The Addressing Root Causes (ARC) initiative drew on two key approaches from The Constellation organization:

1. Community Life Competence Process (CLCP), a continuous learning cycle in which a community acts, learns from its experience, and engages in another round of action using the lessons learned, and

2. SALT (Support, Appreciate, Listen-Learn, and Transfer) discussions, in which facilitators accompany a community as it moves towards ownership of its future.

These methods support communities in identifying their own solutions to local challenges. This phase of the ARC initiative focused on personal growth, which rippled through organizations, cohort organizations, and communities to create sustainable locally drive change.

The initiative

The ARC initiative engaged six organizations in the CLCP and SALT methods. These targeted organizations work with marginalized communities in Bangladesh that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The participating organizations are:

1. Alokito Kori in Dhaka, a youth-led organization that promotes youth volunteerism,
2. Arshirbad Mohila Unnayan Samity in Mymensingh, a women-led organization working for the betterment of women and youth,
3. Bangladesh Rural Economic Development (BRED) in Pabna, a group working with underprivileged people facing the impacts of climate change,
4. Development of Health and Agriculture Rehabilitation Advancement in Jashore, a women-led organization working to ensure shelter, health, and education for minority communities,
5. Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECDO) in Sylhet, a group working for the development of indigenous tea garden communities in northeastern Bangladesh, and
6. Grow Your Reader Foundation in Dhaka, a women and youth-led organization that ensures access to education.

Key success stories

Using a variety of sources including surveys, interviews, meetings, and honest reflections shared in blog posts, GFC gathered data to measure the success of this initiative.

The analysis revealed that all individuals who participated in the ARC initiative experienced personal growth and improvements in their relationships.

This personal growth rippled into positive changes at the individual, organizational, cohort, and community levels.

Individual level

Through SALT conversations, participants in the ARC initiative experienced significant positive changes in their personal and professional lives by strengthening family connections and communication.

The conversations helped participants gain confidence and set personal goals. This empowered individuals to contribute meaningfully to their organizations, challenge societal norms, and create positive community impacts.

Key successes at the individual level:

1. Family members of SALT participants were inspired to lead their own SALT discussions within their communities.

2. Individuals who led organizations began using vision boards and daily to-do lists to stay focused on their group’s goals and visions.

3. A SALT facilitator successfully overcame caste-based discrimination to accomplish personal objectives that were not possible before.

Organizational level

Participating organizations adopted inclusive structures to encourage broad engagement among its staff. A focus on self-reliance allowed some organizations to reduce dependence on external funding, building sustainable community-led initiatives.

Key successes at the organizational level:

1. Senior leaders in all six participating organizations adopted inclusive leadership styles to listen more carefully to staff and encourage greater participation in decision-making.

2. Staff members collaborated with each other and shared skills and knowledge.

3. The initiative sparked creativity in staff members who began expressing themselves through poetry, acting, and drawing to bring innovative approaches to community engagement.

4. Organizations explored volunteer networks to reduce dependence on external funding. This resulted in successes such as building youth groups and providing community services such as menstrual health support.

Cohort level

GFC conducted a survey to understand how partner organizations connect with each other and with organizations outside their cohort.

The results showed that many partners now have robust networks, collectively connecting with 70 organizations outside the GFC initiative.

The most reported connection type was information-sharing. However, advocacy collaborations were also significant, with partners participating in 59 such activities.

These cohort-level changes showed meaningful growth in relationships and shared learning, ultimately creating a more collaborative and supportive organizational ecosystem.

Key successes at the cohort level:

1. SALT conversations have encouraged organizations to share ideas on budgeting, project management, and other operational challenges.

2. There is a new initiative between BRED and ECDO to improve community engagement.

Community level

The ARC initiative brought significant changes to participating communities. SALT conversations transformed how communities solve problems, work together, and engage on social issues.

Communities learned to take responsibility for their own improvement, without waiting for outside help. This new self-direction ensured that local initiatives benefit communities from the ground up, in ways that they themselves think are important.

Key successes at the community level:

1. In BRED, communities installed a new tube well to provide a dependable water supply during drought, repaired a deteriorating road, started a tailoring workshop for girls and young women, and organized actions to mitigate the effects of annual floods.

2. Parents in ECDO’s Patro community started prioritizing education for their daughters instead of early marriage.

3. ECDO’s community in Katara Tea Estate secured and paid for a new space for school when their old one was no longer available.

4. Alokito parents connected with a private school that offered free tuition and uniforms to young girls, rather than having them be married off at an early age.

5. A Grow Your Reader Foundation community improved student attendance in school as well as in after school enrichment programs by 80%. Along with local parents, they also prioritized education in Byaspur by organizing tutoring sessions for 30 children.

6. In Arshirbad’s Chorbin Para, women and children took the lead in addressing issues such as early marriage, drug use, and a lack of community resources.

7. Arshirbad parents also challenged the local caste system and encouraged their children to play together across caste lines, a practice that was previously unheard of.

Further work to be done

Monitoring and analyses of the ARC initiative pinpointed areas where there is room for improvement:

1. Some communities have been unsuccessful in collective problem-solving, even when residents desire a better future.

2. Certain community members hold on to power and make it difficult for underrepresented groups such as women and people with disabilities to make meaningful change in their communities.

3. Entrenched social practices such as early marriage, caste discrimination, gender inequality, and lack of education still place girls at risk.

Join us in building a better tomorrow

It is essential for GFC to continue to support the work of its partner organizations to develop sustainable solutions and change some deeply entrenched social practices. To build on the momentum of the ARC initiative, the following key projects will be taken on at the organizational, cohort, and community levels:

1. Organizational level: Organizational Development Grants will support groups to take action to accomplish their goals.

2. Cohort level: Information-sharing events such as a knowledge fair, podcasts, learning and listening circles, and on-site visits will be developed so that the cohort organizations continue to learn from each other’s experiences.

3. Community level: Community action plans will build on the progress of SALT to address specific local challenges such as early marriage, gender inequality, and caste-based discrimination.

Continued and sustained financial support is necessary for the ARC initiative to achieve long-term success in Bangladesh, which would provide more opportunities for individuals, organizations, cohorts, and communities in this area.