Agency | Duncan McNair

I work independently and collaboratively across disciplines, focusing on practical responses to complex challenges. A central aim of this work is to support the development of agency. Agency is not a commonly used term, but it is fundamental. It refers to the ability of individuals to understand their situation, make informed choices, and act on those choices in a meaningful way.

This includes partnerships across human rights, education, public infrastructure, and science. Without agency, rights cannot be effectively exercised. Systems may exist, and opportunities may be present, but individuals are not able to engage with them fully.

Agency depends on several prior conditions:

access to reliable knowledge

the ability to think clearly and critically

the capacity to communicate and evaluate alternatives

the opportunity to act

In this sense, agency is not simply given. It is developed.

The development of agency also depends on the ability to engage with information clearly. Where understanding is filtered through unexamined assumptions, bias, or confusion, the capacity to make effective choices is reduced. Strengthening agency therefore includes supporting the ability to interpret information with clarity and to apply it without distortion.

Understanding precedes expression. Expression precedes action. Through this progression, individuals are better able to make decisions and carry them through.

The development of agency is closely connected to human dignity. As individuals become better able to understand, choose, and act, they are more able to engage with others and with systems in ways that reflect both their own dignity and that of others. This process also contributes to the formation of a consistent and grounded sense of self, a heightened perception of one’s own, innate personal dignity.

In many contexts, individuals face constraints—structural, informational, or social—that limit their ability to act. This work seeks to address those constraints in practical ways, by developing tools, frameworks, and systems that support informed choice and effective action.

The objective is not only to provide information, but to support the development of the capability to use it—so that individuals and communities are able to act in ways that reflect their values, their rights, and their potential.