Katherine Zscharnagk

Change Designer

Background

As an experienced manager I’ve been working to build, support and strategise with businesses, foundations and social enterprises for over 15 years. Prior to joining Forum, I worked as Strategic Development Manager with two social enterprises in Birmingham helping them to develop their organisational governance and operational processes in order to vision and build sustainable and resilient neighbourhoods for the future. My time with these organisations highlighted the challenge of bringing people on a journey of change when deep structural inequalities exist and also that we must continue to reimagine and evolve our organisational and funding realities to enable change.

Before this, I worked with NESTA as coordinator for the Government Innovation team. I worked across three programmes including the Centre for Social Action Innovation Funds; a learning network of innovating local authorities in the Upstream Collaborative; and the 2020 Democracy Pioneers Award which recognised 19 projects working to reimagine civic participation in the UK. I completed my time at NESTA as coordinator for the A Fairer Start Mission where I developed an Equity, Diversity & Inclusion plan for the teams newly launched innovation partnership programme.

I have a Masters in Global Politics from LSE where I wrote my dissertation on the social solidarity economy.

Dream project

My driving motivation is initiating change to promote human solidarity. I’m keen to enquire into how we do this individually, as communities, and as political institutions both nationally and globally. We need new institutions, or at least bold, creative new visions of our current ones, if we are going to see this change happen. My dream project would be convening for, designing and testing these new institutions.

What floats my boat outside of work:

I love history, political science, wine and good conversation.

Contact Katherine

Latest

Advancing climate justice: A call to action for businesses

Explore the insights from The Business Guide to Advancing Climate Justice, co-published by Forum for the Future and B Lab U.S. and Canada, with reflections from Ksenia Benifand, American Climate Futures’ Program Director.
Shape Just Transition Pathways

There are a multitude of decarbonisation solutions and many technically possible pathways to achieving net-zero, but there is a risk that some pathways will be incremental and others may perpetuate harm to people and the planet. We enable change actors in the energy system to navigate the evolving energy landscape that is being driven by innovation in energy technologies, business models and government policy.
Reimagine Purpose

The energy transition holds the potential to shape a more equitable world, but also to perpetuate and grow existing energy, economic and social inequities. We need to reimagine the purpose of the energy system, ensuring it reflects the needs of citizens and communities and best enables a transition to a future-fit system that delivers just and regenerative outcomes.
Scale socially just, ecologically safe and regenerative RE

Scaling renewable energy offers affordable, reliable energy and fights climate change. However, unregulated deployment may bring environmental, social, and human rights issues. We collaborate with energy change actors to co-create a vision and principles for socially equitable and environmentally responsible renewable energy.

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Senior Fundraising and Development Manager
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Administrative Assistant
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Senior Communications and Marketing Manager

The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

The Five Capitals Model provides a basis for understanding sustainability in terms of the economic concept of wealth creation or ‘capital’. Any organisation will use five types of capital to deliver its products or services. A sustainable organisation will maintain and where possible enhance these stocks of capital assets, rather than deplete or degrade them.
Jobs

We are a growing organisation and we are regularly on the look out for new recruits to join our teams around the world.
For a just and regenerative future

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability organisation running out of offices in the UK, US, India and Singapore.
Growing our Future US

Working together to accelerate the transition to a just and regenerative agriculture system in the United States.
Sustainability and system change

Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action to meet the SDG goals.
What is Net Positive?

We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helps business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.
Transport or Mobility: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

Recently, the word transportation is being replaced with mobility. Why is this happening? What’s the difference between them? And why should we care about this change?
Become a system change agent

Learn more about upcoming system change programmes and express your interest.
6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your business can too

A year ago this week, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), one of the most ambitious strategies that a global company has ever embarked on. Pioneering a bold new business model, the company pledged to double in size at the same time as halving its environmental footprint.
Transforming the Purpose of Business

More and more businesses like are setting ambitious targets for positive impact on their operations, value chains and wider operating context. For more than 25 years we have partnered with businesses to navigate this complexity and design impactful solutions that deliver the deeper change that’s needed. Why not get in touch to find out more?