Now that you have decided to address a social issue by getting active, it’s time to explore the root causes. The root cause is the “why” of the issue you want to address (Why does this issue exist?). For example, if a Challenge is raising awareness about the lack of universal health care, understanding the core issues involves the process of understanding all the whys of the problem.
Exploring the root causes could impact your Challenge’s planning and implementation. Based on what you reflect, you might identify additional key information to share and people to reach out to.
Sometimes the most complex part of exploring the root cause is knowing where to start. Try to prioritize the perspectives of those most affected by the issue. To do this, you could start conversations with those directly affected and explore their perspectives.
If direct conversations are not possible, you could prioritize:
- Information published by local residents
- Nonprofit and independent research – especially research conducted by participatory methods and not funded by the government or stakeholders connected to the issue
Important Questions to Ask Yourself:
- What is the overall issue you want to address?
- What are smaller, more immediate problems connected to this issue?
For example, pollution is a huge problem, but the lack of trees is a smaller problem within the big social issue of pollution. Trees help filter the air reducing the effects of pollution. - What do you know about the issue?
- What are the underlying causes of this issue?
- How does the issue affect people?
- What are the policies/structures/people that allow the issue to exist/continue?
- What else do you want to find out and learn about this issue?
- How do you plan to learn more?
- Who has the power to influence the change you want to see?
Root Cause Analysis Technique
For a deeper analysis, download the root cause analysis worksheet here.