Systemic change: what it is and why it matters

Global problems like poverty, tech injustice and the climate emergency won't be solved just through small scale solutions. The status quo needs shifting. That's why Catalyst is committed to supporting systemic change.  

What systemic change is

Let's get clear about what we mean by ‘systems.' and 'systemic change'.

Systems

The Forum for the Future defines a system as:

‍“a configuration of parts connected by a web of relationships towards a purpose. It can be an ecosystem, such as the marine environment, the food system or socially created systems such as education and health. Systems can be small, such as organisations, or large, such as the whole economy.”

Systemic change

FSG (a US-based nonprofit consulting firm) has a concise definition of systemic change. It describes it as

‍“...change that is about advancing equity by shifting the conditions that hold a problem in place.”

Systemic change means dealing with the root causes of deep-seated problems. Not their symptoms. It is about creating lasting positive impact in a system by changing:

• mindsets
• beliefs
• relationships
• power structures
• policies and processes

Systemic change is also both a practice and a complex process. Because it addresses intersecting issues with many root causes it involves multiple solutions. It also:

• involves working across public, private and not for profit sectors
• takes longer than dealing with symptoms
• focuses on different levels within a system

The National Lottery Community Fund’s framework for transformational change outlines these levels. They include grassroots movements and norms embedded in policies in institutions. 

For example, for the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, systemic change means:

• recognising and understanding the systems that cause housing injustice
• identifying and exploring the underlying conditions and beliefs that influence those systems
• working together with others, including people who are directly affected, to dismantle those conditions and build better systems

This is work that requires a long-term approach.

Systemic issues in tech

Systemic bias is a way of describing the ingrained patterns of prejudice and discrimination in a system. It shows up in the tech system's cultures, policies, behaviours and ways of working. These biases negatively impact people from minoritised communities. Biases includes:

• tech companies’ hiring and promotion processes
• the makeup of tech companies’ teams
• tech data (algorithmic bias, representation bias and design bias)
• who digital products and services benefit  
• who they ignore
• which groups of people experience harm as a result of tech.

This is why we’re supporting and promoting technology that liberates people.

Why systemic change is important to Catalyst

Between 2019 and 2023, we built the UK not for profit sector's digital capacity. We helped organisations transform their work through digital. But it became clear that, for enduring change, we needed to challenge the injustices being perpetuated by technology. 

That's why we changed:

• our vision: ‘shaping liberatory technology for just and regenerative futures,' and
• our mission: ‘centring community needs in design, digital and data decision making through building collective power.'

We hope that through systemic change we will see:

• smaller less powerful organisations better supported, valued and influential
• charities working with marginalised people better resourced and celebrated for their work
• funders funding tech more equitably and regeneratively. In ways that support everyone to address historical injustice and oppression
• the tech system becoming more responsive to marginalised people’s needs and experiences
• knock on benefits for everyone and everything affected by injustice, oppression or climate injustice.

What Catalyst is doing to promote systemic change

We are promoting systemic change by modelling what we want to see within systems. We do this through the ways we work and organise ourselves.

Creating a supportive culture

We’re figuring out ways to make working for Catalyst fit around our lives, rather than the other way round. We've written about this in some of our weeknotes. As one of our fellow cohort members on the Civic Futures Programme said:

“We need to create spaces where people can show up bleeding and suffering and not being able to cope – that’s real inclusion.”

Having people-centred policies

We have reciprocity and participation policies and budgets. These help people who might not be able to be part of our collaborative activities otherwise. The reciprocity budget ensures people are fairly remunerated for their time and expertise. Without these budgets people’s participation can become a ‘nice to have’. One that’s dependent on goodwill and peoples' personal time and energy. 

We also have a policy of pay parity across employed team members.

Using sociocracy 

We use sociocracy as our collective governance methodology. It helps us make decisions and distribute power based on principles of equality. We also use trauma-informed methods.

Working at different levels

We find the National Lottery Community Fund’s framework for transformational change useful. Because it makes it clear that systemic change needs work at different levels.

We’ve been bringing funders together through our Funder Forum. This gives funders time and space to consider their role in the system, and what they can do differently. We collaborate with many charities and not for profits. They play an important role in the system.

Sharing power with people and communities (and respecting their autonomy) is vital for a system to change. So we’re doing more work with grassroots organisations. Some of these are embedded in communities. 

We build our values into our practice at all these levels.

Ongoing activities 

Other Catalyst ways of working that contribute to systemic change include:

• fostering collaboration, solidarity, collective agency
• sharing and democratising knowledge and access to resources
• (re)centring marginalised communities as our focus

We believe that the best way to make change is through small experiments. So our approach is experimental and emergent. This means we can’t be sure something will work. But taking an iterative approach means we can check if parts of what we’re doing are making the improvements we want. And if not, we can change them.

Running the Tech Justice Road Trip 

This Catalyst activity aims to work with communities of resistance. These are communities that are challenging oppression. We’ll be working in partnership with three justice-led community organisations. Together we’ll explore what liberatory technology could look like. This will build on the Tech Justice Manifesto. It was developed with people doing social justice work, and led by Siana Bangura. The manifesto will be our guiding framework.

Where to find out more about systemic change

A good place to start is the New Philanthropy Capital (NPC’s) guide to what systems change is and how to do it. 

The School of System Change’s YouTube Channel has explainer videos about systems and systemic change. And the School’s article on systems practice lists small ways you can engage in systems change day-to-day.

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Image credit: Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash