The document outlines an interactive training on moving from service to solutions that was piloted at the 2018 Bonner Congress, which teaches participants to analyze the root causes of social issues through a root cause analysis technique called the "5 Whys". It provides an example application of this technique to analyze the root cause of a public health crisis. The training is intended to help participants strengthen their understanding of measuring impact and designing interventions that address underlying causes rather than just symptoms.

1. 8 Themes Curriculum
Service to Solutions:
Root Cause Analysis
2018 Bonner Fall Director’s & Coordinator’s Meeting
Liz Brandt, Community Engagement Director,
The Bonner Foundation

2. WHY 8 THEMES?
✓A tool to strengthen your calendars
✓Cohesion of training, enrichment,
and reflection across our network
✓Meeting developmental needs -
Root Cause Analysis

3. Modeled off of Solutions U curriculum
“SolutionsU™ is a project of the Solutions Journalism Network: a nonprofit
organization that seeks to rebalance the news, providing readers with
critical reporting on society's problems and stories that explain how
individuals, institutions, and communities are responding.”

4. “MOVING FROM SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS”
• Combination of workshop 2
“Making a Difference -
Measuring Impact” &
workshop 3 “Tackling Root
Causes”
• Targeted for First-year, Spring
• Interactive
• Piloted at Bonner Congress
2018, co-facilitated with
Alexander Nichols, Davidson
College, Foundation Summer
Intern
Module Series:
1) Discovering Solutions That
Work
2) Making a Difference -
Measuring Impact
3) Tackling Root Causes
4) Cultivating Powerful
Collaborations & Relationships

5. OUTLINE OF TRAINING
Introduction suggested time 5 minutes
Evidence of Impact suggested time 15 minutes
Measuring Impact suggested time 15 minutes
Downstream Solutions suggested time 10 minutes
The Five Whys suggested time 20-30 minutes
Root Cause Analysis suggested time 20 minutes
Closing & Feedback suggested time 15 minutes

6. 2 TRUTHS & A LIE

7. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
In order to prevent youth from getting
involved in crime, one program takes
them to prisons, and attempts to scare
them. Prisoners offer testimony about
how terrible their lives are behind bars.
They tell frightening stories and offer a
grim picture of what happens to people
who commit crimes and are caught. The
theory of change is that young people
will be “scare straight.” This program
was so compelling that there was an
Academy-Award winning documentary
about its effectiveness.

8. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
Project DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education), is intended
to show young people the dangers
of drugs. Police officers teach young
people in high schools about how
drugs can destroy their lives. The
program is taught throughout
America’s 50 states and territories,
as well as 50+ other countries,
reaching more than 1.5 million
students annually.

9. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
A social entrepreneur created
PlayPumps International to address the
lack of access to clean drinking water in
developing nations. Playpumps are
merry-go-rounds that children play on,
and as they turn, pump water from the
ground. PlayPumps started to receive
international attention after it won the
World Bank Development Marketplace
Award in 2000. It was one of those rare
programs that earned bipartisan
support.

10. ‣ Addressing lack of access to safe,
clean drinking water
‣ Merry-go-rounds that children play
on, and as they turn, pump water
from the ground
‣ Won World Bank Development
Marketplace Award in 2000
‣ Intended to show young
people the dangers of
drugs
‣ Taught throughout
America’s 50 states and
territories, 50+ countries,
reaching more than 1.5
million students
annually
‣ Theory of change is
that young people will
be “scare straight.”
‣ Prisoners offer
testimony
‣ Academy-Award
winning documentary
about its effectiveness

11. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
VOTE

12. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
At least two meta-analysis were conducted that found
participation in Scared Straight-type programs actually
increases the oddsthat youth will commit
offenses in the future (Aos, Phipps, Barnoski, and Lieg
2001 and Petrosino, Turpin-Petrosino, and Buehler 2004).

13. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
Despite being extremely popular, dozens of
scientific evaluation studies (West and O’Neal,
2004) have consistently shown DARE to not only be
ineffective at reducing the use of drugs and alcohol
but sometimes even counterproductive by
increasing the likelihoodfor
individuals to use and abuse drugs and alcohol.
Due to harsh criticism, public funding for DARE
programs decreased from over $10 million in 2002
to $3.5 million in 2012 (Ingraham, 2017).

14. SERVICE TO SOLUTIONS
According to Palph Borland’s PHD thesis, Radical
Plumber and PlayPumps - Objects in
development’ (2011) there are at least ten
faults identified in the PlayPump system,
including the maintenance system for the pumps
being unsatisfactory, users not being properly
consulted before installation, the system being much
more expensive than alternatives, the merry-go-
round being painful and undignified for adults to
use, and failing to meet recognized standards for
minimum water supply.

15. MAKING A DIFFERENCE - MEASURING IMPACT

16. MAKING A DIFFERENCE - MEASURING IMPACT
WAYS OF MEASURING IMPACT
✓Randomized, double-blind
studies with experimental
and control groups
✓Testimonials
✓Anecdotes and case studies
✓Self-reports

17. DOWNSTREAM SOLUTIONS
Once upon a time, there was a small village on the edge of a river. Life in the village was busy. There were
people growing food and people teaching the children to make blankets and people making meals.
One day a villager took a break from harvesting food and noticed a baby floating down the river toward the
village. She couldn't believe her eyes! She heard crying in the distance and looked downstream to see that two
babies had already floated by the village.
She looked around at the other villagers working nearby. "Does anyone else see that baby?" she asked.
One villager heard the woman, but continued working. "Yes!" yelled a man who had been making soup.
"Oh, this is terrible!" A woman who had been building a campfire shouted, "Look, there are even more
upstream!" Indeed, there were three more babies coming around the bend.
"How long have these babies been floating by?" asked another villager. No one knew for sure, but some
people thought they might have seen something in the river earlier. They were busy at the time and did not
have time to investigate.
They quickly organized themselves to rescue the babies. Watchtowers were built on both sides of the shore
and swimmers were coordinated to maintain shifts of rescue teams that maintained 24-hour surveillance of the
river. Ziplines with baskets attached were stretched across the river to get even more babies to safety quickly.
The number of babies floating down the river only seemed to increase. The villagers built orphanages and they
taught even more children to make blankets and they increased the amount of food they grew to keep the
babies housed, warm and fed. Life in the village carried on.
Then one day at a meeting of the Village Council, a villager asked, "But where are all these babies coming
from?”
"No one knows," said another villager. "But I say we organize a team to go upstream and find how who's
throwing these babies in the river.”
Not everyone was in agreement. "But we need people to help us pull the babies out of the river," said one
villager. "That's right!" said another villager. "And who will be here to cook for them and look after them if a
bunch of people go upstream?”
The Council chose to let the village decide. If you were a villager, what would your vote be? Do you send a
team upstream?

18. THE 5 WHYS
?????

19. Step 1: Issue Analysis
Group 1: Public health crisis
Group 2: Gentrification

20. WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
Your Issue: Public health crisis
WHY?
Root Cause Analysis: 5 Whys
people engage in unhealthy behaviors
as a coping mechanism for stress
because we compare ourselves unfavorably to others and see ourselves as inadequate
because we constantly see images on social media, where it seems like other people have
perfect lives, and we only see what feels like our own flaws and imperfections
because we have unmet needs to feel like we belong and are part of a community of friends and family

21. PERSONAL V. STRUCTURAL CAUSES
Biology/genetics
Individual choices
Family obligations
Religious/personal beliefs
Life changes or events
Mental/physical capabilities
Personal
Laws & policies
Social/cultural norms
Hiring & promotion practices
Resource allocation
Historical precedent
Structural

22. ANALYSIS OF FEEDBACK
54% said one question they still had
was how to solve the root causes
48 exit tickets collected
▸ Across 2 strategy sessions at Bonner Congress
One thing they learned
or found interesting:
63% Root cause
analysis (5 Whys)
21%Structural v.
personal causes
17%Outcomes vs.
outputs

23. Questions to consider from Exit Tickets:
“How does our work as Bonners conflict with this ‘root cause
theory’?”
“How can you translate this thought pattern to your
community?”
“How effective is my service?”
“ Should the idea of ineffective organizations make me weary
of supporting credited places?”
?
?
?
?

24. TAKEAWAYS
✓ Powerful activity
✓ Let the group pick the topic
✓ Do Root Cause Analysis in groups, not individually
(reduces preconceived biases)
✓ “Everything always boils down to personal choices…”
How would you handle as a facilitator?
✓ Acknowledge limitations