Transforming Change is a systems-change program that focuses on development in the Global South and specifically, the growing movement around “doing development differently”. As social and ecological challenges persist, development practice has been criticised for its roots in colonial discourse that depicts the North as "advanced" and "progressive", and the South as "backward", "degenerate" and "primitive. The criticism have highlighted that these discourses themselves stand in the way of sustainable change.

Transforming Change is a programme that responds directly to that criticism by curating a curriculum that 1. challenges participants and faculty to identify where in development practice these outmoded patterns are being upheld 2. to diffuse systems competencies in the African development practitioners. The theory is that the participants will apply these new and generative perspectives and practises in their work and in so doing will contribute to transforming development practice. As well as a capacity building programme, Transforming Change is about forging a critical and appreciative development practise from the global South.

The project is funded by the Swedish Institute, led by Stockholm Resilience Centre and made up of global North and South faculty. Curriculum covers the main topic areas of: social-ecological resilience; systems thinking and complexity; social and systems innovation; and transformation. Other learning and skill areas are woven throughout, including:

connecting the social and ecological (and connecting with nature); integrated Sustainable Development Goals; doing development differently; the inner development of the change maker; decoloniality; ethics and power. For all modules, the curriculum is designed as a wholistic process, engaging not just intellectual and technical modalities, but emotional and relational elements, as well.

One of Transforming Change’s additionalities is creating a platform for global South-centered research and partner-development. Towards that end the programme also initiated a landscaping of local knowledge practices that build socio-ecological resilience, complexity and systems-thinking. In it’s first year the programme adopted a developmental evaluation approach, consistent with the emergent nature of the programme. The approach was an embedded approach, with the evaluator part of the delivery team, able to discuss findings with other team members for ongoing iteration. The research and the development evaluation informed a process which is deliberately expanding the pool of systems thinking facilitators from the continent at the same time as generating additional Africa-based programme materials.

The programme’s participant make-up is from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda across sectors including: academic, business, CBO, Consutling, Co-operatives, Government, INGO, NGO, Law, Media, Multilateral and Social Enterprises.

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