How change happens

Recommendation
Economist Duncan Green, the author of From Poverty to Power, proposes a new
path to change for activists, nonprofits and aid agencies. His Power and Systems
approach can help advocates and development agencies engage more flexibly with
communities in need of change. Green, a senior strategic adviser at Oxfam and a
professor of International Development at the London School of Economics,
addresses the theoretical underpinnings of his concept of change, examines how
change affects institutions involved in aid or development work, considers the people
who embrace activism and examines the implications of his approach to bringing
about change. getAbstract believes that government aid workers and development
and aid officers in local and international agencies can benefit from learning about
this approach to creating change.

In this summary, you will learn

How activists, nonprofits and aid agencies can bring about change with a
Power and Systems Approach;

How governments and social norms can change;

Why change requires following complex, multifaceted strategies; and

Why change efforts are more effective if they stem from the community
agencies are trying to serve.

Take-Aways
Aid agencies, nonprofits and advocates are likelier to be able to implement
change when it comes from within the communities they are trying to serve.

Community change requires understanding how power works beyond obvious

structures.

A power analysis identifies who holds what power and what might enable
change.

A Power and Systems Approach rejects the idea that progress is due to cause
and effect. It says to implement several strategies and accept that some failure is
inevitable.
 Institutions, ideas and interests that maintain the status quo are deterrents
to change.

Visible Power comes from authority. Hidden Power carries out visible
powers orders. Invisible Power is how powerless people internalize their situation
as normal.

The Four Powers Model enables sharing empowerment:

It uses power within based on conviction, power with based on

cooperation, power to based on choices and power over based on hierarchy,

Governments rarely introduce new norms; they may slowly adapt to activists
ideas.

Democracies often depend on compromise and horse-trading to effect change,

while closed political systems respond to research and evidence.

Power and Systems Approach

A successful community change effort requires understanding how power works

beyond the obvious political and economic structures. Activists can produce a better
strategy by first conducting a power analysis to identify which people hold what
kind of authority in a given situation and what might allow change to occur. Make
sure you have partnerships, connections and relationships with people who can and
will help implement change. Consider how to sway the people youre targeting for
change, whether through laws and policies, or in social norms, attitudes and
beliefs. Consider what could happen to instigate change: a political event, an
environmental catastrophe or some economic disaster.

Whether youre working within a development organization, an aid agency, a

government office or a nonprofit, you can create change using a Power and Systems
Approach. To make it work, stay flexible and build continuous feedback into your
process. When you work on an aid or development initiative, have your entire team
agree on basic rules. Some activists negotiate through conflict, and others prefer
cooperation. Both fit a Power and Systems Approach (PSA) to creating change. Those
who use a PSA reject the idea that progress occurs by cause and effect. They
recommend implementing several strategies and accepting that some failure is
inevitable.

Empowerment is not so much a single event as a process taking place in a complex

system replete with multiple feedback loops, rather than linear chains of cause and
effect.
 Remember, also, that success doesnt always occur the way you plan. Human systems
are complex. Change will happen not through one action, but through the interplay
of multiple actions at different levels. Regard any failure as an opportunity to
understand the situation better. That calls for an honest assessment of your projects
team, actions, community and participants.

Aid technocrats avoid discussions of leadership, because it rapidly gets political

and clouds the selective purity of evidence-based policy making and technical
assistance.
When progress comes from within the community, people are more likely to accept
it. Professionals are accustomed to identifying a problem, designing a solution and
implementing the structures to address the problem. Often, they fail to see the
benefits of local knowledge and of shifting the power structure to empower those
within the community. Meet regularly with members of the community where you
are trying to implement change so you can establish and re-establish relationships
and alliances. Activists must identify community members who have good ideas or
who are implementing change on their own.

Power and Empowerment

Power is how one person or organization retains control of someone elses

resources, actions or innermost thoughts. You will find visible power anywhere
money, coercion and authority are available among politicians, corporate
executives and the military. Hidden power comes from those who carry out the
vision of those who hold obvious power. This includes behind-the-scenes lobbyists,
donors and members of an old boys network. Those with hidden power may
recommend small alterations, but they wont propose radical redesign. Invisible
power is how those without power internalize their situation, accepting it as
normal or natural. The status quo depends on these three forms of power, but
instituting a four powers model can open new avenues for overcoming stubborn,
stable power structures. The four powers are:

The abolitionists invented virtually every modern campaign tactic, including

posters, political book tours, consumer boycotts, investigative reporting and
petitions.

1. Power within The conviction that one is right and deserving of benefits
and power.

2. Power with The effort to work together to share and develop power as a
group.

3. Power to The ability to make choices and pursue those decisions.

4. Power over The system of hierarchy that power typically elicits.

Change in complex systems occurs in slow steady processes such as demographic

shifts and in sudden, unforeseeable jumps.
This four-power model enables sharing empowerment. The power within of one
community member often spreads to become power with and power to
throughout a community. Unfortunately, many activists turn power within into
finger wagging as they try to convince those in power to change. They ignore vital
mutual understanding, empathy and trust.

Changing Norms

Implementing change is difficult. Existing institutions, ideas and interests deter

change, and work with social norms to maintain the status quo. Social norms are
both fixed and evolving; they include wars and social and financial crises that shift
attitudes. Family life establishes many social norms. Schools introduce the way the
norms apply within society.

Outsiders should think of themselves as ecosystem gardeners, nurturing diversity

and resilience, and focusing on the enabling environment.
Governments go through a five-step change process: repression, denial, tactical
concessions, prescriptive status and rule-consistent behavior. Governments rarely
introduce new norms. Instead, governments slowly adapt to ideas from activists. Six
dimensions can lead to changes in countries cultural beliefs and attitudes. These
elements, which influence how easily or slowly a culture changes, include:
acceptance of inequality; tolerance of uncertainty and ambiguity; individualism
versus collectivism; distribution of emotional roles between genders; long-term
versus short term orientation and indulgence versus restraint.

Given powers central role in determining both stasis and change, I find its
absence from the development lexicon remarkable. The aid landscape is littered
with terms that avoid the uncomfortable truth that seldom is power distributed
fairly.
Public figures politicians, celebrities and other role models play leadership roles
in bringing about change. In 1993, the Indian government determined that women
should hold a third of government positions. A subsequent study found that in
districts with female leaders for two election cycles, girls postponed marriage, sought
more education and believed they could choose a career rather than accept one
determined by their in-laws.

Religion plays a role in bringing about change. Outside of the secularization of

Europe and North America, faith is the cornerstone of many communities. Religious
leaders may discourage or advocate for activism within the community, and they
influence whatever change may occur. Learning the history of different local
institutions political parties, government and organizations allows activists to
understand the underlying culture and beliefs. Learning local history can help
mitigate the hubris that often undermines activists.

What people see as normal, desirable or aberrant determines their sense of right
and wrong, and can both drive and hold back the search for social justice.

How States Evolve

 States govern by establishing laws and taxes, keeping citizens secure from political
and natural disasters, and providing a unifying message by reinforcing social norms.
States depend on three often-conflicted areas: a central administrative government,
an oversight mechanism like elected officials and a legal apparatus (though the law
is a system that is in constant flux). Wars and disasters often bring about change,
but recent years show the power of nonviolent civil actions.

Activists need to understand where leadership comes from and how we can best
identify, support and work with progressive leaders.
Developing countries fall into three categories:

1. Developmental states These nations generally have a centralized

government that focuses on economic development. The strongest had a government
before colonization, as in South Korea or Singapore. Often, these states impose
severe social restrictions.

2. Patrimonial states These states have high levels of corruption,

springing from strong patronage among political players.

3. Fragile/conflict affected states Conflict and violence undermine

efforts at regular, consistent rule. Public services and the law barely function.
Citizens live in fear of random violence. High levels of poverty and medical need
impel aid agencies to engage with these states.

From the perspective of now, institutions appear to be permanent and

unchanging; in fact, they often depend on that appearance for their credibility.

Horse Trading

Democracies often depend on compromise and horse-trading to create change.

Closed political systems are often more responsive to research and evidence. Aid
activists tend to ignore the historic traditions of the states where they work. They fail
to establish change because they try to force liberal-democratic and free-market
institutions into action where they wont work well. Hybrid institutions that work
with local customs and then introduce egalitarian ideals from developed nations can
create lasting change, such as when the governments of Mali, Niger and Senegal
brought students into their French secular national education system by
incorporating the religious education that students parents wanted.

When communities make the discovery for themselves, behavioral change can take
root providing what the authors call social proof.
Laws introduce change. Customary law stems from local values and addresses
family arrangements such as marriage, separations and children, as well as public
services use of land and water. Formal laws are government dictates.

International law is still developing and hard to impose. It helps shift norms. Some
fear that the spread of international law is the first step toward international
government; it dictates behavior in times of war, but increasingly it focuses on
overseas trade and environmental negotiations.
Familiarity with the complex world of party histories, cultures, structures and
decision making is an essential part of understanding and influencing how change
happens.

The Role of Organizations and Corporations in International Change

The development of the United Nations after World War II, the World Health
Organization in 1948, the UN High Commission for Refugees in 1950 and the World
Trade Organization in 1995 exemplify the importance of international systems. They
influence programs, as do activists, lobbyists, philanthropists, businesspeople and
politically engaged academics.

Getting advocacy right requires political maturity, the right combination of tactics
and allies, and making the most of windows of opportunity as they come along.
Activists dispute the role of Transnational Corporations (TNCs). These businesses
can influence the global economy progressively when they respond to consumer
demands for improved employee working conditions, better environmental practices
or other such concerns. The World Bank estimates that TNCs provide $1 trillion in
bribes annually to lock down deals. Four factors influence whether a corporation will
engage in progressive change: the effect on the brand, the cost, the likelihood of
forthcoming government regulation and the potential competitive gain over their
rivals. Some see corporate social responsibility as just spin, while others argue that it
represents a market-friendly approach to change. Activists must consider how to
make TNCs part of any strategy.

Leading Change

Activists tend to minimize the role of leaders when they think about groups and
institutions, but leaders are vital proponents of change. However, leaders are not
necessarily successful managers.

Research and evidence often plays second fiddle to political horse trading in
democratic systems.
The Development Leadership Program identified education as a major factor in
creating leaders. Other factors include travel, faith and the shared experience of
resistance. Leadership that comes from the top of a hierarchy tends to operate
transactionally by using the systems in place, rather than redesigning the situation
in a transformational way. Leadership from below depends on communication.
Activists and agencies rarely support the development of leaders, which may limit the
positive change they can implement.

A PSA Theory of Change

The PSA theory of change comes from two fields, evaluation and social change.
Evaluation is central to understanding the impact of any action. Activists project the
way they think change will come about, but their actions may not have the intended
impact and change may not happen through the proposed means. Appreciating that
 is important in long-term strategic planning. Three things stand in the way of change
within the activist sector.

1. The attraction of a top-down approach Great theories coming from

consultants at think tanks or academics at universities seem better articulated than
ideas generated within the troubled community. Be aware that the people on the
ground often have valuable knowledge, recommendations and ideas.

2. Toolkit temptation A toolkit provides a clear pathway, with an initial

strategy, a development plan that provides questions and specific measures for
confirming success.

3. Easy evidence Linear strategies offer easier success since X either

caused Y, or didnt.

The PSA succeeds by accurate evaluations of change efforts, and by accepting lessons
learned and failures. Greater change will occur if agencies consider change coming
from within communities and know accountability is the glue that constitutes the
social contract between citizen and state, and between communities and those who
hope to help them change.