How to Support Synergic Action for Transformation: Insights from Expert Practitioners and the Importance of Intentionality
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Methodology, Methods, and Materials
3.1. Approach
3.2. Case Study
3.3. Methods and Materials
3.3.1. Data Collection
3.3.2. Data Analysis
4. Results
4.1. Types of Synergic Action
4.1.1. Type 1: Non-Systemic Synergic Action
4.1.2. Type 2: Non-Systemic Synergic Action with Multiple Outcomes
4.1.3. Type 3: Systemic Synergic Action
4.2. Essentials for Synergic Action
4.2.1. Leadership for Synergic Action
4.2.2. Effective Networking, Partnerships, and Collaboration
4.2.3. Care and Understanding
4.2.4. A Systems Approach to Change
4.2.5. Intentionality for Synergic Action
5. Discussion
5.1. Implications for the Types of Synergic Action
5.2. Interrelationships Between the Five Essentails
5.3. Importance of Intentionality for Synergic Action
5.4. Limitations and Further Research
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Interviewee Identifier | Interviewee Role | Key Focus of Their Work |
---|---|---|
P1 | Chair | Local and sustainable food |
P2 | Vice chair | Enables connectivity across food, farming and rural communities |
P3 | Farming in protected landscapes officer | Help funds farmers and land managers that benefit both people and environment |
P4 | Education Coordinator | Support schools to set up their own social enterprise and food education |
P5 | Communications manager | Communication with government for better outcomes for farmers and landowners |
P6 | Policy team | Local nature recovery strategy |
P7 | Director | Support food access, bringing together partners, sharing good practice and resources |
P8 | PCN Dietician | Support clinicians in GP surgeries, provide training to care homes, community response teams and therapy teams |
P9 | Consultant | Work with NGO’s, charities and local council to help understand policy practice issues on childhood nutrition |
P10 | Chair | Brings together food partnerships from towns and cities across the UK for sustainable food |
P11 | Head of Science, Evidence and Research | Food risk assessment, research and evidence |
P12 | Public health manager | Health and wellbeing for children and local communities |
P13 | Managing director | Supporting early stage business growth |
P14 | Managing director | Business owner, focused on food manufacturing technologies |
P15 | Consultant/farmer | Promotes regenerative agriculture |
P16 | Public health senior officer | Healthy nutrition and lifestyle with a strong focus on children’s food standards |
P17 | Senior role in diocese | Leads on the ecological agenda and is part of the environmental working group for net zero. Also focused on rural and urban life and the impacts of food |
P18 | Business development manager | Regional food group that supports businesses and individuals involved in food and drink in Yorkshire |
P19 | Senior role in diocese | Leading the cathedral, engaging with individuals and communities across North Yorkshire |
P20 | Coordinator | Bringing people together to network to support sustainable and local food |
P21 | Farmer and business | Provides certification for regenerative farming |
P22 | Research Fellow | Focus on the relations between food, land and governance |
Actors | Synergic Outcome | Quotes |
---|---|---|
Cathedrals working with food banks | Feeding communities and disadvantaged people | “So we are at the Cathedral quite a lot as being a sort of center where people with food can bring it so we act as a sort of collection point. And then we disperse that to local food banks” (P19) |
Food education organizations working with bakery chains | Helping highly deprived areas and enabling quality education on healthy eating, planet | “it is all about healthy eating, and the impact on the planet, it is a combination of everything through a systems approach, and that is actually they are funding it to go out to their Greg’s Foundation funded breakfast clubs” (P4) |
Dieticians working with schools | Working with schools to reduce anxiety, improved mental health or better sleep | “some new programs for early years, sort of reading programs and people sort of preschool families, to support them with healthy eating messages for their children, and then hopefully the work that I am doing in the school will reinforce that and then eventually we will be moving into senior school” (P8) |
Consultants working with NGOs and charities | Focus on childhood nutrition | “we work with NGOs and charities and local councils, help and look at policy and practice issues around childhood nutrition and getting better food on children’s plates.” (P9) |
Supermarkets working with farmers | Celebrates British farmers and local food | “you have got Morrison’s, who were quite actively plugged into the supply chain, and makes great advertising PR out of only sourcing British grown produce locally reared meat and that sort of thing, and high standards. So it celebrates British farmers, which is a good start, because moving away from or reducing the number of food imports into the country” (P5) |
Multi Actor-Interventions | Synergic Outcomes |
---|---|
Village hall weeks | Primary objective is to feed people but there are added outcomes of increased community spirit, cultural integration etc. |
Farming in Protected Landscape grant scheme | Funding to support farmers, leading to positive outcomes of building and strengthening farming communities, networking, delivery of public goods |
Local nature recovery strategy | Balancing nature and food production, linking towns and cities, nature recovery |
Regenerative farming | Improving organic carbon in the soil and maintaining biodiversity on the farm leads to healthy land, nutritious food, profit, mental wellbeing etc. |
Actors | Synergic Outcomes | Example Quotes |
---|---|---|
Religious leaders | Encouraging communal eating, helping homeless individuals, reducing food waste, supporting framers, engaging regionally | “The cathedrals connects with community, so very important that we are working with other partners to come together” (P19) “I think another way in which churches are wedded in is I say we have chaplains and we have connection on the ground with farming communities and other people because of a lot of stuff which people never see” (P17) |
Researchers | Cohering diverse actors together, co-creation of processes with stakeholders, knowledge exchange | “I think stakeholder engagement is key. And I think in terms of the university as a sort of anchor institution within that food system. I think they have a huge responsibility” (P13) |
Food advocacy workers | Cohering diverse actors, educating young people, encourage local and seasonal food | “So if anybody says to me, what do you think is your USP or what do you bring to the table? That I would say it is about the synergies is that I sit on quite a lot of different groups. And I can network people or put people in touch with people and all of those things together” (P2) |
Farmers | Engagement with other knowledge institutions, sharing of best practice | “we are seeing more farming groups coming together. So and those farming groups are bringing in people who are not necessarily farmers, talk about the systems and we are prepared to access more information and advice on how to better or how they may access different options to the way in which they can farm” (P3) |
Educators | Education in schools about the source of food, nutrition, sustainable food | “I think there needs to be more information about, about where your food comes from, from a very young age, and, and, and how much it costs to produce. I think information about the fact that you go and buy a chicken for four quid, you need to know how much that costs to produce” (P3) “it is children and schools, we have got to start with how young people work” (P2) |
Local councilors | Food strategies, voicing the need for healthy and affordable food | “political will again, if you knew that there was a leader of a council or a particular MP that would bang your drum for you, then you you are hanging your hat on that” (P9) |
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Share and Cite
Om, E.S.; Fazey, I.; Tyfield, D.; Eyre, L.; Cooper, M.; Carmen, E.; Jackson, D.; Fearnley, J.; Ritter, L.; Newman, R.; et al. How to Support Synergic Action for Transformation: Insights from Expert Practitioners and the Importance of Intentionality. Sustainability 2025, 17, 7043. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157043
Om ES, Fazey I, Tyfield D, Eyre L, Cooper M, Carmen E, Jackson D, Fearnley J, Ritter L, Newman R, et al. How to Support Synergic Action for Transformation: Insights from Expert Practitioners and the Importance of Intentionality. Sustainability. 2025; 17(15):7043. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157043
Chicago/Turabian StyleOm, Eugyen Suzanne, Ioan Fazey, David Tyfield, Lee Eyre, Mick Cooper, Esther Carmen, Declan Jackson, James Fearnley, Luea Ritter, Rebecca Newman, and et al. 2025. "How to Support Synergic Action for Transformation: Insights from Expert Practitioners and the Importance of Intentionality" Sustainability 17, no. 15: 7043. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157043
APA StyleOm, E. S., Fazey, I., Tyfield, D., Eyre, L., Cooper, M., Carmen, E., Jackson, D., Fearnley, J., Ritter, L., Newman, R., & Cousquer, S. (2025). How to Support Synergic Action for Transformation: Insights from Expert Practitioners and the Importance of Intentionality. Sustainability, 17(15), 7043. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17157043