My Theory of Change (circa 2021)

Still assessing how much has changed. I think more has actually solidified and refined a bit.

A Theory of Change isn’t a typical part of my lexicon or tactical toolkit. But as I’ve elevated my social justice knowledge, I now understand what it is and its importance. I’m comfortable dealing with ambiguity and changing contexts, thanks to my work in startups and technology development. Despite that, I’ve realized that as I build teams and work with the community, I need to provide some kind of structure so that others can understand my perspective, plans, and intended outcomes. That is what a Theory of Change offers: how to make social change in the world and what that final change will be. My recent learning about the next economy and my own voracious self-education have brought new understanding for my Theory of Change. Usually folks develop their vision or goal for the change they wish to bring and then work backwards to figure out what is needed to map the necessary precedents that will lead to that vision. I developed my Theory of Change in that same manner while also outlining the current environment that I perceive. Below is an image that illustrates my Theory of Change.

The World as It Is

From my perspective, the world is a complex adaptive ecological system that is steadily mutating. It is made up of a fractal of similarly self-organized systems that are also mutating.

The ecological systems we are a part of are living, breathing organizations. Think of our body, the environment, a community of water buffalo, a forest, and each individual cell as some examples. Each of these are always changing and growing. These represent the intricate, emergent evolution intrinsic nature of how all ecological arrangements adjust to internal and external contextual change. The unfortunate thing is that human society has been dominated and designed to adapt and self-organize according to a destructive baked-in heuristic.

That is a culture outlined and embodied by the values of people holding dominant identities. It is extractive and oppressive to anything not aligning with that dominance. It is the collective composition and coordination of humanity, defined by an exceedingly small group hoarding power and *violently extracted* wealth. To that point, I believe culture is the lifeblood for society. It can be used for mutual upliftment or for heinous, targeted greed at all costs. I believe that our global “civilization” may even find new identities that may be marginalized because that type of reaction to otherness is bred into its behavior. We may have differing values, norms, behaviors, and relationships, but our cumulative way of life is oriented towards this zero-sum mindset.

Together this will shape the impact, positive or negative, of the entire world we live within. This same axiom holds true for groupings of all sizes, scales, and makeups within the larger fractal of systems that makes up our universe. I believe culture is the most valuable and universal way to influence and transform humankind to regenerate all people and the planet.

The World as It Could Be

The future world I see is one which is equitably liberating through the lens of the most vulnerable –not in the sense of ability, but in terms of susceptibility to the oppression and extraction by dominant culture. At this time that may be Poor, Disabled, Trans Black Women Immigrants+. I add the “+” because there are identities that I may not be privy to add or that dominant culture has devolved to oppress and extract from.

By liberation I mean creating the freedom to access to the following:

1. Resources (including education),

2. Absolute safety (physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, and spiritually),

3. Unconditional love and inclusion,

4. Innate dignity and respect,

5. Self-actualization within the collective limits of our global ecology.

There are levels to this, with a radically democratic governance structure being suggested. One in which an association of communities serve the most fundamental needs for resources and safety in the populations they are part of. As one advances to higher level needs, such as love and dignity, more localization to a specific group of people is necessary. At the highest levels of liberation, the individual is responsible for self-management. With the lower levels taken care of, we will be in the best possible state to define and self-actualize within the collective limits of society and our ecology. These all cooperate and balance with one another to ensure that everyone is involved in and has equitable access to their own livelihood.

This is a world that doesn’t simply transfer one dominant paradigm for another (Supremacy A for Supremacy B), but instead defines brand-new structures and relationships.

Ones which are democratized, decentralized, equitable to all people, and in harmony with the planet. This requires responsible stewardship of our entire ecology. Ecology entwines us humans with every planetary resource. Plants and animals as well as our water and air must be accounted for as we make societal and individual decisions. I not only expect zero net impact to the planet, but because of the severe damage we’ve already imposed on much of the planet, we must go a step further. We must have a regenerative impact on our earthly ecology. To build back what we and our ancestors have destroyed. That level of reciprocity will dramatically enhance our longevity and quality of life on this planet.

Creating a Better World

In order to achieve this enormous goal, I utilize specific, dynamic methods. Overall, my methodology is iterative and interlocking, harkening back to the emergent and evolutionary growth of living systems. Overall, we must start anew. Beginning from first principles to strip our society to the studs, we must reimagine and develop new ways to be and cooperate. We will not throw away the past, but instead use it as a compendium of knowledge to learn from as we create a new, vision-aligned world. To define how we’ll filter decisions as we craft this world, we must define a set of values that more effectively create the culture that forms the conditions for that world. These values can adapt, change, and progress, but have to start somewhere. The values I use are the following:

1. Collective Solidarity: Connecting us to and working implicitly with one another.

2. Inclusive Diversity: Ensuring that we foster diversity that is also inclusive and honors difference.

3. Transformative Justice: Rectifying injustices in a dignifying, systemic way that grows the person or organization in question while addressing the relationship they may have damaged.

4. Empowered Individuals: Providing the space, education, and trust so that people can effectively self-manage.

5. Ecological Stewardship: Outlining the need to maintain and restore the health of the planet that serves as our home.

The next step starts with you as an individual fully understanding then embodying the values stated above. The goal is to transition from simply doing something different and being someone different, embodying the evolution. This orientation connects people to themselves and others. It expands our collective creativity. It maintains our continual growth while establishing an internal trust of self within each of us. The final value places us within the larger biosphere with which we are a part to further solidify our individual impact on our shared ecology.

After we prepare ourselves individually, we must unite to cultivate a movement of movements. We can’t do this transformation by ourselves; we must involve co-conspirators.

This movement of movements operates within three areas of practice to build the new mission-aligned world: consciousness-raising + commitment-building, contestation + construction, and refinement + replication.

Consciousness-raising + commitment-building focuses on connecting with folks in, around, and outside of movements with various cultural assets. This is done to provide them with the experiences, tools, frameworks, realizations, tactics, emotions, and stories to be able to clearly understand, analyze, and synthesize the world as it is and imagine what the world can become. Profoundly important is that this community unlearns the calamitous culture we’ve been bred into while relearning a more empowering, values-aligned culture. It emphasizes building and nurturing a transformative community around a shared orientation and mission through generative education. This connection and alignment will foster deep commitment to one another and the larger mission we all are working towards. This is essential as the path to change is one of the most arduous marathons. A committed community will help everyone maintain their capacity despite economic, social, health difficulties and more.

With this strong, committed community we can coordinate to contest + construction institutions. This is done through the community co-designing tactics, interventions, and organizations that align with their shared values. These efforts will be designed to meet short-term needs for the most vulnerable people while also gaining progress toward the liberating vision we have for the future. These tactics will again be in line with the same individual values. They will utilize our collective resourcefulness while building trust through authentic community engagement and engaging the whole system when developing actions.

To truly establish all this work of creating and tracking, these actions must be tied into the larger society, which lend towards the refinement + replication part of the process. When we know the impact of our actions, then we can refine them, redefine culture, and develop improved novelty. These actions must expand from the individual and experimental, to the organizational, and eventually be cemented in place universally (with localized adaptations).

This necessitates that as we find successful models in one community, they are shared transparently and completely. This is so that every other community is able to replicate and modify successful models for their localized needs, spreading success in an organic and contextualized manner.

Conclusion

This process is vague and budding in spots but represents a structure for being and governing to develop a new world. I emphasize decentralizing the power and responsibility of this work to build a more resilient, inclusive culture. By designing around the values of people, I’m essentially creating the container in which transformation happens in a natural, self-organized manner. I use this Theory of Change for my own life, with organizations I consult, and with communities that I support. I use it to filter my actions, guide my thinking, and analyze my impact. To build a path forward when all beneficial ones have been obfuscated. It serves as a good way to keep on track in a world full of information and distractions trying to pull you away at every turn. It’s extremely affirming that after I wrote this I was introduced to Movement Generation’s Just Transition zine which aligned and further explained much of this very theory of change. Still, I have much more to know and all of this will grow.

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