Because harmful social norms or discriminatory practices are usually the result of deeply ingrained beliefs and mental models, any attempt to transform them needs to move beyond a purely technical approach to an awareness-based system-change model that supports a deep individual and collective transformative process as the foundation for new patterns of thinking and behaviours. Based on the findings of a project piloted in an Alternative Dispute Resolution centre in Baidoa, Somalia, this policy brief examines how using the Nonviolent Communication framework, a personal and collective development tool based on empathy, can support the emergence of a truly people-centred system. It also draws from the lessons learned to formulate recommendations for how to implement such an approach and suggests new ways of considering and measuring changes in our development programmes.