Democratic Resilience

Build-Win-Sustain Resources

Everything you need to understand, apply, and share the Build-Win-Sustain framework — from foundational documents and interactive tools to reflections, presentations, and music.

📄 The BWS FrameworkFoundation The foundational document outlining the Build-Win-Sustain framework for democratic resilience. Learn the theory, phases, and core principles that guide all BWS-based work. 🗺️ BWS Field GuideField Guide A practical companion to the BWS framework for practitioners in the field. Concise guidance on applying Build, Win, and Sustain principles across real-world contexts. 🎨 BWS: A Visual EssayPresentation Another way to experience the Build-Win-Sustain framework's power and magic — a visually rich journey through the ideas that make democratic resilience possible. 🎯 BWS Overview: A Roadmap for Resilient DemocracyPresentation A slide presentation explaining the BWS framework and illustrating how Democracy Resilience Networks sponsored by The Carter Center are using Build, Win, and Sustain outcomes through four change levers: Re-Norm, Reform, Depolarize, and Mobilize. 🍀 Belfast and the BWS FrameworkEssay A personal reflection, 28 years after the Good Friday Accords were signed, on how the Build-Win-Sustain framework sheds light on the Troubles and their aftermath in today's Belfast.

📋 BWS Activity PlannerTool Plan and sequence your democracy resilience activities with precision. The Activity Planner maps specific tactics to each phase of the BWS framework, helps identify appropriate outcomes, and generates a structured action plan your team can implement immediately. 🃏 BWS Portfolio BuilderTool Place each of the 80 activity cards in the proper bucket — build, win, sustain or discard — to create a detailed view of your current portfolio. Use the cards again to identify new activities you can introduce. A great conversation starter. Beta version. 🔭 BWS Capacity Development ExplorerTool The BWS framework's Build outcome often involves organizational and network capacity development. Use the Explorer to select the perfect set of activities to strengthen your network or organization from 128 curated options. 🤝 BWS Coalition BuilderTool Strengthen your coalition by working across the three outcomes and four change levers of the Build-Win-Sustain framework. Identify aspirational performance levels and activities that willl help you move from where you are to where you want to be. Use visualizations to compare current performance to how you hope to perform in six months. ⚙️ BWS CustomizerTool Tailor the BWS framework to your specific organizational context and strategic priorities. The Customizer guides you through key parameters — political environment, coalition strength, resource capacity — and generates a customized roadmap aligned to your situation. 🔄 The ReframerTool Move beyond binary thinking. The Reframer is a facilitation tool grounded in Both/And thinking that helps teams escape false choices, surface new possibilities, and reframe seemingly intractable challenges into actionable opportunities for democratic change. 🧭 Equity NavigatorTool Equity has become a contested issue in today's social and political discourse. Yet the Re-norming and Reforming action levers of the Build-Win-Sustain framework sometimes involve addressing equity concerns. The Equity Navigator can help you chart the course for these potentially challenging conversations.

🎲 Beat the Backslide: a BWS gameGame Gather your friends, colleagues and concerned citizens to play a game that is fun, challenging, and engaging. Players combine role playing and strategic thinking to respond to a significant threat to democracy while making the Build-Win-Sustain framework come alive. In development.