Double Power Hour [Power Arc - Community Run Sessions] Change Requires Confronting Power
Facilitated by Janine Rutsch and Rowan Spazzoli
This session explores the idea that meaningful systems change requires confronting power. Participants will examine the tensions, resistance, and possibilities that emerge when individuals and communities challenge existing structures in pursuit of more equitable and responsive systems.
Rowan Spazzoli is a systems change educator, social entrepreneur, and adjunct lecturer at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He first entered the field of systems thinking as a Map the System participant in 2017, before going on to lead the Map the System programme at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCT for seven years. In that role, he supported and mentored student teams applying systems thinking to complex social and environmental challenges in South Africa, including the first African team to win the global Map the System competition at Oxford in 2022.
Rowan is the co-founder of The Sparks Impact Fellowship, a pan-African social enterprise building pathways for purpose-driven graduates into impact careers through work placements and training in systems thinking, impact measurement, finance, and storytelling. He also co-founded Phaphama SEDI, which has impacted more than 600 students and 150 township based entrepreneurs over the past decade. Alongside this work, Rowan serves as Community Lead at Yunus Social Innovation, where he supports a global network of social entrepreneurs in WASH and health, and has guest lectured across various social impact, entrepreneurship, and systems change programmes.
Janine Rutsch is a chartered accountant and systems thinker focused on advancing inclusive, sustainable development in Africa. She co-founded the Sparks Impact Fellowship, a talent development agency creating pathways to the social impact sector for purpose-driven African graduates. This path has involved navigating power dynamics where marginalised youth voices are invited into decision-making spaces without corresponding shifts in power or accountability. She is proudly part of the SCEU Africa volunteer group, and eager to learn more on questions of power, equity and systems change.
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