Local organizations often lack resources and the capacity to effectively implement environmental pollution interventions. USAID’s Local Works program empowers local actors to reduce pollution through collective action, a collaborative network-based approach involving government actors, the private sector, and local organizations. USAID Local Works project recently supported a five-week virtual training course for nine local backbone organizations on systems thinking, using Causal Loop Diagrams (an analytical cause and effect tool), to understand how development problems are interrelated and how to apply a systems approach in program design, monitoring, evaluation, learning, and adapting.
With USAID Local Works’ support, this training course helped local civic and business leaders improve their skills in program design, the coordination of collective action efforts, and advocacy for environmental programs to reduce pollution.