Have you ever thought… might the systems we’re making so much effort to strengthen be the very systems that are holding us back?

The events of the past few years – increasingly volatile and severe climate conditions, diminished peace and security, the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant disruptions to the global supply chain, to name just a few – have demonstrated that we live in an increasingly complex world, with interconnected and compound challenges that feed into and off one another. Failure to acknowledge this complexity and to respond at the level of systems inhibits the transformational change that is needed to achieve sustainable development for people and planet. 

In UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2022-2025), we committed to “build not just new skills, like systems thinking, but a new culture: one that embraces complexity, actively manages risk, continually adapts and seeks to learn alongside delivering results…. In an uncertain world, its business model must empower UNDP to respond to partners with the flexibility and at the scale they expect.”[1]

As UNDP Country Offices increasingly embrace complexity and formulate and implement initiatives that aspire to transform systems, the Strategic Innovation Unit started thinking about how we can best support our colleagues in taking a more “values-led” approach to systems transformation. We kickstarted our process with an exploration of systems thinking and portfolio approaches (through desk review, benchmarking of good practices, interviews with colleagues), and quickly found ourselves knee deep in issues of power dynamics, particularly gender dynamics.

We see the issue of power playing out in myriad ways as we design and deliver development interventions, from micro to macro and everything in between: from who is invited into the room to which initiatives receive funding; from how systems are understood and defined to how systems change is measured.

Gender inequality is arguably the most pervasive, endemic and disparate manifestation of power imbalances. As António Guterres (Secretary-General, United Nations) pointed out: “Gender equality is fundamentally a question of power. Centuries of discrimination and deep-rooted patriarchy have created a yawning gender power gap in our economies, political systems, and corporations…. Gender equality is a means of redefining and transforming power that will yield benefits for all.”[2]

Through our initial research, it became clear to us that we have an opportunity to become more attuned to power – where it is concentrated, how it reinforces the status quo of inequitable systems, where and how it can be dispersed. We subsequently collaborated with UNDP colleagues to design a framework that could support inclusive transformation of systems, by bringing to the fore the issue of power, especially considered through the lens of gender.