284 - Finding and Using Principles for Transformative System Change

Principles-Guided CoCreation (PGCC) is a framework for values-rooted change in communities and organizations, across time and at any scale. Those people in closest proximity to challenges and most engaged in implementation of change are the ones who name the values and principles of action that they consent to be guided by as they pursue systemic change together. PGCC combines participatory processes like self-organization and collaborative reflection, with developmental evaluation to ensure that actions embody shared principles and unfold organically, rather than being rigidly dictated by strategy. We offer PGCC as an elaboration of principles-focused developmental evaluation (PFDE) because we have found that PFDE does not, in and of itself, necessarily shift power. In PGCC, evaluation is in service to the work that communities and organizations are doing to transform systems toward regeneration, justice, and equity. PGCC centers principles and evaluation as integral to the co-creative process of designing for systemic change.