The SYNAPSE project has completed the first phase of its Systems Thinking assessment, with all twelve partner organisations across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa submitting their responses within the agreed timeframe. The assessment was designed and led by the Systems Innovation Design Community (SYDIC) to establish a clear understanding of partners’ existing knowledge and confidence in applying Systems Thinking.

The assessment explored a range of Systems Thinking concepts, from understanding what constitutes a system and identifying causal relationships to more advanced areas such as feedback loops, systems archetypes and leverage points. In addition to assessing knowledge, partners were invited to rate their own confidence across the different areas. Comparing self-assessment with actual performance provides valuable insight into both knowledge gaps and partners’ awareness of those gaps.

With responses received from all twelve organisations, the data collection phase is now complete. Initial analysis is already highlighting some useful patterns. Partners generally demonstrated stronger familiarity with foundational concepts, including understanding systems and identifying causal relationships, than with more applied concepts such as systems archetypes and leverage points.

While this finding is not unexpected, it provides an important evidence base for the next stage of the project. Rather than developing training from a generic starting point, the consortium can now build on an understanding of partners’ existing knowledge, confidence and learning needs.

The assessment will be complemented by individual follow-up discussions with each partner organisation. These conversations will provide additional context to the questionnaire findings, exploring how organisations currently approach complex challenges in their work and what they expect to gain from the forthcoming Systems Thinking learning activities.

The findings from the assessment and the individual follow-ups will be consolidated into a diagnostic report. This report will provide the foundation for the development of a shared Systems Thinking curriculum, ensuring that the learning content responds directly to the needs identified across the consortium.

The curriculum will subsequently provide the basis for a virtual workshop in which partners will explore and apply Systems Thinking concepts collectively. Through this process, SYNAPSE will strengthen a shared understanding of Systems Thinking and support partner organisations in applying these approaches to complex challenges within their respective contexts.

Over the coming months, the project will continue to build on the findings of the assessment, with the completion of the diagnostic report, the development of the Systems Thinking curriculum and preparations for the virtual learning workshop representing key milestones in this process.

The completion of the assessment marks an important step towards establishing a common foundation for Systems Thinking within the SYNAPSE partnership and ensuring that the forthcoming learning activities are evidence-based, relevant and responsive to partners’ needs.