ABOUT
SYSTEMS CHANGE

An intentional approach to shift the conditions that hold the current system in place. By doing so we will catalyse a shift away from the old, centrally controlled and often colonial humanitarian system to a new one, fairer and more just, that redistributes power and resources among local communities and to those directly affected by crises and disaster.

Keys of System Change

ABOUT
SYSTEMS CHANGE

An intentional approach to shift the conditions that hold the current system in place. By doing so we will catalyse a shift away from the old, centrally controlled and often colonial humanitarian system to a new one, fairer and more just, that redistributes power and resources among local communities and to those directly affected by crises and disaster.

SYSTEMS CHANGE

Five keys of systems change

The ‘Keys of System Change’ is a framework developed by Rockwool Foundation. It helps us to describe and work with some of the less visible parts of the humanitarian system - purpose, resources, relationships and power. The parts which when not directly addressed ‘lock’ a system in place, and make it hard for us to change or influence it.

You’ll recognise these keys from our latest strategy, and we have used them to form the basis of our system change approach later in this guide.

Five keys of system change

‘These keys make up a set. Systems are often hard to changebecause power, relationships, & resources are lockedtogether in a reinforcing pattern according to the current purpose. Systems start to change when this pattern is disrupted & opened up. Then a new configuration can emerge.’  - Building Better Systems, 2020

We have then added a fifth key - practice - acknowledging the entrenched practices and ways of working that are specific to the humanitarian sector.

These five keys aren’t a way of evaluating our organisational effectiveness or performance, but a way of viewing the system which we operate in and zooming in on the areas that we are seeking to influence or change. By applying them to our work, we make it more likely that our work will shift the system. We talk more about how to use them later in this guide.

The humanitarian sector isn’t one homogeneous system

The global nature of the humanitarian aid system means that the sector is made up of lots of interconnected, smaller and ‘nested’ systems.

We could never visualise the full extent of the humanitarian aid sector and the systems and interactions that make it up, but this map starts to bring to life some of the complexity that we are working within.

The humanitarian sector diagram

These smaller, nested systems constantly interact and influence one another. As they do, they create more complexity, uncertainty and volatility; meaning that the humanitarian system is constantly changing, moving and adapting.

In order to meaningfully change in the humanitarian aid system, we need to break it down into its smaller component parts, and identify where we could have a greater chance of influencing it or parts of it. Not thinking about it as one ‘homogenous whole’ that we want to have control over, but as a constantly changing and adapting group of smaller systems, networks and interactions; made up of complex relationships, power dynamics, incentives and practices.

“A system contains a number of component parts that are connected in ways we can’t fully know and interact in ways that are likely to produce outcomes we can’t fully predict”

Cognitive Edge (Cynefin Framework)

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