presents
Build. Win.
Sustain.
Sustain.
A framework for democratic resilience
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The problem with change strategy
Most organizations
pick one lane.
Organizing, advocating, researching. Each matters. But gains must be defended, coalitions continuously fortified, and research put to work. Lasting change demands a multi-lane highway.
Why it matters now
The stakes are rising as
toxic polarization grows.
Democracy faces unprecedented stress. Growing tolerance for political violence. A deeply siloed media environment. Rampant distrust. BWS offers organizations a way to work smarter, collaborate more effectively, and create the civic infrastructure needed for true democratic resilience.
The Build-Win-Sustain framework
Three outcomes.
One powerful, cohesive strategy.
Build
Strengthen the relationships, capacities, and civic infrastructure needed to act effectively while expanding the pool of engaged participants.
Win
Build trust in elections, de-escalate threats, gain traction in promoting practices that increase confidence in election processes, and promote pro-democracy norms. Visible progress fuels commitment and attracts new energy.
Sustain
Embed change into institutions, cultures, and habits so gains hold as leadership turns over and adversaries regroup. Sustainability is built in, not bolted on.
The mechanism
Four levers are adjusted to achieve
the three outcomes.
Re-Norm
Shift the cultural norms, narratives, and expectations that define what is possible. Change what people believe is normal — and you change what they are willing to fight for.
Reform
Align the formal rules, policies, and institutional arrangements with democratic resilience. When policies and practices are deeply embedded in the political fabric, they are hard to reverse.
Depolarize
Bridge divides and rebuild trust across difference — within communities and across political, ethnic, generational, and gender lines. Trust fault lines place democratic resilience at risk.
Mobilize
Nurture and promote sustained civic engagement. Build turnout, active volunteers, and the relationships that translate affinity into power.
From theory to practice
A growing ecosystem
of practitioners.
Fieldworkers and strategists are sharing insights, testing strategies, evaluating progress, and connecting their efforts through intentional networking.
Collective action
Organizations become
force multipliers.
BWS helps groups work together, leveraging their strengths across sectors and silos
A more equitable future
This is what
change looks like.
Build, Win, and Sustain activities help community members deeply listen to one another. The result: people become more connected and more eager to work through difference.
Who's using it
Organizations working
at the frontier.
The Carter Center
Democracy Resilience Networks
Locally-rooted, cross-sector networks using BWS as a shared vocabulary for mapping strategy — connecting local work to national resilience and long-horizon civic infrastructure-building.
Electoral Reform
FairVote
The leading advocate for ranked choice voting uses BWS to integrate advocacy, public education, and coalition-building into a coherent strategy that is finely attuned to the reality of pushback when wins are achieved.
U.S. Department of Commerce
Economic Recovery Corps Fellows
Root Change designed a five-module curriculum for mid-career economic development professionals, grounding their local work in BWS, Participatory Action Research, and Human-Centered Design.
A growing field
Resilience
Environmental activists, civil society conveners, faith-based leaders, and philanthropy professionals can use BWS as a common language to coordinate across silos and sectors.
Root Change services
What we bring
to the table.
For organizations ready to put BWS to work, Root Change offers a suite of integrated services — from training to tools to long-term learning partnerships.
Six ways we partner
Tools for every
stage of the work.
Training
Deep-dive, hands-on workshops and cohort-based, peer-driven professional development grounded in BWS, equipping teams with shared vocabulary and proven resilience-building tactics.
Digital Tools
Purpose-built interactive tools — activity planners, strategy navigators, facilitation guides — that make BWS immediately actionable.
PAR and Evaluation
Rigorous, community-centered evaluation to uncover new insights into how the BWS strategy is building democratic resilience.
Ecosystem Mapping
Social network analysis and ripple-effects mapping that reveal connections, surface gaps, and enable better collective action coordination.
Learning Events
Convenings, summits, and peer-exchange forums connecting practitioners — turning isolated work on the ground into shared knowledge and momentum.
Collective Action Support
Facilitation and strategic support for coalitions navigating joint decision-making, shared agendas, and cross-sector collaboration.
Why it works
The case for BWS.
One lens, every decision
A shared analytical framework across programs, campaigns, and partners — reducing strategic drift.
Built for complexity
Designed for messiness — focuses on interdependencies and multi-directional feedback loops.
Connects across silos
A common language enabling genuine collaboration across varied resilience domains: economic, environmental, organizational, disaster, community and more.
Wins that stick
Builds the infrastructure to defend and expand gains over time — so progress isn’t fleeting.
Easy to understand, yet powerful
Makes clear connections between tactics and outcomes. Supports real time learning and adaptation.
People-powered
Centers relationships, trust, and civic participation — moving people from passive participants to force multipliers.
Join the Resilience Revolution.
rootchange.org · Washington, D.C.