Working Systemically

A systemic approach provides useful insights into the functioning of complex cultural processes and helps us design creative ways of transforming the circumstances of communities and individuals. The term systemic comes from Systems Theory, a way of seeing the world that looks at the behaviours and interactions and interrelationships within a system, in a way that is useful in the management of sustainable change.

An example of this systemic approach is typified by the ‘Safe Communities of Opportunity’ model developed in co-operation with Dr Barbara Holtmann of the CSIR. The model engages key role-players to map their aspirations for a better, safer community in a way that creates ownership of process by all involved.

Khulisa Social Solutions and the Association with Dr Barbara Holtmann

For the past 14 years Khulisa has offered services directed at improving safety in fragile communities. In contrast to the normal approach, our work was initiated with the intention of enabling offender rehabilitation. It was through a process of recovery that offenders acknowledged the harm they had caused and motivated a need to make amends in their communities.

The communities from which these offenders came and to which they would return were themselves fragile and vulnerable; there was a need to expand our work into a broader more integrated approach that aimed to break the cycle of crime and violence through a range of interventions including: diversion, restorative justice and crime prevention. Listening to community needs created a progression through ‘Ubuntu clubs’ designed to engage and inspire young people to work together. Shared responsibility, community cohesion and empathy underpin Ubuntu and similarly are the cornerstones of our work. This progression has also led us to explore interventions that address the pressing need for livelihoods in communities where opportunities are almost inevitably scarce and unsustainable.

Barbara Holtmann first met Lesley-Ann van Selm in 1997. Both were in the early learning phase of their work in crime and violence prevention. Their work has intersected at various times, moving closer in ideology over the years. Barbara went on to work in government and later spent ten years at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) where she led research into crime and violence prevention. Barbara’s focus shifted from crime prevention to community safety and ultimately to a place of perfect synergy with the work of Khulisa. Her model known as the “Social Transformation System’ thus linking safety with economic and social development and opportunity for livelihoods.

Using design thinking and the ‘Systems Theory’, the model approaches unsafety as a complex social problem, but does not rely on complicated coordinated mechanisms for implementation; since these have proven unsustainable in many environments internationally.

The model works with the complexity of unsafety and frailty rather than trying to simplify it to make it appear more manageable. It recognizes the interwoven nature of the elements of the system and makes these relationships accessible and the collaborations focused and directed. 

The model offers a consensus benchmarking and targeting tool that is quick, transparent and based on the potential to impact and transform unsafe communities to safe communities of opportunity.

The nexus of 14 years of work combine the best of academic and research developments with practical, pragmatic and inclusively participative work in the next iterative chapter of this work. Using the model under license to the CSIR Holtmann, in association with Khulisa, offers intervention that will transform failing, fragile or vulnerable social systems.

The ‘Social Transformation System’ Model

The Social Transformation System has been developed over 10 years by Dr Barbara Holtmann, originally at the CSIR and now working in association with Khulisa. The model looks at facilitating greater social impact in vulnerable communities, guiding the stakeholder collaborations, and in addition, acts as a monitoring and evaluation tool. This is being researched in Brazil, India and Kenya with interest from USAID and UN Habitat for Safer Cities etc.

In essence, the model looks at communities as a system, acknowledging that it is a complex and organic entity that has both vulnerabilities and strengths, and how these will impact on each other. In order to bring about ‘sustainable development’ social issues e.g. teenage pregnancy, unemployment and HIV/AIDS cannot be dealt with in isolation and must be addressed holistically.

Over years of research Dr Holtmann has identified 68 elements that make up a safe, healthy and prosperous community.  Each government department, NGO and community member has a role in these elements; and the concept behind the model is to facilitate relationships between these various groups, to share expertise and resources thereby becoming more effective.

The CSIR has taken this a step further and developed software that can measure the social impact. Stakeholders input their data about the particular elements they have influence over. These become indicators and the software will act as a ‘diagnostic’ showing graphically where the areas of chronic need exist. During the interventions and implementation of various projects stakeholders will input data they collect as part of their work. The software then acts as a live data feed (an emerging necessity in development work) and anyone of the stakeholders can log on and assess areas of vulnerability or strength, in relation to the greater system. Finally, at the end of interventions, data will illuminate the social impact, measuring not only the project impact but also show how the community as a whole has improved.