Do you have a complex sustainability challenge that you are grappling with? Looking for participatory ways to generate new ideas and perspectives? Want to investigate the future of food? Let me help you to develop and facilitate an interactive system change workshop!
What is system change and why is it important?
System change is about facilitating the emergence of new patterns within a system structure (e.g. the food system). Patterns can include physical structures, flows and relationships or mindsets and paradigms.
The world is complex. As a result, any real change process will need to operate from a system perspective. System change provides a way to accelerate sustainability as well as social and ecological well-being.
Evidence of the future is the committment to it in the present
– Bill Sharpe
What might a system change workshop look like?
While each workshop will be unique in nature, let me provide you with some sense of what the workshop might consist of.
Firstly, system change workshops are designed to be dynamic and participatory. Before the workshop, we’ll discuss your objectives and set out a plan for what kind of outcomes you want to achieve. I will then walk you through the different tools that I propose to use during my facilitation of the workshop. These tools will help to:
- Diagnose your complex sustainability challenge using systemic approaches
- Frame your unique sustainability challenge in a new way
- Design effective system change strategies and interventions
- Understand the workshop stakeholder’s collective sphere of concern, leverage points and agency
- Develop and realise innovative solutions that are scalable and systemic in their impact
- Strategize how to build effective partnerships and coalitions for change
The value of a system change workshop lies in the process. Often, we fail to set aside time to think about long-term strategies and the direction in which we are headed. The journey is as important as the outcome. By discussing and designing new approaches, we can start to understand how to influence the future.
What else should you know?
I draw from different frameworks from a wide range of fields to help you navigate and understand the approaches and processes that can bring you closer to your desired goals and creating the change that you wish to see.
My practice is based on my experience with complex processes of change in the food system for over 12 years. This experience spans a multitude of geographies, organizations and cultures. I have also received comprehensive training from the Forum for the Future’s School of System Change. The Forum for the Future is one of the world’s leading international sustainability non-profits.
Sustainable Food Systems Transitions 