Nonetheless, in the course of the project, it became clear that in the future it would be important to complement our findings with additional research initiatives informed by participatory methods and aiming at finding out more about the perspectives and needs of suspected and accused persons. Final report Together with the factsheets, the final report ‘How to strategically strengthen procedural rights – challenges, opportunities, lessons learned’ takes into account the results from all of the above stated activities, especially lessons learned from the regional consultations, national roundtables, and EU workshop with CSOs. The final report is mainly intended for CSO representatives but also for any other ‘change agents’8 working towards strengthening procedural rights. It aims to increase their knowledge and their awareness in developing a strategic change process and tools. Its goal is not to provide an academic analysis of change processes and tools or concrete practical guidance to CSOs. Rather, the report is a collection of learnings and reflections identified in this particular project that can be useful for those who may engage in strategic change processes. It also provides further references for the reader to increase knowledge and capacities on systemic change and change process. Our motivation to write this report comes from the fact that CSOs across the EU have played an important role in strengthening procedural rights. They have researched widely on their implementation, identified promising practices, developed recommendations, and advocated for change. They have facilitated and assisted reforms by supporting national decision-makers and practitioners. This project aimed at better understanding the role of CSOs and increasing their effectiveness in change processes. The project events provided an excellent opportunity to advance the cooperation between CSOs, criminal justice practitioners, and decision-makers to increase understanding of the institutional constraints and factors that can support or hamper change. The project did not expect to get everything right but to learn from the challenges (and failures) for future efforts. This report is attempting to draw some lessons learned to benefit other EU Member States outside the scope of the project as well as policy makers and CSOs to strengthen procedural rights. (Self-) Reflection and continuous learning are key principles of the systemic approach and should be embedded in every change process.9 This requires the continuous engagement of stakeholders. A Theory of Change process can be a very useful basis for, if it is used properly, reflecting, adapting, and evaluating our assumptions. The development of effective indicators and a monitoring and implementation framework should be an integral part of the Theory of Change process.10 However, most importantly we all need to learn to take a hard look at ourselves and take responsibility for our (in-)action. A systemic approach focuses on systemic rather than individual failures but acknowledges that we all contribute to the status quo. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves: What is our contribution to the problem? What could be our contribution to the solution? We need to carefully reflect upon whether what we do is really effective and what could produce harmful (even if unintended) effects. Building hypotheses and making our assumptions explicit helps in that regard. And ultimately, we have to be flexible, adaptive, and ready to change old patterns. 8. A term that is now widely used for those wanting to achieve a certain change. See Duncan Green, How Change Happens (Oxford University Press 2016) 2; Amnesty International, ‘Transform Yourself Into an Agent of Change for Human Rights’ (11.11.2015). 9. David Peter Stroh, Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results (Chelsea Green Publishing 2004) 77-79. 10. Ibid. 9