November and December were busy months, with a handful of in-person events amongst the highlights. These included: my participation in a Philea event on ecosystem funding and well-being, hosted by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; the third meeting of the Sussex Seaside Systems Socials crew; and, the highlight of my year overall, a challenging, enlightening and inspiring week in Morocco with Karima Kadaoui, Louis Klein and the Tamkeen Community Foundation for Human Development.
A collated list of things that I read, watched and listened to over the course of November and December can be found here, along with summaries and links to those resources (a collation of resources for the whole year can be found here). I appreciated in particular a couple of pieces by colleagues at the Relationship Project about the limitations that language - specifically, English - place on how we think and talk about relationships (here and here), with these pieces nicely complemented by an excellent piece by Lana Jelenjev about notions of relationality around the world.
I also found Ivana Gazibara’s reflections about how to identify the most useful points for engaging with a system, and Alicia Juarrero’s explanation of the role that constraints, embedded in contexts, play in shaping the dynamics of causal adaptive systems, very useful (see also the preliminary conversation between Alicia and Tom Bohinc). Last but not least, I found the piece on thinking differently about the value of interventions, by Tom Aston, with Florencia Guerzovich, and the USAID session on local capacity strengthening, with Florencia and Rachel Gondo-Magama, very interesting, with plenty of relationship-focused overlap with my explorations.
I published a number of pieces in November and December, including my reflections on USAID’s excellent Local Systems Position Paper. My reflections focused on “local” systems and cross-border dynamics; learning, outcomes and rethinking rigor; and, identifying sites and crafting portfolios for systemic engagement and learning. A collated list of all the posts and articles that I shared over the course of 2024 can be found here.
I’ve been pleased over the course of the year to be able to share regular updates on my explorations: on Systems change, healing, integration and learning (January); Complex social challenges and systemic participatory approaches (February) Regenerative cultures (March); Combinations, love and constraints (April); Contexts, emergence and learning (May); Ego-systems and eco-systems (June); Embracing complexity (July); Portfolios, relationships and adaptation (August and September); and, Relationships, co-learning and social change (October).
In addition to these regular updates, I’m glad that I’ve been able to find the time to publish some more substantive pieces, sharing resources and reflections on: portfolios for innovation and learning; my knowledge gardening practices; and, ecosystems, emergence and social change.
Sussex Seaside Systems Social, number 3, Portslade
The things I’ve enjoyed most in 2024 have been the in-person events (the Systems Innovation network conference; the European Evaluation Society conference; the visit to Morocco with Tamkeen), being able to share resources that others have appreciated and found useful (many thanks to those who have let me know!), and being able to make connections amongst people exploring similar terrain. I’ve also been happy to deepen my connections with a wonderful network of friends and professional colleagues, and to meet lots of new people too. If you’ve been part of my 2024 - sharing resources, exchanging ideas, exploring possibilities, offering encouragement, providing constructive feedback and challenge - I extend my warm thanks and gratitude for your kindness, curiosity and generosity.
My 2024 explorations of how social change happens, and my efforts to support people and organizations who are trying to contribute to the emergence of a kinder, more sustainable, world, have been fruitful. As 2025 gets going, I’m very much looking forward to continuing to explore a range of possibilities for collaboration, on issues including: co-reflection, love and social change through the tamkeen process; putting relationships at the centre of systems practice; ecosystems, emergence and embracing complexity; systemic approaches to understanding and addressing corruption and illicit financial flows; human learning systems and relational public services; and, knowledge gardening in complexity.
I’m always happy to connect, so if you’d like to chat about any of the above, or other things where you think we might have interesting conversations, feel free to drop me a line. Oh, and if you’d like to receive my occasional - monthly, more or less - updates by email, please sign up here.
First published on LinkedIn, 6 January 2025.