OUR SYSTEMS
PRACTICE JOURNEY
NAMAHN
Brussels, Belgium
OUR TEAM
We are Alessandra, Clementina, Jade, Kristel, Sabrina and Stefanos, five designers from Namahn, a
design consultancy based in Brussels, Belgium. We are passionate about complex problems and
curious to discover more on how to approach them.
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OUR SYSTEMS
CHALLENGE
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OUR NEAR STAR and
GUIDING STAR
Our guiding star is:
An inspiring environment that produces self-learning, resilient
citizens, that is motivating for all the actors involved, and
inclusive as well, namely considering variety as basic
requirement.
Our near star is:
The education system will foresee a reframing of the way
teaching is provided.
Systems Practice | The Omidyar Group
YOUR DEEP
STRUCTURE
The school system foresees the same educational model for all the students, which rewards just one
type of intelligence. This model reinforces the phenomenon of linguistic fragmentation which is
remarkable in Brussels, where each school prioritizes one language. This increases the perception
according to which schools are qualitatively different, depending on their language. Perception that is
supported by institutional decisions too. The differentiation among schools - one excluding the others
- reinforces the existing social/physical borders and enhances the distinction between rich/quality
neighborhoods and poor/criminal areas. This factor makes difficult for students/teachers labelled as
“different” to access alternative schools and job opportunities. If different skills and capabilities are
excluded, the educational system will not change.
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YOUR SYSTEM MAP
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YOUR LEVERAGE
HYPOTHESES
ASSIGNMENT 6
Your Leverage Hypothesis Mad Lib
Complete this “mad lib” for at least one of your leverage hypotheses.
If we do (activities, actions, products produced, investments/grants made):
- Consultation among different schools at Namahn (co-creation workshops)
- Creation of a digital/physical way to share school experiences
Then we will a ect these key areas o the map (outcomes: factors or causal relationships that are in one or more
loops):
- shared experiences within “schools competing” loop
- parents prefer safe traditional model in “old school” loop
Because (reasons why you think those activities will lead to those outcomes)
We create communication among schools so that parents, teachers, deans can share and
discover different approaches of “school experience”.
If we create these outcomes, then we expect to have the following impacts on one or more key dynamics
(dynamic impact: a bright spot strengthened, vicious dynamic weakened or broken, time delay shortened, new
dynamic/feedback created)
- By acting on the energy for change contained in the area of shared experiences, we can establish communication
among schools and help parents explore new offerings and approaches of teaching/learning.
We would reduce the competition among schools, thus increasing their will to create dialogue.
- By acting on the energy for change dwelling in the mindset of parents, our solution would lead to review the
choice of safe traditional model which reinforces the vicious loop of the old school learning model.
Because (reasons why you think those outcomes will lead to those dynamic impacts):
Kids would taste different ways of living school, as the ones promoted by niches; school staff and parents would
start to question the “one model for all” system: they would discover and encourage different approaches that can
be beneficial for the kids. Choices would be driven by the quality of teaching/learning rather than by the current
biases on the perceived school quality: that is how different ways of teaching would be requested and supported if
proven as effective.
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YOUR SYSTEMS
PRACTICE MOVING
FORWARD
We definitely gained a more complete, deeper understanding of our
challenge: building the system map and verifying it with experts played a
powerful role in the overall process. We learnt to look not just at
problems, but also at bright spots and areas which contain energy for
impactful change.
Now we believe we can move much forward by reframing our way of
thinking and look at how positive aspects in the system can affect its
resultant behavior.
For the next steps, we will keep our stars and system map at hand, so as
to verify and, when needed, re-direct the impact of our practice, without
forgetting our core objectives.
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PICTURES
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