Recently a friend who has spent her entire life as an activist, referred to systems change as ‘pie in the sky stuff’. It promoted us to reflect on the question – what does systems change really mean at a practical level?

Anyone who has been around the social sector for the past 30 years should be aware of the idea of systems change – it’s not new. But there seems to be a renewed interest in it at the moment, partly through Catalyst 2030 starting up in Australia.

Changing ‘systems’ is not a quick fix. The global systems we live with have been in the making for many years through the interplay over time of political philosophy, economic theory, ideology, theology and financial practices. These are all ingredients in the world’s current major systems –neoliberalism, capitalism, fascism, communism, or socialism.

It is not possible to understand what is happening in any of these systems by looking at their individual parts. To understand what is happening we need to understand how the different parts of the system interact and affect each other, which actors are affecting the system and what motivates them.

But how do you do that?

We propose two practical ways to get to to grips with systems change: combining ‘Critical Theory’ with the ‘power and systems approach’. Through that combination we can engage with global systems at a local level. The process must involve self-reflection as much as reflection of the external system we seek to change.

Top take-aways

• Activists need to become better ‘reflectivists’, taking the time to understand the system before (and while) engaging with it.
• We need to be clear what system we want to change and if we are part of or benefit from that system.
• The legitimate starting point for systems change is emancipation – to liberate people from the circumstances that enslave them.
• Global systems are changed by action at a local level.
• What climate change, gross inequality, or poverty are for us, slavery was once to the anti-slavery movement. Systems can be changed when small cogs in a large machine start to function differently.

Position paper: what is systems change and why should we bother?