A Theory of Change is a map that shows how to get from the current situation (at the bottom) to the desired situation (at the top). It maps out the sequence of outcomes on that journey. Those outcomes are marked in blue and the pathways in green.

• Laying the groundwork (bottom) reflects the importance of transforming the prevailing mindset of paternalism and dependency in both the government and residents to a new spirit of self-reliance and equality. This is achieved primarily through the one-day Vision, Commitment and Action workshop. At this stage, each union requires a union coordinator – a part time paid volunteer or staff member dedicated to facilitating the entire process.
• Building Grassroots society from the bottom up. This is the big wide arrow on the right that develops the leaders in each category of citizen (animators, youth, women, the ultrapoor) who in turn can mobilize and organize citizens to effectively engage with local government. These transformative leadership trainings take from 3 to 4 days each.
• Strengthen the Union Parishad. At the same time, elected Union Parishad representatives and local functionaries receive a 5-day training in both their procedural responsibilities and the values of democratic, community-led development. This training, too, is very transformative as the “default” mentality of elected representatives is as the bottom-rung of a partisan hierarchy — not as autonomous leaders committed to serve the will of their people as full partners.
• Citizen engagement at the Village Level. People’s strongest collective identity is the village. The Union Coordinator will work with the ward representatives to host a Village Assembly in each village of the union, to set SDG-relevant priorities within each village, and to form a Village Development Team (VDT) comprising leaders from each sector of grassroots civil society to coordinate the action.
• Citizen engagement with the Union Parishad. Once each village knows its priorities, it works to include them in the Union Development plan through community volunteers joining the relevant Standing Committees and bringing their collective voice to Ward Assemblies and other public fora.
• Mass Action Campaigns. Unions are currently financially weak — their greatest resource is voluntary collective action. Unions have carried out mass campaigns to halt gender-based violence (including child marriage), improve hygiene and sanitation, provide literacy classes and school coaching and improve food security.
• Social Accountability: The Union Parishad has a mandate to report back to the public annually through Open Budget Meetings and through Annual Reports on progress in achieving the development plan.
• Upwards advocacy: In addition to working with the Union Parishad, grassroots civil society can federate itself upwards to build social cohesion, combat violent extremism and advocate for the rights of girls.

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