Circle of Change

Craig at Easter  sunrise service celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh

For the last seven years or so, I have been fascinated by the study of how communities, churches, families and societies change. I actually went back to school to get a masters degree in the principles of transformational development. As a great philosopher once said, "Change ain't easy!"

What is so tough about change? Change is tough because people are involved--and the  systems and institutions they live in are also involved. People and how they relate to each other and their environment cannot be fully measured by normal methods of evaluation.

That is why I was so encouraged by my trip to East Asia and Bangladesh this month. In Bangladesh I saw how women were co-learners  in understanding how to raise chickens and ducks and also how to raise crops next to their homes to increase food security for their families and communities. People were learning to save for the future and they were beginning to understand how to protect their families from things like arsenic poisoning which is impacting more than 20 million people in Bangladesh!  

So how are they doing these things that are leading to positive change in the community?

Learning circles.

A circle group of men co-learning together to bring change to their community. 

Learning circles are groups (of mostly women, but some groups of men) that meet on a regular basis to learn about topics that impact their communities. During my trip I traveled to many villages to see first hand how learning circles (many of these being facilitated by SIL-Bangladesh) are making a difference in the communities. 

Another type of learning circle is Generation Next that is run by young adults and deals with many of the topics studied by other adults in the community. I heard how, after learning about advocating for government services, members of a Generation Next learning circle successfully approached their local government about getting electricity in the village and drainage issues. These learning circles provide a safe place for people to co-learn as they grow and change. It was a privilege to see this work first hand.

Craig at a MLE (multi-lingual education) pre-primary school in Bangladesh.

Next up is traveling to Bangkok, Thailand for a community of practice event on sustainable development goals and then I will continue on to see transformational development work in Cambodia. Please pray for the upcoming trip that will start in early May.