We all take part in making and maintaining systems that govern our world, but we don’t always realize we also have the ability to change them.
‘Systems Change’ is a frequently used term in the social impact space, but what does it mean exactly and how do we obtain it?
Every day, we're faced with the shortcomings of various systems—whether it's environmental degradation, entrenched discrimination, or staggering wealth disparities. While the need for change is apparent, the concept of "systems change" often feels overwhelming, seemingly beyond our individual influence. At impact events and conferences, the term “systems change” is often used, but… what does it even mean? And more importantly, what can each one of us do to obtain it?
“Laying awake one night I thought:
What if I would ask the people that are actually working on changing these systems instead of people that are just talking about it?
And what if we would just start from scratch?
What if I could give a blank sheet and a pencil to someone from each field and ask them not only what they would draw a new system to look like, but, more importantly, what we can each do to get there?”
A World From Scratch is a podcast interview series from Tamar Guttmann inviting leaders from various fields – from politics to the arts, from the use of tech to gender, to reimagine and redesign the systems that we have lived in in order to achieve a more equal and sustainable world.
In each episode, Tamar asks her guest to describe the topic's current system as we have known it. What works and what doesn’t work? Tamar then gives her guest an imaginaryblank sheet and pencil to imagine a new system from scratch, ending each episode by giving a concrete set of actions that all of us can undertake to help build it.
Our illustrator Menah draws a visual illustration of each episode, which are posted on our website and social media afterward, alongside an overview of resources and practical steps each one of us can take building to a set of “worlds from scratch” that can inspire systemic and behavioral change.
