Giving Compass' Take:

· Kiley Arroyo takes a look at how different disciplines are adopting an ecological paradigm to advance transformative justice and influence positive change in living systems. 

· How does embracing a more expansive ideology encourage meaningful dialogue and problem solving? How can these practices be applied in society and the private sector? 

· Check out this article about how to evaluate systems change from FSG.

In May 2019, Alliance magazine published the piece, ‘Systems change—are we already doing it?’ In it, authors Sarah-Brown-Compello and Lauren Bradford discuss the depth of current social transformation efforts and suggest, ‘…Secondary and third levels are oftentimes ignored or gilded over, and not given the attention they deserve when analyzing the systems that we work in.’ These structures refer to those defined by the Causal Layered Analysis framework. This systems thinking tool demonstrates how reality emerges from human behaviors that reflect worldviews about who and what has value and the underlying paradigm from which entire systems grow. Ignoring deeper levels fails to take advantage of what we now know about how complex systems change, from both western and non-western perspectives.

Systems scholar, Donella Meadows identified leverage points that have varying degrees of capacity to affect systemic change. Because systems are arise from paradigms, transforming these is necessary to ignite lasting change. However, Meadows takes this suggestion one step further, urging humanity to transcend the idea that that one worldview can represent every culture.

There is growing consensus that the issues of our time are rooted in an outdated worldview that privileges White, Western, and patriarchal values. By extending colonial practices, this ideology creates conditions that enable power, wealth, and wellbeing to remain concentrated amongst the few. A supremacist ideology depletes the fertility that cultural diversity and shared prosperity generate. Racial injustice pushes foundations and social investors to reckon with the ways this ideology contributes to the field’s existence, while intensifying its need. Therefore, those committed to transformational justice must consider how a more expansive ideology can foster conditions in which all life flourishes.

Read the full article about advancing transformative justice by Kiley Arroyo at Alliance Magazine.