The Systems Work of Social Change: How to Harness Connection, Context, and Power to Cultivate Deep and Enduring Change

About Cynthia RaynerFrançois Bonnici

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 Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB). Her research focuses on social innovation and how organizations and communities work to shape social systems in collaborative ways. She advises social enterprises and investors in the design of sustainable business and investment models to achieve positive outcomes for society. She was a fellow with LGT Venture Philanthropy developing a government integration strategy for a peer-based support model for mothers living with HIV and served as program director for a South Africa-based NGO providing support and education to children. François Bonnici is physician professor and social change practitioner with over two decades of experience working across multiple countries systems and sectors. Deeply rooted in context and frontline work in his formative years he has worked extensively with civil society foundations and multilateral actors in both the public and private sector in progressive and catalytic partnerships that seek to advance the work of front-line agents and understand the organizational practices of systems work towards more transformative social change. He serves as the Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship a leading international foundation that has been dedicated to advancing the most impactful models to social change for over two decades.