. Much

in 2012 by Bill McKibben and led by the environmental group 350.org.

of what emerges from these labs sounds as if systemic change were

Since 2014, The Guardian has led the spin-off campaign Keep it in the

entirely about collaboration and innovation. The self-stabilising nature

Ground, a real novelty due to the fact that a newspaper is campaign-

of institutions and the power and vested interests of those who benefit

ing on climate change.

from the status quo are often ignored in these contexts.¹⁶ Capitalism has

a great ability to co-opt these well-intended innovations when they can

The divest campaign/movement puts pressure on public and private

serve the interests of capital - as it happened with the sharing economy:

investors to divest from the fossil fuel industry. There is a moral argu-

Airbnb and Uber showed to be a rather brutal next stage of the neoliberal

ment for this (four fifths of fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground

system. Capitalism can also generously ignore the niches of radical

to avoid catastrophic climate change) as well as a financial one (the

innovation as long as they don’t threaten the system.

value of these companies is a bubble if we are serious on climate

change). A number of high profile institutions (Church of England,

Without contestation and conflict we will not tackle the underlying

Glasgow University, philanthropic foundations etc.) have joined the

logic of our collective problems and systemic change won’t be possible.

movement and have started to divest.

The Acupuncturist has a key role in identifying fights that are worth

fighting from a system change perspective. Importantly, the focus here

The ultimate aim is to damage fossil fuel companies through

is not about winning campaigns as it would be

reputation loss. The campaign seems to be a promising example of

under the criteria of most mainstreams efforts.

identifying very targeted leverage points in the system in addition

It might well be that there is a window of oppor-

to creating a powerful narrative around it in order to trigger deeper

tunity to shift policy and that this can support

systemic change. To make the campaign even more powerful, more

systemic change but most importantly, the

recently the idea of reinvestment has been added: “Now the institu-

Acupuncturist identifies fights that can

tions have an opportunity to reinvest in ways that are aligned with

change the logic of the debate, shift

their civic duty. Divestment will unlock significant amounts of capital

mind-sets and create new narratives.

providing a massive opportunity to reinvest in social goals like energy

So even if the campaign is lost in

democracy, affordable housing for all or universal education.” says Dr

the traditional sense, if it helps

Jo Ram, co-founder of Community Reinvest.

to deconstruct old stories and

shift frames, it is a win.

The Questioner

Friends of the Earth is engaging with the big

picture in a new way

Supports deliberation on fundamental questions and helps create

new discourse and a cultural shift.

Big Ideas Change the World is the name of a project recently embarked

upon by Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland (FoE

According to Harvard professor of political philosophy Michael Sandel,

EWNI). It is the organisation’s attempt to put the big questions on the

one of the great missing debates in contemporary politics is about the

table and start engaging environmentalists, academics as well the

role and reach of markets. We are simply not addressing the big moral

wider public in a serious dialogue about what is really needed to deal

questions of our times. We are not debating the big questions that

with the biggest challenges of our times.

focus on justice, inequality or the common good because we believe

that market solutions provide a neutral way of resolving conflicts. One

The project was kicked off when the organisation realised their

result has been the loss of trust in our institutions. Many democracies

campaigning work was too incremental and not tackling the root

debate today about technical issues instead about big values like

causes of the worsening ecological crises. The organisation also felt that

justice or the common good. For the Great Transition to materialise, it is

insufficient resources were spent on long-term thinking and strategy.

fundamental to regain these deliberative spaces. If politics is incapable of

With the Big Ideas project, FoE EWNI has initiated an analysis and

creating these spaces today, civil society must take on the role of opening

dialogue about long-term megatrends and how to address their root

and expanding them. We need to attract more citizens from diverse

causes more effectively. While the initial dialogue has been limited to

social groups and classes to participate in the fundamental debates of

particular academics and thinkers, the aim is to broaden the conver-

our times: What is the good life? What are the moral limits of markets?

sation to the wider public after the initial phase closes with the launch

When do markets serve the common good and when are more cooperative

of a book.

approaches better suited? Pre-figurative movements deliver important

The upcoming strategy review will show if the organisation draws any

ideas and valuable experiences but systemic change requires much

conclusions from the Big Ideas project for their campaigning work. It

bigger and broader social dialogue. In fact, it requires a renewed delibe-

might also reveal how much value the organisation attributes to such

rative democracy that can create the basis of new social settlements for

dialogue as a strategy in itself and as a way to expand the spaces to

a truly just and sustainable society.

debate the big questions of our times.

The Questioner takes on the important

role of facilitating dialogues around these

questions. This can involve different ways

of engagement including arts, theatre

and music.

Ultimately the Great Transition has to lead

to new social settlements resulting from

re-democratised deliberation - it can’t be

decided by small groups of elites.

Re.imagining our strategies

The Gardener

Local initiatives in Catalonia cultivating

the solidarity economy

Helps the new system emerge by naming, connecting, nurturing

and illuminating the pioneers of the new system.

The Catalonia Solidarity Economy Network (XES) and Estarter are two

initiatives based in Barcelona that both aim to strengthen, expand and

A transition to a radically different economic system is nothing

improve the solidarity economy in Catalonia, Spain.

that can be planned by an individual or result from top-down, pre-

conceived strategic plans. The economy is a highly complex system

XES was already created in 2003 and has since served as a support

that can only radically change through emergence. Emergence

structure and laboratory for new ways of working, consuming and

happens when “separate, local efforts connect with each other as

investing.Among itsnow 150 institutionalmembers aremany cooperatives

networks, then strengthen as communities of practice. Suddenly

but also other types of social business as well as associations and informal

and surprisingly a new system emerges at a greater level of scale.

organisations. XES promotes best practices among its members and

This system of influence possesses qualities and capacities that

helps create visibility by organizing annual solidarity economy fairs.

were unknown in the individuals. It isn’t that they were hidden; they

XES doesn’t see the solidarity economy as a silver bullet against all

simply don’t exist until the system emerges. They are properties of

problems in today’s economic system but as an important piece for

the system, not the individual, but once there, individuals possess

an alternative system.

them. And the system that emerges always possesses greater power

Created in 2013, Estarter is a small initiative set up by a group of local

and influence than is possible through planned, incremental change.

activists, academics and practitioners who saw there was a need for

Emergence is how life creates radical change and takes things

capacity-building on how to set up and run collective projects like

to scale.”¹⁷

cooperatives or community initiatives. Despite an extremely difficult

To support the emergence of the new economic system, the Gardener

labour market over the last few years in Spain, Estarter has organised and

has an important role in naming, connecting, strengthening and

facilitated courses especially for young people to help them start their

illuminating the pioneers of the new

own cooperatives or other forms of solidarity economy entities.

system, thus increasing the potential

that the seeds of the new economy

become systems of influence (e.g.

community-owned modes of production,

co-operatives, non-proprietary and open

If you would like to dig deeper into the theory behind the

source solutions, etc.).

role of the Gardener, here are some great resources on how

to work with emergence:

● Using emergence to take social innovation to scale - Berkana

Institute (2006)

● David J. Snowden, Mary E. Boone: A Leader’s Framework for Decision

Making (2007)

Re.imagining our strategies

The Broker

learning cycles that help converge the thinking and strategies of these

different groups in activism and civil society.

Creates meaningful connections and learning cycles around the

The Broker creates more encompassing communities of practice by

question of system change between movements and networks at

connecting activists from different clusters who want to learn how to

multiple geographical levels, including globally.

change the system. Activists can find alignment with other clusters and

We live in a network society where people hive off to form clusters. This

work collaboratively for greater collective impact. By doing all this, the

happens everywhere including the civil society context with its issue

Broker has a system change-creating effect.

sectors, informal networks, movements and grassroots organisations.

These clusters get stronger as people develop friendships, establish

norms and build reputations.¹⁸ Here are some consequences:

New Economy Organisers Network

• Clusters develop their own language

(e.g. shorthand symbols),

NEON was created by the New Economics Foundation in 2013 to connect

information runs quickly across the cluster and the cluster develops

progressive individuals from diverse contexts in the UK (civil society, ac-

a deeper shared understanding based on the same belief system. A

tivism, academia, media etc.). It aims to strengthen the movement to

self-sealing logic emerges: members read the same articles, the same

replace neoliberalism with a new economy based on social and environ-

books and generally re-confirm their own thinking.

mental justice.

• Information doesn’t travel between groups. As a result of group-

The community has now more than 900 members mainly based in Lon-

shorthand, it is hard for individuals from other groups to understand

don. Though local groups are now emerging across the UK.

at variety of capacity- building and community building acti-

ly two years it has already built a thriving community out of

olated change agents.

tep, NEON is now making connections with movements across

hare its learnings and learn from other groups.

es do you see yourself in?

e (s) could your network or organisation take on?

your strengths?

Chapter 5

a coherent vision to tackle our systemic crises. This vision serves as a

shared framework for all co-workers and helps align organisational

objectives and strategies.

Re.imagining our

Structuring around solutions and systems

organisations

Many organisations and activist networks are still entirely organised

around specific issues and have consequently developed an organisational

culture of issue expertise, one that is reinforced by professional

When it comes to considering system change strategies, most civil

pathways that drive toward specialisation. This means that much of

society organisations, including grass root networks, face some kind of

the work happens in silos and the connections between issues remain

constraint. We frustrate our colleagues, partners and constituencies if

unseen. Given the systemic and complex nature of today’s problems,

we don’t fulfil their expectations (based on doing business as usual)

these silo responses are often inadequate.

and we have a reputation and trust to lose. Most funding schemes are

To gain a more systemic perspective, it can be more appropriate for

far from supportive of the new approaches (involving higher levels of

organisations to structure around systems and deeper leverage points

uncertainty) needed for long-term system change. But the most difficult

(solutions). For example the way we live, work and travel has a profound

constraint is the organisation’s culture, its structure and way of doing

impact on the way we shop and consume food, as well as on the amount

things. A change in mind-set and the development of the right capacities

of waste we produce. These life systems provide important leverage

are required.

points that are not easily identified with a focus on problems like climate

This chapter explores some important enabling factors for organisations

to work more effectively on deep economic and cultural change and

offers approaches we can use to initiate change in our organisations.

Getting prepared to

work systemically

Setting the right criteria for success

Often success criteria focusing on short-term outputs such as shifts

in government policy, fail to tackle underlying root causes and might

thereby contribute to perpetuating the problems. The multiple

crises of our times demand that civil society organisations commit to a

vision that focuses on root causes rather than symptoms. To work

successfully on system change, networks and organisations need

Re.imagining our organisations

Decentralising decision-making

sation who want to see communication and fundraising activities serve

transformative social change strategies. In order to become fit for sys-

The hierarchical structure of many CSOs is the result of wrongly inter-

temic change, changing the organisation’s structure is an important

preting the best way to deal with complex systemic challenges. When

step. Cross-functional teams, instead of departmental lines, can enable

traditional mechanical models of problem solving fail to provide satis-

more holistic strategies where fundraising and communications become

factory results in organisations, those at the top of organisations (and

important voices that serve the team’s change strategy. The technical ex-

similarly funders) often start to mistrust their staff and introduce

pertise of staff (e.g. fundraising or communications) can be cultivated

greater control mechanisms (including new reporting requirements

through functional communities of practice operating across the orga-

and levels of hierarchy) as a way of dealing with failure. This command-

nisation to realise synergies but without exercising dysfunctional hier-

and-control approach disempowers campaigners and project leaders.

archical power. Also for example the relationship between project leads

A great deal of energy is lost to internal conflicts and the success of the

and funders is more effective when it is direct rather than managed by a

organisation’s work is hampered.

fundraising department.

Mechanical approaches are inadequate - systemic challenges require

Ultimately the goal should be to create learning organisations based on

exactly the opposite. We need to take risks, experiment and learn as we

free, horizontal exchange and flows of information, a commitment to

go along. Research shows that neither top-down decision-making struc-

learning and personal development, valuing people and their inborn crea-

tures nor organisations

What if power weren’t a zero - sum

tivity, a climate of openness and trust and learning from experience.

with a strong culture of

game? What if we could create organi-

consensus building are the

sational structures and practices that

Developing an open and collaborative

best at dealing with syste-

didn’t need empowerment because, by

structure and culture

mic challenges. The most

design, everybody was powerful and no

successful organisations

Often as the result from pressure to secure funding, organisations in

one powerless?

are those with structures

civil society operate in an unhealthy environment of competition and

- Frédéric Laloux,

and decision-making pro-

distrust. Competition for resources and recognition do not foster the

Reinventing Organisations -

cesses that allow teams to

level of collaboration needed if our main aim is to put ourselves at the

make autonomous decisions. This avoids a huge amount of bureaucracy

service of the common good. CSOs have become increasingly protective

and creates an empowered workforce in which people feel responsible

of their brands and isolate themselves against the outside world.

for their decisions. One additional feature that can ensure high quality

At the same time, many activists who years ago would have joined a pro-

decision-making is to establish an advice process where any person can

fessional CSO, turn their backs on what they see as hierarchical siloed

make any decision but must seek advice from affected parties and peo-

institutions. Less formal, non-hierarchical flexible platforms are sprea-

ple with expertise.¹⁹

ding. To be successful in this increasingly networked society, CSOs need

In many CSOs structured by departments, fundraising and communica-

to open their doors and become truly collaborative organisations.²¹

tion teams create powerful internal alliances and synergies that appear

successful if measured by fundraising results. But a focus on fundrai-

sing goals can create time-consuming conflicts for those in the organi-

Re.imagining our organisations

Promoting diversity and freedom from oppression

Living the values of a sustainable

The environmental movement (and similarly other movements) has a

and just society

history of being white and middle class dominated. An organisation

Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. This wasn’t

that wants to be a credible advocate for a more equal and inclusive

just a slogan, it was strategic advice. Gandhi knew that we cannot be

society should promote gender and ethnical equity, and avoid re-

successful in promoting a better world if we are unable to put those

producing the structures of oppression that exist in the wider system.

values into practice ourselves.

We should create and nurture a culture where we all can flourish.

We know that values matter. They matter at all levels. The way people

Promoting work-life balance

in a network or organisation interact with each other has an impact on

the actions of members in the outside world. Also, in our interconnec-

The culture of grassroots and professional civil society organisations can

ted world, the public knows what happens inside our organisations. We

encourage and even demand that people dedicate almost their lives to

are under increased scrutiny and therefore authenticity (living what we

the organisation’s cause. Working through evenings and weekends is not

preach) matters more than ever.

unusual in some workplaces. There can be a common sense of urgency,

a belief that we need put all our energy into saving the world before it’s

It is important to develop consciousness and self-awareness about

too late. This leads to burnout and frustrations, especially if the world is

values internally, but nobody should ask for perfection. We are all part

not saved after investing day and night as well as our health.

of the system we are trying to change, and thus subject - to an extent -

to its rules. Forgiveness for not being perfect and for not living up to

It’s encouraging to see that some organisations are already instituting a

some ideal is part of the story and makes an organisation’s culture

standard 4-day workweek and discouraging evening and weekend work.

more humane and therefore more values-driven.

Creating adequate policies and an internal culture of work-life balance

can help us live the values we preach.

Caring for people in the organisation

Practicing sustainability

Civil society organisations and movements reproduce the dominant

practices of the competitive market environment. Often practices in

Some civil society organisations have strict policies in place aimed at

the non-profit sector are worse because they are hidden under the

limiting and reducing air travel through carbon budgets and /or travel

appearance of a fair and democratic culture. Salary structures in

policies. But many organisations and activists still give little attention to

professional organisations are often unfair and non-transparent - with

their work-related air travel - the excuse being that it’s for an important

the extreme cases of premium salaries for executive directors and zero

cause and is different from the rest of air travel. The global travel circus

pay for interns. Recruitment practices can reflect hierarchy, compe-

of civil society needs to be examined critically. What air travel is really

tition and market logic instead of equality, humane relationships and

necessary? What can be done by video-conference or train? How many

respect. In general, people management policies and practices as well

global conferences do we need to organise?

as the way we treat our colleagues should be consistent with the values

Other important environmental policies like food and energy sourcing

our organisation strives for (equality, fairness, less competition etc.).

seem to be easier to implement and can help organisations live their

values and be more authentic.

Re.imagining our organisations

Developing organisational

Initiating the organisational

systemic change capacity

change process

Initiating change as a senior leader

Developing leadership skills for systemic change

If you are a senior leader and the senior management team is convinced

Along with changes to organisational culture and structure, working

of the need to shift the organisation to become fit for systemic change,

effectively on systemic change also requires substantially different

you can then lead the process.

leadership skills to those that have traditionally been promoted in

CSOs. Some key leadership skills required for systemic change are:

(1) Leaders must be able to develop solutions collaboratively in interna-

Embarking on a big strategic change project isn’t easy and requires

tional, cross-sectorial and non-hierarchical networks. (2) Leaders must

time - as the UK development organisation Tearfund discovered when

be able to initiate and facilitate deep structural and cultural changes

their advocacy department began their own: “Continuously questio-

ning the status quo and engaging in system thinking is a complex and

at the level of individuals, organisations and systems. (3) Leaders must

uncomfortable challenge that bears the temptation to fall back into old

become innovators and develop the sensitivity, determination and

patterns of thinking and working. At the same time the right balance

perseverance to engage in innovative action in environments of iner-

must be found between trying something different and considering

tia, blockades and lack of support.²²

what is achievable and feasible in the scope of the organisation.”

Creating a good mix of skills and competencies

for systemic change

Organisations fit to work effectively on systemic change are character-

ised by a lack of hierarchy, a culture of trust and collaboration, and a

While issue expertise remains important, an organisation that is not

spirit of openness. Rather than starting a purely top-down change

mainly focused on producing policy documents and does not aim to

process (never a good idea!), there should be a special emphasis on

have the answers on everything, needs a mix of skills and competencies

inclusiveness. The organisation needs to be brought on board as a whole

that many organisations today lack. Among the skills needed to work on

and staff should feel inspired by the change.

systemic change are thinking in systems, building/nurturing networks

and movement organising (see also the roles of systemic activism in

To make such a process successful, here are some things to consider:

chapter 4.2). Overall, the Great Transition requires cultivating a good

understanding across the organisation about the (economic and cul-

• Start the change process in the spirit of co-creation by inviting staff to

tural) system challenge and the seeds of the new economy that are alrea-

co-own the process.

dy emerging (in theory and practice).

• Analyse the actors, positions, power structures and power dynamics

within the organisation in the same way you’d analyse external actors

when developing a campaign.

Re.imagining our organisations

current paradigms and that required continuous dialogue to clarify the

• Don’t try to get everybody on board - it is often better to go for the

terms of the debate and CIDSE’s position. These discussions were espe-

change within some parts of the organisation first.

cially necessary on controversial concepts like green or inclusive growth,

• Publish annual failure reports to foster a culture of transparency,

as well as de-growth, in order to avoid misperceptions about where the

reflection and learning.

organisation was headed.

• Create spaces for staff to reflect on their personal motivations and

Some of the fruit of the alliance’s work can be seen in its 2016-2021 stra-

values (what they really think & what they really believe in).

tegy, one which members were consulted on. The new strategy puts

• Cultivate organisational awareness and authenticity by drawing

more emphasis on the democratisation of power and less on policy work.

CIDSE conceives the new strategy as people-focused, one that will inspire

on the inner experiences of staff - when leaders and staff speak for

with stories of change, strengthen existing alternatives, and support and

themselves, it fosters trust and a shared sense of responsibility.

strengthen communities of change.

Bringing a network organisation

What to do if I’m not a senior leader?

on board for systemic change

If senior leadership isn’t on board, initiating change in the organisation

Based in Brussels, CIDSE is an international alliance of Catholic develop-

is more challenging but is still possible. Whatever structure your organi-

ment agencies comprised of 17 member organisations from Europe and

sation has, you will need to bring others (and ultimately senior leaders)

North America working together for global justice.

on board.

The financial crisis in 2008 was a wake-up call for the alliance: there was

something fundamentally wrong with the system. They asked them-

The following actions might be useful for you to get started and

selves whether their efforts for global justice and sustainability were

advance:

enough or having the right impact. They realised they needed a radical

change in their approach; their work was issue and policy focused, neg-

• Start small: invite colleagues for an informal gathering to discuss

lecting interdependencies and system lock-ins. The CIDSE team orga-

your concerns and ideas about systemic change.

nised a workshop to bring the alliance together to analyse and respond

to the situation.

• Invite an inspiring speaker to tell a convincing we are winning

The workshop proved to be a light-bulb moment for many member or-

battles but losing the planet story, tailored at the organisational

ganisations. The alliance agreed to develop a new mandate to address

work context, to initiate a discussion among staff or members of

systemic change, to rethink the current concept of development, and to

your network.

build new coalitions that reflect the global power shift. In this process

• Create an internal community of practice of change agents who share

the power of working collaboratively was clear: had it not been for their

a common interest for systemic change.

collaboration, member organisations could have found themselves with

• Recruit at least one senior sponsor who can create a protected space

radically different understandings of what working for global justice

for internal dialogue and provide resources for experimentation with

means. Of course, questioning the current paradigms that we live and

work within is not always smooth sailing. Over the course of the project

new ideas.

CIDSE learned that articulating alternative paradigms takes time and re-

quires frank discussions. People needed time to deepen their analysis of

74 75

• Try to make the space grow by inviting new staff to join the conver-

sation - this can create momentum and the conditions for a larger

organisational change process.

• Start an experiment: create a low-resource project or campaign based

on system change strategies that will help you learn on a small scale

and offer a success story to sceptical colleagues.

The action experiment - a tool

for organisational change

Regardless of your place in the organisational hierarchy, the organisa-

tional change strategies listed above become even more powerful if you

approach them from an action learning perspective.

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

The idea behind action research (or action learning) is that our change

chapter, here are some great resources:

efforts become more effective if done in continuous learning cycles (see

diagram below). Action research

Action Research is a disciplined process

demands that we break down big

of inquiry conducted by and for those

● Frédéric Laloux: Reinventing Organisations (2014)

change inquiries like: How can my

taking the action. The primary reason

● The Barefoot Guide 2 - Learning Practices in Organisations and Social

organisation become fit for the

for engaging in action research is to

Change (2011)

Great Transition? into more man-

assist the ‘actor’ in improving and /or

● GIZ: AIZ Leadership Toolbox - Leadership for Global Responsibility

ageable questions like: How can I

refining his or her actions.

(2013)

get started tomorrow to increase

- Institute for the Study

● Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless: The surprising power of

my organisational support base?

of Inquiry in Education -

liberating structures - Simple rules to unleash a culture of innovati-

To embark on an individual or coll-

on (2014)

ective action experiment, break down your change goal into shorter lear-

● Peter Reason and Kate McArdle: Brief Notes on the Theory and Prac-

ning cycles so you can adapt your actions as you move forward. While

tice of Action Research (2003)

we might believe that we do this intuitively already, experience shows

At the end of this guide you will find a worksheet for self-

that effective action research requires a conscious effort to ensure our

assessment of your organisation from a system change

learning is meaningful. So we plan, take action, observe, evaluate and re-

perspective. The 11 questions are a tool for organisational

flect in cycles.²³ As we bring in more and more people into the process,

analysis and development from a systemic change perspec-

we create organisational capacity and become a learning organisation …

tive. You can also download a pdf version of the worksheet

here: smart-csos.org/publications

Re.imagining our organisations

System Leadership

Chapter 6

Peter Senge and others who have studied system leadership have found

three core capacities of systemic activists:

1. Ability to see the larger system: instead of focusing on the parts of

Re.imagining ourselves

the system that are most visible, systemic activists should re-direct their

attention to the whole. The problems we see out there are also in here.

as activists

2. Fostering reflection and generative conversations: systemic

activists should set aside time for thinking about their thinking. Our

The role of the systemic activist

assumptions and mental models can limit our perspective and prevent

us from truly understanding different views of reality.

We can all agree that our world needs systemic change - it’s the reason

3. Shifting focus from reactive problem-solving to co-creating

you’re reading this guide! Moving from mainstream activism to

the future: systemic activists should work towards building a positive

systemic activism requires that we think differently about the world’s

vision for the future. Highlighting the gap between a future vision and

problems and their solutions. Traditional approaches to activism and

the present reality generates creative energy.

social change mimic the culture they are trying to transform: the im-

pulse to control and fix, us vs. them frames, reductionist interventions,

Cultivating these capacities is not easy and requires practice. Individuals

win-loss mentality. Before we can be effective at systemic change, we

who become effective systemic activists commit to their own learning

have to critically examine our current assumptions and worldviews

and growth.²⁴

and then relinquish old ways of thinking that no longer serve us.

Besides decreasing our efficacy, traditional approaches to activism have

another cost: they can leave activists feeling disillusioned and cynical.

In his book Theory U, Otto Scharmer tells us that “two leaders in the

Social change is rarely linear but traditional activism measures success

same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely

in a linear way, leaving activists vulnerable to discouragement and low

different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each

self-esteem, and wondering if their work is even worthwhile.

operates”. The logic seems inescapable: the quality of our understanding

will have a direct impact on our success as activists. Because we are part

When dealing with a complex system, it is important to remember we

of the system, our state of consciousness matters.

cannot stand outside it. The new system is unfolding before us in ways

we can’t predict; we are part of the system we are trying to transform

Donella Meadows believes that changing paradigms and the ability to

and we will change with it. Systemic activists need to be open to new

transcend paradigms are the two most powerful leverage points in a

perspectives and sensitive to shifting patterns and trends. The work of

system. What if we think of ourselves as one of the systems that needs

re.imagining ourselves as activists requires the cultivation of new skills,

transformation? How can we transcend our current paradigms and

capacities and ways of seeing the world; the work is personal. Without

think differently as activists? This chapter offers some insights into the

changing our personal lenses, we will continue approaching our activist

challenges we might face as systemic activists as well as some practical

work in the same ways.

tools to cultivate new skills and capacities.

Re.imagining ourselves

Evaluation tool: Have you fallen into the hero trap?

Challenges for systemic activists

Take a moment to reflect on the statements below and note whether

they seem true or false.

Activists are part of the bigger social system that needs transformation

• You believe that if you just work harder, you’ll fix things.

and are subject to its constraints. Even those of us committed to sys-

temic change and the Great Transition have been conditioned to think

• You believe that if you just get smarter or learn a new technique,

and behave in the same ways as the prevailing culture. It’s pretty much

you’ll be able to solve problems for others.

guaranteed that at times we’ll fall back into the old habits and ap-

• You believe that people will do what they are told if you give

proaches listed in chapter 1. As we navigate this new path of activism,

them good plans and instructions.

we must be patient and compassionate with ourselves. Being aware of

• You believe that as a leader, you should have all the answers.

the challenges systemic activists face will be helpful in avoiding some of

the pitfalls ahead of us. Here are some common challenges you’ll likely

• You take on more and more projects and have less time for

face as a systemic activist:

relationships.

Challenging cultural paradigms creates resistance - Systemic

• You believe you can save the situation, the person or the world.

activists can be blocked, marginalized or even ignored as a result of sys-

If you answered true to most of these statements, chances are you’ve

tem resistance. Our peers might feel threatened or confused by the new

fallen into the hero trap. The myth of heroic leadership rests on the

approaches we advocate. At times, we will be criticized, isolated or open-

illusion that someone can be in control. The reality is that no one is in

ly opposed, sometimes by our colleagues.

charge of complex systems and therefore, no one person can fix them.²⁵

Pressure to engage in traditional forms of activism - Systemic

activists work under the same time and resource constraints as before.

They will feel strong pressure to revert to old ways and old paradigms of

activism even when they know they don’t work.

Skills and capacities for

An unfair burden of proof - We will be asked to prove ourselves,

systemic activists

to show results but won’t always be given the time, space or resources

to experiment. Because systemic activists are working with complexity

A new kind of leadership is required to tackle the systemic problems we

and emergence, taking risks and learning from failure are essential to

face: catalysing the Great Transition requires vision, empathy and wis-

their success.

dom as much as it does technical expertise and tactical know-how. Cre-

Demand for new skill sets - We have been committed to developing

ating interventions and organisations capable of system change means

our smarts (expertise and analytical skills). The soft-skills of engaging

we all have some transformative learning to do.

people and working with emotions seemed less relevant, so we haven't

invested time in their cultivation. Many of us don't feel competent or

Transformative learning involves not only changes to our beliefs and be-

comfortable working with emotions or uncertainty.

haviours, but a change in our understanding of ourselves. Becoming a

systemic activist means critically reflecting on long-held assumptions

Re.imagining ourselves

and making conscious efforts to expand our worldviews and develop

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

our capacities. Below you will find a set of ideas and recommendations

section, here are some great resources:

for those keen to re.imagine their roles as activists.

• www.systemslearning.org

Study systems thinking and complexity science

• www.wisironline.ca

The dominant culture has conditioned us to analyse problems using

• www.donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-resources

simple cause and effect logic. In Chapter 1, we learned that the approach

of traditional activism is to try to save the world issue by issue; it is often

Find (or create) a community of practice

difficult for activists to see the big picture. In fact, George Lakoff argues

We have a lot to learn from one another. Working towards deep systems

that no human language has the grammar to express what he calls sys-

change means that much of the time, we can’t rely on best practices. We

temic causation. So seeing and explaining problems (and their solutions)

will be experimenting with new interventions and models of change. As

with a systems lens will take some practice.

we develop new strategies and tools, we can learn from one another’s

The good news is that there are lots of tools and resources out there to

successes and failures while deepening our understanding of the shared

help us think and problem-solve this way. There are some key insights

systems we all live within.

from systems thinking that will help us re.imagine ourselves as activists.

A community of practice is a group of people who share a common pro-

For example, the complexity lens tells us that we cannot step outside the

fession or concern. Practitioners self-organize to meet their own needs

system. It tells us that we should expect the unexpected since complex

but are also committed to serving the needs of their peers. By shar-

systems do not behave in linear, deterministic ways. Complexity science

ing information, resources and experiences, members gain skills and

also shows us that initial conditions matter greatly. Systemic change

knowledge that support both personal and professional development.

requires preparedness and opportunity. Imposing our will on the social

Communities of practice take many forms. The Smart CSOs Lab is an in-

or economic landscape will backfire if we haven't sufficiently tuned into

ternational community of practice focused on systemic approaches to

present realities.

activism; others are smaller and more localized.

We all know the world is complex but our strategies rarely acknowledge

Systemic activists also need moral support. It is easy to lose perspective

that complexity. Studying systems thinking helps us focus on observing

(and heart) when working alone or in a context that doesn’t support

and listening to pick up patterns in a changing environment. It can also

new approaches to change. At times, we will feel misunderstood, margi-

tune us into emergence so we can support and amplify momentum for

nalized or even persecuted. A community of practice provides support

positive change.

through on-going interactions with practitioners who share a common

language and purpose. Don’t underestimate the importance of connec-

tion with like-minded peers and colleagues.

Re.imagining ourselves

Focus on relationships

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

section, here is a great resource:

Relationships are critical to systemic activism. We all yearn for connection

or what Hartmut Rosa calls resonance. The neo-liberal, capitalist world-

view holds that more is the key to the good life. The tragedy of the modern

• Humble Inquiry: The gentle art of asking instead of telling (2013)

world is that many of us have the world at our fingertips but the world

no longer speaks to us. Alienation seems to go hand in hand with the do-

minant cultural paradigm. Rosa argues that the good life isn't realized

Prioritize time for reflection

through the accumulation of more things but is instead a way of relating

We need time to think. The ever-accelerating pace of our world creates

to the world. Resonance is a way of relating that opens us up, makes us feel

delusion, feeds our reactivity and increases our feelings of insecurity.

meaningfully connected and tells us something about the world.

Developing our capacity for reflection is a counter-balance to the accel-

Climate change and global inequality can easily leave us feeling over-

eration of our culture. As activists, we have the tendency to jump from

whelmed. The urgency of the issues we face can pull us back to the com-

belief to action quickly but we must not succumb to the eleventh hour

mand and control approach to change. As experts, we tell people what

syndrome.

they should do and what they should believe and our success is measured

The authors of Getting to Maybe believe that standing still is an essen-

by the number of votes we receive or the size of the audience we reach. By

tial skill for systemic activists. Standing still is the capacity to see and

treating human beings as aggregates of beliefs and behaviours, we inad-

understand complex systems and adjust one's actions according to that

vertently disempower them and alienate them from our cause.

understanding. It is about marrying reflection and action; the world in-

We can create spheres of resonance by providing social support and a

teracts with us, and changes as we act upon it, so we need to get good

sense of membership. Sharing our concerns and hopes for the future

at observing, reflecting and acting in a cyclical rather than linear way.

with one another serves as an important buffer against psychological

Prioritizing reflection is also critical in the transformation of our con-

stress and releases new energy for change. As systemic activists, focusing

sciousness as activists. Hartmut Rosa tells us that the problematic drive

on relationships allows us to build trust, good will and social cohesion -

for growth and acceleration that guides our current economic system

we will win even if we don’t always meet our short-term goals.

also lives in us. The logic of growth is embedded in our heads and souls:

As a practice, tune in to your conversations and notice how often you're

we want to increase our knowledge, expand our reach in the world,

trying to convince or persuade someone to change their behaviour or

engage more people, be more productive. Regular reflective practice

adopt your point of view. Sharing good information is important but ar-

illuminates beliefs, assumptions and mental models that operate un-

guing probably won’t get us very far in the long run. Instead, allow people

consciously in our lives. It is the gateway to deeper self-awareness and

to express their own feelings and insights. Pay attention to your interac-

decreases the likelihood we’ll reproduce problematic values in our work.

tions with citizens and colleagues and build in unstructured time for just

We need to cultivate our intuition and start trusting it more - intuitive,

being human together.

reflective ways of knowing will help tune us in to new patterns and

help us see problems differently. Good ideas often take time. Systemic

Re.imagining ourselves

activists should cultivate the discipline of stepping back, reflecting and

Quaker activist Parker Palmer calls the tragic gap between where we are

observing the world and its problems from a wider perspective.

today and where we know we could be. Acknowledging the emotional

dimensions of our work makes us more effective as activists, and the

work itself more meaningful.

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

section, here are some great resources:

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

section, here are some great resources:

• Dave Gray video: Liminal thinking

• Hartmut Rosa video on resonance (speech at degrowth

conference 2014)

• Joanna Macy: Coming Back to Life - Practices to reconnect our

• Steven Johnson: Slow hunch - Where good ideas come from (TED talk)

lives, our world (1998)

• Parker Palmer: A Hidden Wholeness - The journey toward an

Engage the whole person

undivided life (2004)

• Per Epsen Stoknes: What We Think About When We Try Not To

As activists, we carry a heavy burden. Our work requires us to confront

Think About Global Warming

the stark realities of climate change, economic inequality and human

• Susanne Moser: Getting Real About It - Meeting the psychological

suffering on a daily basis - it takes an emotional toll. The sensitivity that

and social demands of a world in distress

led us to the work of activism in the first place can become problematic

if we ignore our emotional lives; as our psychological defences go up, our

Cultivate humility

awareness tends to go down diminishing our intellectual performance

and our compassion for others.

We live in an achievement-oriented culture. As professionals and indivi-

duals, we are conditioned to define our value by our achievements. We

Along with preventing burnout, understanding the emotional impacts

celebrate successes and strive to know more as a way to feel good about

of the problems we face as activists provides critical insight into the re-

ourselves. And we do our best to cover up or explain away failures. Some-

sistance we experience in society. The people on the other side are not

where in there, learning gets lost.

always our enemies. The apathy we witness from the human commu-

nity is less about not caring and more about our fear of distress, guilt

Systemic change means entering new territory and experimenting

and the growing sense of powerlessness. Although we don't all have to

with new strategies. We play the game of politics and business because

become psychologists, we need to respect the power of psychological dy-

we know it. Although ineffective, the game is a familiar one and gives

namics within individuals and communities. When we've grappled with

us a feeling of competence and control. When working on complex

our own emotional resistance, we are much better able to understand

problems, we must come to terms with the reality that much of what

that of others.

happens in the system is out of our control. Often, we deserve less credit

for successes and less blame for failures than we imagine. As systemic

Bringing your whole self - the emotional and the intellectual - to the

activists, we can't rely on past experience or best practices to solve prob-

work of activism takes courage. It requires strength to work in what

lems - if we want to learn, we need to become comfortable with failure.

Re.imagining ourselves

Letting go of controlling and fixing is also freeing. When we relinquish

Signs of burnout

the notion that we can be the hero and fix all the problems we see in the

Burnout is a “chronic state of being stressed and out of synch with work”.

world, our focus shifts to our unique strengths and abilities. We can take

Watch for the early signs to prevent the painful experience of burnout:

our place in the wider community of activists and change leaders and

1. Exhaustion: feelings of being overextended, stressed and depleted

collaborate for collective impact.

of emotional and physical resources. You feel drained and lack the

energy to face the challenges in front of you.

Build personal resilience

2. Cynicism: responses to various aspects of work are negative, callous,

The role of the activist requires energy and stamina and forging a new

resentful or excessively detached. What begins as an emotional buffer

activist path requires even more. Our work is motivated by core values

leads to a loss of idealism and enthusiasm for the work.

and can be hard to put aside at the end of the workday. The feeling of

3. Inefficacy: feelings of a lack of achievement, and resulting doubts

there's always more to do often leads to overwork. The work of activism

about self-worth.

also requires that we hold knowledge of overwhelming social and

Burnout is a sign of imbalance. If you experience any of these dimensi-

environmental problems in our awareness. At different times in their

ons of burnout, take some time out to rest and restoration.²⁶

careers, systemic activists will face uncertainty, fear, confusion,

exhaustion and perhaps even burnout.

Burnout is a sign of imbalance between our activist goals and our per-

sonal needs. To ensure our own health and wellbeing, we need to be

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this section,

diligent in taking care of our bodies, minds and spirits. Take care of your

here are some great resources:

physical health by spending time outside and getting enough exercise.

Find at least one or two close colleagues or friends who can listen when

you need emotional support. Explore practices for cultivating inner

• Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone: Active Hope - How to face the

peace and calm and commit to one that works for you.

mess we're in without going crazy (2012)

• Mary Pipher: The Green Boat - Reviving ourselves in our capsized

culture (2013)

• www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree

• Cox Laurence: How do we keep going? Activist burnout and personal

sustainability in social movements (2012)

Re.imagining ourselves

Remember what you’re fighting for

Chapter 7

One last invitation: Get out from behind your desk and engage directly

with the community you’re working for. Talk to your stakeholders face to

face. Connect with nature. Spend time with colleagues without an agen-

Re.imagining funding

da. An analytical understanding of the issues we work on isn't sufficient

to keep us going. Our passion and motivation for systemic activism will

only be fed by an experiential connection to the people, places and living

In chapter 1 we referred to two groups of grant making organisations.

things we care about.

In the first group are those with vested interests in the current system.

Their funding schemes have been intentionally designed to meliorate

the negative symptoms of an unsustainable and unjust system but

to preserve the privileges and interests of philanthropists. The second

Going forward

group are all other funders: conservative or progressive, but with some

potential to contribute to the Great Transition. In this chapter we are

Re.imagining ourselves as activists opens us up to a new relationship

dealing exclusively with the latter. The ideas we explore are meant to

with our work and our community. It restores our sense of hope and me-

be useful for decision makers in grant making organisations and for

aning but requires a lot from us in return: courage, faith in ourselves

activists who want to contribute to making funding more systemic.

and faith in others, patience and perseverance. Donella Meadows likens

the scale of the Great Transition to that of the agricultural and industrial

The strategic considerations in the previous chapters of this guide are

revolutions. We have a big job in front of us, so let's commit to a path of

as relevant to grant making organisations as they are to grantees. But

learning, self-exploration and growth.

within this broader need for strategic reflection on how to become more

effective in tackling systemic crises, grant making organisations face

Meadows offers systemic activists five tools - along with some inspira-

some fundamental differences. The differences can be reduced to one

tion - for this third revolution in human culture: visioning, networking,

word: money.

truth-telling, learning and loving. The last might be the most important:

"It is not easy to practice love, friendship, generosity, understanding, or

Money as a problem

solidarity within a system whose rules, goals, and information streams

are geared for lesser human qualities. But we try, and we urge you to try.

Systemic activism lacks money

Be patient with yourself and others as you and they confront the difficulty

of a changing world. Understand and empathize with the inevitable re-

Even if the revolution will not be funded (as the same named book

sistance; there is resistance, some clinging to the ways of unsustainability,

argued²⁷) and even if we question the purpose and effectiveness of

within each of us. Seek out and trust in the best human instincts in your-

much of the money donated for civil society efforts, in order to make

self and in everyone. Listen to the cynicism around you and have compas-

effective contributions to the Great Transition, grass roots activists and

sion for those who believe in it, but don't believe it yourself."

professional civil society organisations require some level of funding.

Even more, the fact that most funding schemes do not currently support

Re.imagining ourselves

systemic change strategies is arguably the biggest barrier for a more sys-

temic activism.

It is difficult to find anyone who is

While in recent years more money

happy with current funding systems

for social change has been avail-

[…] Funders feel they cannot achieve

able in the global funding system,

the impact that they want, while

a declining share of this money

practitioners feel they cannot get

has been invested in tackling root

the money that they need, especially

causes. As a result, the long-term

long-term, flexible funding to

impact of this funding might ac-

confront the really difficult issues.”

tually be diminished.²⁸

- Michael Edwards -

In their anxiety to better control the impact of their money, most main-

stream funding schemes ask for narrowly defined single-issue outputs

instead of supporting long-term innovative system change strategies. In

addition, the popularity of social entrepreneurship and impact investing

shows that many in the funding community see the market paradigm as a

Control and hierarchy

solution rather than a problem.

Many donor organisations are highly hierarchical and non-transparent.

Because funders control where the money flows, to an important de-

The mainstream funding system mimics the market society: whoever

gree they hold the key to a fundamental shift in civil society and how

has the money has the power. This neither empowers activists nor does

activism is done.

it lead to good funding decisions. Without developing relationships of

trust with their grantees it is impossible to create a common understand-

Dirty money

ing between funders and grantees about proper system change strate-

gies. As discussed in chapter 5, today’s global systemic crises require

There is a paradox in the fact that most of the grants provided by foun-

more open and collaborative organisational structures and cultures.

dations originate from investments that cause the problems their fund-

ing aims to fix.²⁹ If funders want to be part of a movement for system

change, they need to go further than implementing responsible invest-

How to become a systemic funder?

ment strategies. The role their investments play in sustaining global cor-

porate capitalism needs to be considered more fundamentally.

Although it might seem overambitious considering the current state of

the sector, a vision of systemic funding would imply to put the money in

the service of a joint activism between conscious funders and activists.

Profit-oriented conservation of wealth is

Funders need to embark on a challenging journey of self-reflection and

where a lot of our problems originate

transformation that involves difficult discussions about money, wealth,

- Farhad Ebrahimi, Founder and Trustee

privilege and power.

Chair of Chorus Foundation -

Re.imagining funding

£15 per month - and every member has equal voice in the organisation.

Changing the donor organisation

Transparency and accountability are crucial to the model.

Edge Fund also creates opportunities for people and groups to build

Many of the ideas and recommendations explored in chapter 5 are as

alliances with each other, in particular those they might not normally

relevant for grant giving as they are for grant receiving organisations.

cross paths with, and to share their learning and experiences.

Given the unique challenges donor organisations face, funders should

The highly diverse, member-led organisation now has over 100 members

pay particular attention to the following issues so they can become ef-

across the UK. Advisory Groups ensure that voices from these diverse

fective supporters (and catalysers) of the Great Transition.

communities are heard including those representing women, ethnic di-

Put systems thinking at the core - Train the organisation’s leader-

versity, gypsy, Roma and traveller communities, activists and environ-

ship and staff on systems thinking. It is the basis for rethinking the

mentalists, immigrants and refugees, and disabled people.

funder’s role in tackling systemic challenges.

Put a system change vision in place - Involve all staff in the develop-

Putting all money at the service of systemic change

ment of a new vision aimed at tackling root causes of the current sys-

The Great Transition cannot be controlled but we can build on existing

temic crises. It should guide all investment and grant making strategies.

strategic knowledge. Donors should interiorise the analysis and strate-

Mirror the society you seek - Change the way you act as a donor by

gic advice in chapters 2 - 4 of this guide and explore how their money can

becoming a more transparent, collaborative and democratic organisa-

contribute to such more systemic and therefore more effective activism.

tion. This will involve questioning long held beliefs about your role as a

Here are some ideas for how you can make your money work more

funder and giving up power and privileges as well as control over fun-

effectively for the Great Transition:

ding schemes.

Fund the four roles of systemic activism - As explored in chapter

Make your grantees partners - Switch from controlling to co-design-

4, the Great Transition requires a range of strategies and roles of systemic

ing funding strategies with activists. Create spaces for joint learning and

activism. All four roles - the Acupuncturist, the Gardener, the Ques-

reflection. Great Transition strategies and funding schemes will become

tioner and the Broker - are important and will have a powerful effect if

more powerful when the strategies are co-owned by funders and activists.

they are put in place in parallel. But they are currently under-resourced.

Funders should work with activists to strengthen all four roles.

The Edge Fund is run by its members

Fund capacity-building and spaces for learning and reflec-

The Edge Fund was founded in 2012 by a small group of individuals

tion - Funders and activists alike need to develop systems thinking ca-

in the UK to address the stark power imbalances in the funding en-

pacity to deal with the complexity of systemic crises. We all need to learn

vironment and to open up funding for those excluded from traditional

about root causes and leverage points, question our worldviews and as-

models. They wanted to get money to groups that work for systemic

change, and to those led by communities facing injustice, which are

sumptions, and deepen our understanding of the underlying belief sys-

often too marginal, informally structured or radical in their aims to be

tems of ourselves and of other activists and funders. All this will help to

considered by other funders.

create common understanding and strategy, which is what we need to

To challenge these inequalities, Edge Fund decisions are made collec-

build movement for the Great Transition. There is little funding avail-

tively by those who donate money and those who receive it. Member-

able for such learning processes and spaces. Systemic funders should

ship consists of donors, activists and members of communities facing

oppression and injustice. Members pay and average membership fee of

94 95

support capacity-building because it serves as the basis for effective

Focus on learning - M&E for systemic change should evaluate how

system change campaigns and approaches.

well, how fast and how honestly learning is captured. Learning should

be openly available to both internally an externally so that activists can

Switch to Indie Investing - Grant making isn’t the only way funders

continuously improve their theories and practice of change.

can contribute to systemic change. Some far-sighted and innovative

donors have started to shift their investments from the stocks and bonds

Set plausible milestones - Because the Great Transition is such a

market to the new economic models they aim to create through their

complex and rather long-term project, the individual contribution of

grants.³⁰ Indie Investing could be a powerful way to accelerate the shift

any given campaign is impossible to measure. M&E for systemic change

to a sustainable and just economic system. For example, strategically

needs to set plausible milestones on the journey of the Great Transition,

putting money at the disposal of co-operatives can support a shift away

based on an agreed theory of change. Because the Great Transition is an

from financial capitalism.

evolving and organic process, missed milestones should not be seen as

Spend down - This approach means you are limiting the lifespan of

failure - they help us refine our theories of change (learning as a focus

your foundation by spending your capital faster than you replenish it. In

of evaluation).

2013, the Chorus Foundation decided that climate change is such a press-

Use the Smart CSOs model for system change - The potential of

ing issue that the money needs to be spent now rather than when it’s too

a campaign to achieve systemic change can be discussed and evaluated

late.³¹ The foundation will be spent down by 2024. You might consider

with the help of the Smart CSOs model for system change (see chapter 3).

that there is an urgent need to catalyse the shift to a new economic sys-

tem and that money is better spent now than in the distant future.

If you would like to dig deeper into the content of this

Re.imagining monitoring & evaluation (M&E):

section, here are some great resources:

learning for systemic change

Traditional ways of measuring the success of funding mechanisms have

• Michael Edwards: Beauty and the Beast - Can Money Ever Foster Social

to be critically reviewed if we want to adopt a system change perspec-

Transformation? Hivos Knowledge Programme (2013)

tive and a normative framework like the Great Transition. To create new

• www.indiephilanthropy.org

M&E mechanisms, activists and donors should develop a common theo-

• www.edgefunders.org: an alliance of grant making organisations

ry of systemic change. Here are some ideas for how M&E for systemic

promoting a Just Transition that decommodifies nature, re.imagines

change could look like:

work, liberates knowledge, and democratizes wealth.

Incorporate uncertainty - While improving scientific understand-

ing of complex processes is vital, the fact of the matter is that uncertain-

ty is an unavoidable part of systemic challenges. Hence, new monitoring

and evaluation tools need to incorporate uncertainty and cannot focus

entirely on narrow single-issue outputs.

Re.imagining funding

Wheatley, Margaret and Frieze, Debroah - Using Emergence to Take

Endnotes

Social Innovation to Scale, The Berkana Institute, 2006

Simmons, Michael - Why being the most connected is a vanity

metric, Forbes Magazine, 2013

Pew Research Centre - Social Media and the Spiral of Silence, 2014

Laloux, Frédéric - Reinventing Organisations, 2014

Crompton, Tom - Common Cause, The Case for Working with our

The Barefoot Guide 2 - Learning Practices in Organisations and

Cultural Values, WWF-UK, 2010

Social Change, The Barefoot Collective, 2011

Eisenstein, Charles - The oceans are not worth $24 Trillion,

Gnärig, Burkhard - The Hedgehog and the Beetle, Discruption and

opendemocracy, 2015

Innovation in the Civil Society Sector, 2015

Darnton, Andrew and Kirk, Martin - Finding Frames, 2011

GIZ - AIZ Leadership Toolbox: Leadership for Global Responsibility,

Rosa, Hartmut - Social Acceleration: A New Theory of

2013

Modernity, 2013

Reason, P. and McArdle, K. - Brief Notes on the Theory and Practice

Haiven, Max and Khasnabish, Alex - The radical imagination, 2014

of Action Research, in Becker, S. and Bryman, A. (eds) Understanding

Raskin, Paul et al. - Great Transition, The promise and lure of the

Research Methods for Social Policy and Practice: Themes, Methods

times ahead, A Report of the Global Scenario Group, Stockholm

and Approaches. Bristol, The Policy Press, 2004

Environment Institute, Tellus Institute, 2002

Senge, Peter et al - The Dawn of System Leadership, Stanford Social

Polanyi, Karl - The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic

Innovation Review, 2015

Origins of Our Time, 1944

Wheatley, Margaret and Frieze, Debroah - Leadership in the Age of

Sandel, Michael - What money can’t buy, The moral limits of

Complexity: From Hero to Host, 2010

markets, 2012

Maslach, Christina and Gomes, Mary E. - Overcoming Burnout,

BBC, The Century of the Self, Happiness Machines, Season 1,

Working for Peace: A Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other

Episode 1, 2002

Tools, 2006

Smith, Philip B. and Max Neef, Manfred - Economics Unmasked,

Incite! Women of Color Against Violence - The Revolution Will Not

2012

Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, 2007

Matthews, Laurence & Alison - Framespotting, 2014

Edwards, Michael - Beauty and the Beast: Can Money Ever Foster

Matthews, Laurence & Alison - Framespotting, 2014

Social Transformation? Hivos Knowledge Programme, 2013

Lakoff, George - Pope Francis Gets the Moral Framing Right: Global

Van Hattum, Fatima and Schaffer, Arianne - Transforming philan-

Warming Is Where the Practical and the Moral Meet,

thropy: it’s time to get serious in Transformation, opendemocracy, 2

Huffingtonpost.com, 25.6.2015

February 2015

Hickel, Jason et al. - Pope Francis’ Enyclical vs the UN SDG’s:

Indie Philanthropy Initiative: indiephilanthropy.org/method/indie-

Who will save the planet first?, The Guardian 23.5.2015

investing/

Berkhout, Remko - The blind spots of social innovation,

Chorus Foundation: chorusfoundation.org/what-we-fund/

opendemocracy, 2014

Glossary

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) - Civil society refers to the arena

Great Transition - Is a term initially used by the Global Scenario Group

of un-coerced collective action around social and environmental causes,

to describe a vision that includes egalitarian social and ecological

purposes and values. CSOs commonly embrace a diversity of spaces,

values, increased human interconnectedness, improved quality of life,

actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, auto-

and a healthy planet, as well as an absence of poverty, war, and environ-

nomy and power. CSOs are often populated by organisations such as reg-

mental destruction. In the Smart CSOs Lab we stress that the Great Tran-

istered charities, developmental and environmental NGOs, community

sition needs to overcome the market-growth logic inherent to the cur-

groups, women's organisations, faith-based organisations, trade unions,

rent economic system.

social movements and civil society advocacy groups and coalitions.

Intrinsic values (or self-transcendent values) - Intrinsic values in-

Definition adapted from LSE Centre for Civil Society.

clude the value placed on a sense of community, affiliation to friends

Change agent - A change agent is a person from inside or outside the

and family, and self-development (Common Cause).

organisation who helps an organisation or network to transform itself

Leverage point - According to Donella Meadows’ definition, leverage

and to adopt system change strategies.

points are places within a complex system (such as a firm, a city, an

Commons - The Commons is the cultural and natural resources acces-

economy, a living being, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing

sible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air,

can produce big changes in everything (see also page 46).

water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not

Root cause - Root cause is used to describe the depth in the causal chain

owned privately.

where an intervention could reasonably be implemented to improve

Emergence - Taken from the field of complexity science, emergence is a

performance or prevent an undesirable outcome (Wikipedia). In the

term that is used to describe events that are unpredictable, which seem

Great Transition context we are referring specifically to the root causes

to result from the interactions between elements, and which no one or-

of the global systemic crises.

ganisation or individual can control. The process of evolution exempli-

Systemic change / system change - In this guide the term systemic

fies emergence.

change always refers to a fundamental shift (Great Transition) in our

Extrinsic values (or self- enhancing values) - Extrinsic values are

economic, political and social systems in the broadest sense. It means

values that are contingent upon the perceptions of others - they relate

tackling the root causes of today’s systemic crises. See also the box on

to envy of higher social strata, admiration of material wealth, or power

page 26.

(Common Cause).

Systemic activism - An activism that is based on a good understanding

Frames - Frames are the mental structures that allow human beings to

of how to work effectively in complex systems and aims to catalyse the

understand reality - and sometimes to create what we take to be reality.

Great Transition. In chapter 4 we explore the meaning of systemic acti-

They structure our ideas and concepts, they shape how we reason, and

vism in depth.

they even impact how we perceive and how we act (Common Cause).

100 101

To what extent are there opportunities on the policy level that

Worksheets for

could plausibly contribute to a long-term goal of systemic

change (focused on well-being, solidarity and ecological limits)?

self-assessment

How are you dealing with usual lock-ins of the mainstream poli-

tical and economic institutions?

Self-assessment of strategies

Here we provide a series of questions to analyse your strategies. The

questions aim to provide guidance to identify opportunities to start

changing your campaigns and strategies in a meaningful way.

To what extent do you believe we are ready to take a fundamen-

How value conscious are you with your strategies? To what extent

tal new path/get started towards some bold new strategies?

are you strengthening helpful frames and avoid unhelpful ones?

If your organisation decides to mainly focus on a particular issue

Do you have a good understanding of the system we aim to

(such as climate change or poverty), are you embedding the single

change? Which are potential effective (high) leverage points

issue in a bigger system change narrative? To what extent are you

that might shift the system?

pointing towards the underlying logic (root causes) of the prob-

lems you aim to shift?

102

103

Are you carefully considering the trade-offs between possible

To what extent do you see yourself / your organisation in the

short-term wins and the potential long-term negative effects of

role of the Questioner - curbing deliberative spaces asking the

reinforcing broken political institutions? Explain how.

fundamental questions?

To what extent do you see an opportunity for yourself / your or-

To what extent are you connecting to other issue movements

ganisation to support the seeds of the system (Gardener) with

and how are you learning about system change in collaboration?

strategies of emergence?

To what extent do you see an opportunity for yourself / your or-

To what extent do you see yourself/ your organisation in the role

ganisation in the role of the Broker, creating meaningful connec-

of an Acupuncturist, fighting key leverage points in the old sys-

tions and learning cycles among movements?

tem? How confident are you that you’re not falling into the trap

of personalising a system problem in excess?

104

105

How decentralised is your organisation and decision-making

Self-assessment of organisations

processes? To what extent do you believe hierarchy is a problem?

This section is a tool for organisational analysis and development from a

systemic change perspective:

On preparedness to work systemically

What is the relationship between departments such as commu-

How do you define success in our organisation? To what extent

nications, fundraising and programmes? To what extent do you

do you believe that the way your organisation measures success

believe it is a healthy balance or are communications and fund-

is consistent with the change required to fundamentally tackle

raising too powerful?

the issues you care about?

To what extent is you organisation structured around teams focu-

To what extent is your organisation committed to true collabo-

sing on single issues or on root causes (across issues) and solutions?

ration and knowledge-sharing with other organisations?

106

107

Living the values of a sustainable and just society

To what extent are your organisational policies in line with best

practices in sustainability?

To what extent is your organisation’s people management with

its policies and practice as well as the way you treat each other in

your network consistent with the values your organisation stri-

ves for (equality, fairness, less competition etc.)

Organisational capacity

To what extent do you believe that enough people in your organisa-

tion have the leadership skills required to work on systemic change?

To what extent does your organisation promote gender and eth-

nical equity and avoid reproducing any structures of oppression

existing in the wider system while creating and nurturing a cul-

ture where we can all flourish?

To what extent is your organisation promoting work-life balance

through adequate policies, work load and internal culture?

To what extent does your organisation have a good mix of the

skills and competencies required to work on systemic change?

108

109