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How Change Happens
Book

How Change Happens

Duncan Green
Oxford UP, 2016

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Background
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Economist Duncan Green, the author of From Poverty to Power, proposes a new path to change for activists, nonprofits and aid agencies. His “Power and Systems” approach can help advocates and development agencies engage more flexibly with communities in need of change. Green, a senior strategic adviser at Oxfam and a professor of International Development at the London School of Economics, addresses the theoretical underpinnings of his concept of change, examines how change affects institutions involved in aid or development work, considers the people who embrace activism and examines the implications of his approach to bringing about change. getAbstract believes that government aid workers and development and aid officers in local and international agencies can benefit from learning about this approach to creating change.

Take-Aways

  • Aid agencies, nonprofits and advocates are likelier to be able to implement change when it comes from within the communities they are trying to serve.
  • Community change requires understanding how power works beyond obvious structures.
  • A “power analysis” identifies “who holds what power” and what might enable change.

About the Author

Duncan Green is senior strategic adviser at Oxfam and a professor of International Development at the London School of Economics. His blog on international development, From Poverty to Power, was the basis for his earlier book of that name. 

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    A. A. 7 years ago
    This is the first summary in several months of my membership with getAbstract after reading which I felt the need to actually read the book and I am wondering if it is the book or the summary?