Narratives are stories that help us understand our world. They are everywhere—in the media, in conversations, in politics and in common assumptions—informing our thoughts, attitudes, world views and how we make decisions. So when working on challenges like climate change or inequality in healthcare, we can't focus solely on technological or policy solutions. We need to enact a holistic approach to affecting change by engaging people to learn about the power of stories that are told and the ones that go untold.

A step to changing systems is understanding why they were created in the first place and what purpose they were designed to serve—stories have a powerful capacity to simultaneously illuminate the history and predict the trajectory of systems. Stories shape our sense of who we are, where we have been, and where we are going, and therefore are important to decision-making. 

Using the art of systemic storytelling (dialogue and community-led sharing) we believe we can amplify the profile and impact of marginalized communities while creating unifying narratives of change that add momentum to revolutionary initiatives. By changing narratives, we can unlock systems.

A system is essentially a set of processes that function as a whole. These ‘processes’ are both tangible and intangible components with interconnections and interactions that define its complexity. An example of a complex evolving system is what we presently refer to as social systems. A central component of our theory of change is this recognition that ‘systems’ are social constructs that can be deeply flawed when defined with biases, privilege and even language. 

Related to this realization is this need to critically evaluate the relationship between systems and power. Often, it is people and institutions with power that get to define what our systems look like, who they are created for, and who has access. When we say ‘systemic change’ we are speaking about intentionally transforming these formal institutions, structures and policy processes which due to uneven power structures oppress those who don’t have access to power.

Systemic change acts as the endpoint to a series of processes and the extent to which that change is systemic depends largely on the extent to which those changes are incompatible with that particular system. Most importantly, an emphasis on process, dialogue and adaptive coordination is crucial to our systems change framework. 

At Belle Wolfe we strongly believe that systemic change will and must be the outcome of our training, education, research, policy, and community engagement. We use a multi-pronged approach because we know changing systems requires a diversity of tactics that work cohesively to bring about profound and transformative change at all levels of society and governance.