Rethinking food systems with the Compass for Change

We developed it together with the Dutch Embassy of Food and their network of stakeholder organisations for Dutch Design Week - as a provocative thought starter to challenge current thinking and start a public debate.

We debuted the Compass for Change framework as a life-sized physical compass at Dutch Design Week as part of the Designing Society exhibition. There it served as a playful conversation piece. Many visitors gave the compass a spin and started playing with the layers, seeing how they might interlock and trigger their own thoughts on the food system.  

But we think there is probably more it can do and other formats to explore.

That's where we want your help! This post is intended to explain the different parts of the tool, and we would love to hear ideas for how it could help rethink food systems in your context. See what sparks, and don’t be afraid to get in touch.

A compass in three layers

The change compass is structured into three layers, each offering a different lens through which to view and discuss the food system. By carefully selecting which layers of the food system to peel back, and curating a set of refined prompts at each level, the tool is an attempt to structure insight generating conversations about how to engage in food systems change.

The choice of layers was informed by a number of systems change frameworks which are explained in more detail below. For now though, we want to talk you through each layer of the toolkit and how or why they were chosen:

Layer 1: Mindset Shifts

The first layer of The Change Compass challenges you to see the food system through six different lenses, each focusing on a different mindset shift needed within the food system. These perspectives are intended to open up new ways of thinking, helping you to break down your questions and confront the complexities of the system while uncovering opportunities within them.

Each lens represents a different way of framing the food system:

• Health: How can food systems prioritize and enhance health?
• Social Innovation: How can food contribute to a fairer and more equitable society?
• Cultural Capital: How can food shape our identity and strengthen our communities?
• Landscape Management: How does food production balance the use of land between food, nature, water management, and biodiversity?
• Good Growth: How can innovative food production support both biodiversity and economic growth?
• Common Good: How do we make food a collective asset, fairly accessible to everyone?

By reflecting on these questions, this layer invites you to shift your mindset and consider the broader impacts of food systems.

Layer 2: Practice Shifts

The second layer focuses on the practices and skills needed to create real change. It’s about reflecting on the transformation process itself: where might it be stuck, and how can we move forward?

This layer introduces key questions to help you unlock progress:

• What if you challenged your assumptions?
• How do you balance conflicting interests?
• What happens if you let go of approaches that no longer work?
• How can shared responsibility enhance the change process?

These reflective practices may feel uncomfortable at first, but they are essential to breaking through barriers. Some examples include:

• Exploring Paradoxes: Embrace the tension between conflicting goals to find innovative solutions.
• Letting Go: Create space for new ideas by leaving behind what’s outdated.
• Shifting Power: Reflect on how power dynamics influence change and consider how to redistribute responsibility.
• Learning from the Past: Use lessons from history to guide future decisions.

This layer reminds us that change requires resilience, collaboration, and a willingness to question both ourselves and the systems we inhabit.

Layer 3: Inspiration and Action

The final layer is about planting seeds of inspiration. Across the Netherlands (and beyond), individuals and organizations are pioneering initiatives that reimagine the future of food. These “seeds” can take root and grow into a thriving, sustainable food system.

Here are some examples:

• Food Forests: Sustainable landscapes that provide both food and support biodiversity.
• Social Food Gardens: Community-driven spaces where neighbors grow vegetables together and share the harvest.
• Food Waste Apps: Tools like “Too Good To Go” that connect surplus food with consumers and food banks.
• Edible City Parks: Urban spaces filled with fruit trees and edible plants for public use.
• Green Proteins: Developing plant-based proteins as sustainable alternatives to traditional meat.
• Conscious Meat Choices: Using “residual” animals like roosters and goats to reduce waste in animal farming.

This layer encourages you to explore these initiatives and consider how they can inspire your own ideas. Which seeds of the future will you take with you?

Applying the tools

So that's it! It's a deliberately simple framework without too many ‘rules’ of how to use it. We hope (and suspect) you’re reaching this point excited, maybe a bit confused, but ideally wondering how this can be used in your context. Well so are we…..

We’re currently already using the framework to structure a learning journey for Bodemkracht, a week-long Green Traineeship in the summer for young people under age 29 in Zeeland (registration is open!), as well as exploring how the framework might be useful for local food initiatives (such as Heerlijk van Hier in Arnhem).

But those are for another post as we really want to leave a space open for you to tell us how you would use it.

We also think it has more potential. And we want to find it. So - if you have thoughts or ideas please reach out we would really love to hear them.

The physical compass itself is also available for touring, if you know a space which might benefit from its presence. 💚

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Afterword: Tools Informing The Change Compass

To make The Change Compass we drew on and synthesised together a number of established systems thinking frameworks, in particular the following:

• The Feminist Systems Change Practice Framework. This framework integrates feminist practices, such as centering lived experiences and applying intersectional lenses, with systems change strategies. We like it because it has equity, and inclusivity, at its heart. We want these principles close to the tool to ensure it is both a practical and ethical guide.
• Theory U Developed by Otto Scharmer. Theory U emphasizes the process of letting go of the old to allow the new to emerge. It encourages opening the mind AND heart to overcome personal barriers to change. The U-shaped journey strats from presencing—a deep sense of personal connection and potential, which informs the toolkit’s starting point as an emotive and personal set of mindset shifts.
• The Iceberg Model This popular tool (also its subtly different Foresight equivalent in Causal Layered Analysis) highlights the hidden layers beneath visible events: patterns, structures, and mental models. It supposes that only by addressing these underlying factors, deeper and more lasting solutions can emerge. The mindset shifts and practice shifts embedded in The Change Compass start from the same principles of needing to reframe the underlying worldviews in a system before addressing more practical shifts.

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We hope this set of resources is helpful in some way. Please offer challenges, ask us questions, and we would love to chat more about applying systems change theory and practice to food systems!