Shifting Paradigms: A Conversation on Systems Change and Resilience – with Nora Wilhelm

InTent: You began your journey as a changemaker at a very young age. What sparked that drive in you? Was there a particular moment or experience that set you on this path?

Nora:

I've always been very curious and questioned a lot of things. I had a strong sense of justice from a very early age. My journey as a changeworker really began when I was about 16. I was on a school exchange in Canada, at a high school near Toronto. While there, I heard a speech by Elizabeth Dallaire, who had witnessed the presence of the UN’s Blue Helmets during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and how their orders not to intervene led to a staggering loss of life. I also saw, for the first time, footage of deforestation in the Amazon and what happens behind closed doors in slaughterhouses.

These experiences were an awakening. I realised how unfair the world can be and how much pain exists. From that point on, I knew I would dedicate my life to change—the only question was how. So I first got active within my school, worked with Terre des Hommes and the Red Cross in Geneva, and encouraged other young people to volunteer too. I began taking part in UN Youth Conferences and eventually joined the European Youth Parliament, which was a transformative experience and significantly shaped who I am today.

InTent: Your work has increasingly focused on systems change rather than isolated interventions. What led you to take that broader approach?

Nora:

After spending around seven years working mainly on youth engagement, active citizenship, international cooperation, and democracy, I began to realise that the challenges we face are more deeply entrenched than I initially thought. I was advocating for better representation in decision-making spaces across sectors, but eventually I saw that more motivated people alone wouldn’t be enough to truly shift the status quo. Systemic discrimination is almost everywhere, and many of the systems themselves are flawed.

For example, a four-year election cycle locks us into short-term thinking, and our linear, extractive economy is depleting our only home—the planet. I had to come to terms with the fact that the solutions I had been taught and promoted were insufficient. They were like putting a plaster on a broken leg, or throwing a bucket of water on a forest fire. That’s when I turned to systems thinking and systems change strategies. These approaches offer answers to questions like: Why, despite our best efforts on climate change, poverty, or other causes, are we not seeing the results we need? Even better, systems thinking helps us identify new pathways forward and reignites hope for a just transition.

InTent: To those unfamiliar with systems change, how would you define it?

Nora:

One helpful way to understand systems change is through the iceberg model. Above the waterline are behaviours, decisions, outcomes—everything we can observe easily. But below the surface lie the structures, processes, rules, and norms that produce those results. Deeper still are power dynamics and relationships. And at the very bottom are the mindsets, values, beliefs, and paradigms that underpin it all.

Take plastic pollution in the oceans. Cleaning it up is necessary but won’t solve the problem at its root. We’ll be cleaning for another hundred years unless we address the systems that lead to plastic production and waste—laws, cultural norms, business models. Some changeworkers tackle power structures or advocate for legal reforms. Ultimately, real change requires a paradigm shift: from a linear, extractive economy to a circular, regenerative one.

I'm not saying all changeworkers should focus only on systems change. While we work toward a circular economy, we still need people cleaning up the oceans. The point is that we must also invest in understanding why problems arise, so we can address them sustainably. When changeworkers have a systems lens, even those not directly working on systems change can make more informed, strategic decisions and find ways to complement broader transformations.

This lens empowers us to collaborate better, see how our contributions fit together, and avoid the illusion that any one of us has the solution. Only together can we co-create the paradigm shifts our societies urgently need.

InTent: How do you personally stay hopeful and motivated when progress feels slow or even reversed?
 

Nora:

To paraphrase Greta Thunberg: hope follows action. When I act, when I stay engaged, I can reconnect with hope. If we fall into apathy, cynicism, or despair and stop acting, we’ve effectively forfeited a liveable future—and for me, that’s simply not an option.

I was born in a country not at war, not under invasion. I wasn’t born into poverty or violence. With great privilege comes great responsibility. I stay grounded by reminding myself that I’m doing my best to contribute to justice and regeneration. Knowing that I am part of a vast, global movement of changeworkers—millions of people working on complex social and environmental challenges—reignites my hope. Even if I never meet most of them, I feel connected to that collective purpose.

In practical terms, and as Vandana Shiva says, we sometimes forget, but humans have long been stewards of nature. When I connect with the beauty and potential of humanity, and of our world, I believe again that a regenerative, caring future is possible and worth fighting for.

InTent: What gap does Parayma fill that you believe is currently missing?

Nora

I, like many other changeworkers, burned out in the process of trying to bring about change. Those working on systems change are particularly at risk, as the resistance from stakeholders is often stronger, and the support scarcer. 

I created Parayma to help bridge this gap. Hopefully at some point we will have addressed the issue on a systemic level, but until then changeworkers need and deserve better support.

I designed our offerings around the three main questions people ask me. The first is: How did you find your calling? For this, I offer a systems-informed process to help individuals identify their unique contribution—this is the Seed stage.

The second group are those who already know their purpose but are hitting barriers and not seeing the transformation they hoped for. I support these Root-stage changeworkers with developing and implementing systems change strategies, drawing on eight years of experience and dozens of training sessions with leading global experts.

The third group, Bloom, includes experienced systems change practitioners struggling with challenges such as funding, power dynamics, and burnout. I’ve faced these issues myself, including co-leading a lab with ten funders focused on “funding systems change”. I now support others in navigating these realities.

Across these three areas, I’m creating a workbook, an online programme, and offering one-to-one support. We’ll also launch a fellowship for systems change leaders, a podcast, and more in the coming months.

My hope is that Parayma becomes a place where changeworkers can gain insight, find support, recharge, and engage in honest conversations about the challenges they face. In a way, I’m building what I wish had existed when I first started.

There is support out there for systems change leaders, but it’s often too theoretical—or delivered by consultants who’ve never had to be truly accountable to a community or ecosystem. I want Parayma to offer real-world, grounded, empathetic support so changeworkers don’t feel lost or alone, and can continue making the contribution the world so urgently needs.

I’m asking: Can we work towards a just and regenerative future in a way that allows changeworkers to thrive too?

InTent: If you could give one piece of advice to leaders who feel discouraged by the scale of change ahead, what would it be?

Nora:

Listen to that quiet voice inside, and pursue what you know is possible—no matter what others say. Often it’s only in hindsight that we understand why a certain path was the right one. That’s how you find your unique contribution. Once you find it, you become unstoppable.

One final thought: there’s a misconception that systems change must happen at large scale. When people hear “systems change”, they think of global economies or international governance. Yes, those systems matter—but systems exist at every level. Your neighbourhood is just as much a system as your country.

In fact, the depth of transformation matters more than the scale. Shifting the paradigm in one context is more meaningful than spending a decade trying to change something beyond your sphere of influence with little effect. True transformation in one area can spill over into others, or naturally scale up.

If you focus on a leverage point you can influence, your impact will grow over time. Systems change doesn’t require perfection—just a commitment to living your values, every day, through your work, but also your choices as a citizen, neighbour, parent, or friend. Start by doing your best in one area of your life, and then another. That’s how paradigm shifts take root.