Advocating SALT-CLCP Through Practice: Reflections from GYRF’s December Journey

[Sadia Jafrin]

December was a deeply meaningful month for us at Grow Your Reader Foundation (GYRF). We organized and participated in five events, and in four of them, we consciously tried to advocate for SALT-CLCP—not through theory, but through lived practice. Looking back, I realize that advocacy does not always need a podium or a presentation. Sometimes, it unfolds quietly—through stories, relationships, and the way communities are trusted to lead.

I want to reflect on how these moments came together.

1. Sharing Our Community-Led Approach

On 5 December, we were invited by the Dhaka American Women’s Club to the American Club as one of their grantees. This gave us the opportunity to share our initiatives, and we chose to focus on our community-led approach—how change becomes meaningful and sustainable when communities are at the center.

2. Sharing Community Voices at a National Platform

On 10 December 2025, we participated in the “Workshop on Empowering Youth as Advocates for Educational Transformation” organized by UNESCO Dhaka Office at the International Mother Language Institute, Dhaka.

As part of a group work session, we shared our community-led approach and spoke about the initiatives in Byaspur, Gopalganj and Pahariapara, Mymensingh. What made this moment powerful was not just the setting, but the audience—the Secretary General of the Youth Department, representatives from the Ministry of Education, and the Head of Education from UNESCO Dhaka Office were present.

Instead of presenting polished success stories, we spoke honestly about process—how communities identify their own strengths, how trust is built, and how ownership slowly shifts from “supporters” to the people themselves. SALT-CLCP came alive not as a framework, but as a mindset—one that places communities at the center of change.

3. Letting Stories Travel Through People, Not Slides

On 15 December, during our Community-Led Knowledge Fair in Byaspur, we invited Folklore Expedition Bangladesh, an organization dedicated to exploring and preserving Bangladesh’s rich folk stories. 

We shared with them our grandparents’ storytelling sessions—how elders hold knowledge, memory, and culture, and how storytelling has become a powerful space for connection in the community. Their interest was immediate and genuine. We did not want this to remain a conversation—we invited them to experience it. 

They joined the Knowledge Fair and shared a story themselves. What followed was beautiful. Children listened with wide-eyed curiosity, grandparents smiled in recognition, and the space filled with laughter and warmth. But beyond the story, they witnessed something deeper: community ownership in action. SALT-CLCP does not just preserve stories—it restores dignity to the storytellers.

4. A Library Born from Togetherness

On 22 December, we welcomed the Shafayat Foundation to Pahariapara Agamir School for the inauguration of our community library.

This school itself is a story of collaboration. The Pahariapara community contributed the resources they had, and GYRF supported the rest. Through crowdfunding and the generous donation of the Shafayat Foundation, the library became a shared achievement—not a gift from outside, but a collective outcome. During the inauguration, we shared the backstory of the school—how the community took ownership at every step. The response was deeply affirming. 

One of the guests, Md. Rubaiyath Sarwar, a specialist in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method social research, asked a powerful question: How can this approach be replicated in other communities so they can recognize their own strengths?

Even more meaningfully, he has already invited others to visit the community—not to study them, but to listen to their stories directly from them. That, to me, is advocacy at its purest.

Mr. Rubaiyath's mother expressed her appreciation warmly, saying she loved that GYRF asked the community what they could do to solve problems, instead of simply delivering solutions.

What This Month Taught Me

Across these four moments, one thing became clear: SALT-CLCP works best when it is lived, not explained. When communities speak for themselves, when elders are storytellers, when children are listeners and questioners, and when outsiders come not to instruct but to learn—real change begins.

This December reminded me that advocacy is not about convincing others. It is about creating spaces where communities can be seen, heard, and trusted. And when that happens, people do not just understand the approach—they believe in it.

That is the journey we are on at GYRF. And this is only the beginning.

 

[Bayazid Bostami]

The way they have created true ownership and trust by bringing the power of the community to the fore is the beginning of real change. Thanks for sharing apu.