Local leadership

Local leadership is essential in creating lasting and sustainable transformation. Ensuring locals define decision making reduces power imbalances between external actors and communities and cultivates more equitable partnerships. Local leaders can understand and address the complexities of their situation in a way outsiders cannot and can readily adapt to changing circumstances. We add fuel to the fire of projects shaped and defined by local leaders by recognizing their gifts, supporting their growth, and enacting their vision. With their shared vision realized, communities are better equipped to invest in and support neighboring communities and build resiliency in their region, ultimately leading to a global network of resources and other thriving communities.

Accompaniment

We invest in local leaders through a framework of accompaniment. This means building long-term relationships as defined by our partners. We seek not to define success for our partners, but to follow their lead as they shape their own path. Drawing on co-mentorship and “train the trainer” models, we support the flourishing of local leaders and communities to become subject matter experts. In turn, GCI is continually learning from the wisdom and insights of our partners. By complementing accompaniment with Asset Based Community Development, we focus on strengths of all community members, regardless of their socioeconomic status or background. Ultimately, our work rejects historical patterns of aid and international development to instead build local autonomy and capacity.

Curiosity and humility are the foundation through which we approach all other values, because we cannot be agents of positive transformation without them. We hold ourselves and our partners to a commitment of life-long learning and critical self-reflection, leading with grace and understanding. From how we operate as a team, to how we engage with other organizations, to how we implement a single training, this focus is pervasive in the work we do. The practices of curiosity and humility enable us to embrace uncertainty and emotional exposure, which are necessary for creative thought and transformation. We strive to foster this vulnerability in ourselves and, by extension, the global climbing community.

The inequities of the greater world are reflected in the global climbing community. To be a climber or create a climbing organization requires significant investment of time, education, and resources. We believe in the inherent dignity and value of every climber, therefore we invest our work in those who currently face exclusion. Through mentorship, resources, and storytelling, we bridge between the current inequitable system and the future we seek. By creating greater equity in the climbing community, we are paving the way toward a more equitable world.

For holistic, complex, and deep transformation, solutions must originate by listening to those most impacted by issues and taking a root cause-oriented, collaborative, and interconnected approach. First, we must work to understand and potentially challenge culture, power dynamics, and patterns of oppression. We then work to build diverse coalitions of people and organizations to create unity and collective power in pursuit of lasting solutions.

Recognizing the interconnectedness of ecological, social, and economic systems, we prioritize regeneration by investing in the land and local communities to go beyond sustainability in pursuit of something even greater. We are all intrinsically linked to the environment and the local communities surrounding the crags we love. Regeneration is the lens through which we assess the actions of ourselves, our partners, and the greater community, always asking how we can prioritize health, wellbeing, and rejuvenation. Guided by the practices of local and Indigenous communities, we empower climbers to become leaders in the larger movement toward regeneration. Through continual growth and evolution, we envision a future in which people and the planet not only survive, but thrive.