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Description of the work

The issues of poverty, inequality, racial justice and climate change have never been more pressing and paralyzing. Current approaches to social change, which rely on industrial models of production and power to “solve” social problems, are unhelpful. In fact, they are designed to consolidate the status quo. In The Systems Work of Social Change, Cynthia Rayner and François Bonnici draw on two hundred years of history and a treasure trove of stories of people committed to social change to uncover principles and practices of social change that depart radically from these approaches.

Rather than providing “solutions”, these principles and practices focus on the process of change itself. Through rich storytelling and lucid analysis, Rayner and Bonnici show that connection, context and power are at the heart of the change process, ensuring that individuals and communities have greater scope to create responsive and representative social systems in a rapidly changing world. Simple yet profound, this book distills a set of timely lessons for practitioners, leaders, academics and policy-makers.

About the authors

Cynthia Rayner, Senior Researcher, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, and François Bonnici, Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Cynthia Rayner is a researcher, writer, lecturer and social change practitioner affiliated with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB). Her research focuses on social innovation and how organizations and communities work together to shape social systems. She advises social enterprises and investors on designing sustainable business and investment models to achieve positive outcomes for society. She was an LGT Venture Philanthropy Fellow and developed a government integration strategy for a peer support model for mothers living with HIV. She was also program director for a South Africa-based NGO providing support and education to children.

François Bonnici is a physician, teacher and social change practitioner. He has over twenty years“ experience in several countries, systems and sectors. Deeply rooted in frontline context and work during his formative years, he has worked extensively with civil society, foundations and multilateral actors, in both the public and private sectors, in progressive and catalytic partnerships aimed at advancing the work of frontline agents and understanding the organizational practices of ”systems work" for more transformative social change. He is Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a leading international foundation dedicated to promoting the most impactful models of social change for over twenty years.

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