Ashoka Fellows Build an Everyone a Changemaker World
Through an extensive survey of our global network, Ashoka has drawn out 11 strategies or "how-to's" that Ashoka Fellows use to activate people as contributors and solution-providers in their communities, ensuring true participation across all sectors of society. Meet below the newest members of Ashoka's network of leading social entrepreneurs in Europe, elected in 2023 and 2024, and discover the 11 "how-tos" used by Ashoka Fellows to build an Everyone a Changemaker World:
🔥 Ashoka Fellows inspire individuals to become changemakers
Strategy 1: Create opportunities for many individuals to contribute. In addition to creating employment (95% of Ashoka Fellows) and volunteer opportunities (87%), many Fellows recognize that it is time for a fundamental shift, especially in the role of young people. 89% of Fellows are putting young people in charge of leading change within their organizations.
Strategy 2: Encourage individuals to believe in their own capacity. By encouraging problem-solving on even a small scale, Ashoka Fellows expand others’ sense of agency. Giving a person the opportunity to take action and make a difference–no matter how small–sets in motion a long-term commitment to changemaking.
Strategy 3: Redefine “weaknesses” as strengths. Interview data showed that Ashoka Fellows take stock of people’s skills and invite them to put these to good use. Further, they look at what broader society may perceive as weakness and find strength, leveraging diverse experiences or skills to drive positive change.
Strategy 4: Support changemaker identity development. Ashoka Fellows identity as changemakers sustains their commitment to systems-change work. This identity benefits their communities and professional endeavors as well as their personal development and quality of life. Wanting this for those around them, Ashoka Fellows help others to develop changemaker identities.
🤝 Ashoka Fellows collaborate to engage more changemakers
Strategy 5: Build multiplier partnerships. Ashoka Fellows build partnerships to generate solutions, impact, and changemakers. They work with others toward a shared vision. They often relinquish control and ownership of their ideas to see them spread as far as possible: 82% of Ashoka Fellows have had their innovations replicated by others (through strategic partnerships, open sourcing or licensing, among other methods). 61% replicated within their country, and 42% at an international level.
Strategy 6: Create space for the community’s voice. Ashoka Fellows see community members not as beneficiaries, but as experts and decision-makers. As such, they create space for community members to develop solutions and voice their plans for action. They present ideas and ask for input from a range of stakeholders or invite others to partner in implementing solutions.
Strategy 7: Engage individuals everywhere. Interview data show that Fellows strategically target community members who are beyond the inner circle of allies. By targeting “unlikely allies,” Fellows can often engage those who may not normally encounter a specific social issue, but who can meaningfully contribute to positive social change.
⚡ Ashoka Fellows change systems to support all changemakers
Strategy 8: Shift policies and market systems. Many institutions either by design or inadvertently prevent large portions of society from reaching their full potential. Ashoka Fellows shift systems and restructure institutions to operate in service of the collective good and provide many more people the freedom and support to contribute. They do this by changing policies of large companies or industries (51%), encouraging them to include previously excluded communities (52%), or creating value for a product or service where it didn’t exist before (51%). At the legislative level, 63% of Ashoka Fellows changed or influenced government policy, while 66% have advised policymakers as experts.
Strategy 9: Influence societal mindsets or cultural norms. By influencing societal mindsets and cultural norms, they help others see and act in accordance with social changes that benefit all. Fellows do this by encouraging people to think differently (88%), through campaigns (43%), or through programs (21%).
Strategy 10: Foster supportive environments that enable changemaking. Fellows invest their energy in the creation of communities where individuals feel psychologically and physically safe, cared for and supported. They do this within the walls of the organizations, but also wherever they convene the broader community in public spaces from classrooms to community squares. In doing so, individuals feel comfortable to share their ideas, work with others, and build something new.
Strategy 11: Build ecosystems that sustain changemaking. Interview data show that Fellows bring together funders, businesses, governments, civil society organizations, media companies, and universities to reduce barriers that blunt agency and prevent individuals from engaging in changemaking. By banding together, they can exponentially increase their potential to address issues that perpetuate systemic inequality.
🔥 Inspiring individuals to become changemakers
Lisa Wilkins
About Lisa
Lisa Westcott Wilkins is creating “social impact archaeology” with DigVentures, a citizen-led initiative that allows anyone to participate. By democratizing archaeology, she enriches communities, makes history accessible and relevant, preserves heritage, and fosters citizen scientists.
The problem
Archaeology in the UK is a closed field, predominantly academic or commercial, with less than 1% diversity. It is often inaccessible to the public, burdened by expensive degrees and unpaid dig experiences. Most digs cater to commercial needs, focusing on compliance rather than quality, with the knowledge gained rarely shared with communities.
Impact
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Lisa is transforming archaeology by creating a movement that partners with the public through DigVentures, breaking open the closed doors of archaeology and fostering inclusivity and community engagement.
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Lisa is building non-academic pathways to engage diverse individuals in archaeology, including digger drivers on construction sites, gardeners, and local historians. Through DigVentures, she implements crowdfunded digs, an open policy on data and learnings and online training programs, empowering regular people to participate in archaeological digs. Lisa believes that by helping people learn about their history, they can better understand their community and its future.
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Virginie Salmen
About Virginie
Virginie provides teenagers from underprivileged neighborhoods with tools, networks, and opportunities to broaden their career orientation in alignment with their interests. By leveraging a mandatory requirement established in the French education system – the 9th-grade internship – Viens Voir Mon Taf (Come See my Job) expands the opportunities for socio-economically challenged students and creates a space of encounter among individuals who would not interact otherwise, breaking tangible and symbolic boundaries.
The problem
Economic and social inequalities in France often trap individuals in low-income status for generations, partly due to unequal access to quality education and professional networks. At around age 13, most students gain access to these networks through their families, limiting opportunities for those without such connections.
Impact
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Viens Voir Mon Taf (VVMT) addresses this issue by connecting students with professionals across various fields, from law to aerospace engineering, to help them explore career options early on.
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Since 2015, VVMT has impacted over 20,000 students, matching 5,555 with diverse career fields based on their interests. This initiative bridges gaps and fosters opportunities for students and partner organizations alike.
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VVMT marks an initial physical intervention during the early stages of teenagers' educational journey, with the ultimate aim of setting the groundwork for economic and social mobility. The underlying idea is that substantial transformation, encompassing greater access, equality, and integration, can be achieved through personal encounters that emphasize the human element, repeatedly enacted. Through this internship, individuals who would otherwise never cross paths are brought together.
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Pax Dettoni Serrano
About Pax
Pax is reducing bullying and violence in schools and beyond by establishing emotional literacy, active empathy, and compassion as keystones within the wider educational community. This approach fosters positive coexistence and peacebuilding, laying the foundation for a more empathetic and harmonious society.
The problem
Seven out of ten children suffer from bullying at some point in school. Over the past decade, numerous anti-bullying programs have been implemented, yet they often rely on punitive measures against the aggressor, exacerbating negative environments.
Impact
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Pax has introduced a new architecture in schools that fosters a mindset shift across the entire educational community—teachers, families, students, and non-teaching staff—moving away from punishment.
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By enhancing socio-emotional skills, Pax's approach empowers everyone to understand and manage their emotions, enabling them to resolve conflicts positively and empathetically.
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Pax’s strategy focuses on securing the buy-in of the entire educational community, recognizing that children learn by imitation. Public schools' leadership teams engage in a train-the-trainers model, opening dialogue spaces and providing emotional literacy training for all staff, thus activating teachers as emotional literacy referents.
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Simultaneously, youth are exposed to a comprehensive empathy methodology, where they learn to identify and manage their emotions, support others, and use tools for restorative conflict resolution. They then teach younger students through plays, fostering a culture of empathy and positive conflict resolution across different ages.
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Lorenzo Marini
About Lorenzo
Lorenzo is working to guarantee that citizens at all life stages have the skills to critically evaluate media and information and, ultimately, create and share valuable information responsibly. Together, these capabilities shape media and information literacy, a crucial life skill more necessary than ever amidst the wave of information and disinformation.
The problem
As a society, we have not yet been able to equip citizens with the right skills to navigate unmeasurable amounts of information.
Impact
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Lorenzo is highlighting how the lack of media and information literacy hampers people's ability to understand reality and leads to poor decision-making, at a personal and institutional level. Hence, he is leading a mindset shift where the ability to access and recognize trustworthy information and sources is seen not just as a skill but as a right.
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By creating a movement in informal and formal educational organizations, fact-checkers, NGOs and senior associations, Lorenzo is ensuring that every agent understands the relevance of MIL and is equipped with tools to teach it.
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By involving fact-checkers as knowledge and skill transmitters, teachers and students engage in practical activities across various subjects. This approach helps them quickly internalize habits and tools to assess information in the digital environment, fostering a culture of critical thinking and responsible information consumption in schools.
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Myroslava Keryk
About Myroslava
Migration and exile can often deprive people of agency. Myra seeks to transform the experience of people on the move (migrants and refugees) to one in which they quickly become active contributors to the common good in their new home and homeland.
The problem
Central and Eastern European societies will be transformed by migration and refugees. Myra knows that new strategies for co-creating the future are essential. She prepares initiatives that empower migrant-run organizations to drive positive change.
Impact
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Myra creates formats, such as Ukrainian House, Women Clubs, and a coalition of minority organizations, enabling people on the move to actively shape society in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. These formats engage tens of thousands of people annually.
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Myra's strategy revolves around guiding questions that encourage both people on the move and host communities to reflect on various aspects of migration and integration. More importantly, it prompts them to take action.
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Joint activities involving Poles and Ukrainians foster mutual support in exploring identity and finding collective answers. With a long-term perspective, Myra understands that the experiences of Ukrainians and Poles today will shape the future of both societies.
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José Soares
About José
José is leading a mindset shift in the sports industry by positioning people with disabilities in leadership roles as an economic and innovation opportunity, activating a global movement of functionally diverse entrepreneurs and decision-makers.
The problem
Globally, 15 to 20% of the world’s population is functionally diverse and only 50 to 70% are employed. Jose understands that this growing population – with untapped talent and innovation – requires not only quotas and affirmative action in the labor market, but a model that unleashes their potential as contributors to our society.
Impact
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Using sports as the lever to bring together people and gradually shift mindsets, José is transforming the rules of the football world from a charity for functionally diverse people to an architecture of entrepreneurial opportunities within the sports management team, leagues and associations and entrepreneurial endeavors across 20 countries.
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José challenges societal norms and fosters a more inclusive sports industry, showcasing the changemaking spirit of those traditionally perceived as inactive. Through a comprehensive leadership program for sports enthusiasts with physical and sensory disabilities, José guides them in creating inclusive projects with local sports organizations.
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These projects lead to local employment opportunities in soccer administration, soccer associations rehabilitating the socially excluded due to substance abuse or violence, and community events celebrating diversity.
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Vera Marin
About Vera
Vera Marin, an urbanist architect, leads "De-a Arhitectura," an initiative repurposing schools for civic education focused on architecture. This program educates children about the built environment, fostering empathy and civic engagement. Since 2013, it has influenced over 30,000 Romanian children and involved 1,150 teachers and 1,000 architects, promoting participatory design and community involvement.
The problem
Romania's traditional education, emphasizing rote learning, has led to low functional literacy and civic engagement. Through "De-a Arhitectura in My City," volunteer architects teach 3rd and 4th graders design and urban awareness.
Impact
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Vera introduces innovative education practices to equip young people for responsible adulthood and engaged citizenship. The "My School Can Be Cool" initiative revamps school spaces through participatory design.
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These efforts, positively impacting over 30,000 students, have gained support from architectural bodies and municipalities, fostering empathy, creativity, and civic responsibility.
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The "De-a Arhitectura in My City" program emphasizes teamwork and practical skills among children, while the "My School Can Be Cool" initiative focuses on participatory design. By providing resources and training for teachers, these programs ensure value-centric education, cultivating ownership, responsibility, and empowerment in students, preparing them to drive positive change in their communities from a young age.
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🤝 Collaborating to engage more changemakers
Agamemnon Otero
About Agamemnon
Energy Garden is combining community gardens with a city-wide community energy cooperative model to create a highly public, transport-based initiative to dramatically expand renewable energy in London and create a self-funding cycle towards climate mitigation. Agamemnon is working on the collective imagination of a city to redesign how it powers itself and how communities have ownership over its energy.
The problem
Transport accounts for 27% of the UK’s emissions, with Network Rail being the largest producer. London uses 11% of the UK’s energy, half for trains. At the same time, rail lines have underused land and property. Solar energy, costly to install and limited to certain property owners, is typically inaccessible to those in social housing or fuel poverty.
Impact
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Agamemnon has turned this challenge into an opportunity. His organisation, Energy Garden, uses London transport infrastructure to install solar panel arrays and community gardens in a symbiotic system within the city.
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By utilising a space – previously inaccessible – in a unique public/private/citizen partnership, Agamemnon builds a cohort of individual solar investors.
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Energy Garden sets its lowest investment threshold at £50, creating a truly accessible opportunity for the lay person to invest in solar.
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Recently, Energy Garden has also seen lots of larger non-profits, religious groups, and companies - invest at levels of £50,000-£100,000, with a one shareholder/one vote system, even at differing levels of investment.
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Together its investors have raised more than £1 million in solar investment. Energy Garden is an overarching organisation, and individual energy gardens are co-owned.
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Sönke Siefert
About Sönke
Sönke is building the institutional ecosystem for a healthy upbringing for all families in Germany, regardless of their socioeconomic status. As a doctor and founder of Babylotse, he has pioneered a new intervention model that accompanies vulnerable families during pregnancy and early childhood, thus breaking detrimental cycles and empowering parents with the skills and resources to raise thriving families.
The problem
Research indicates that stress hormones released during maternal distress can detrimentally affect fetal brain development, leading to lifelong consequences.
Impact
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To mitigate psychosocial stress among vulnerable pregnant women, Sönke has pioneered a model that trains and deploys specialized "baby guides." These guides support families in navigating Germany's intricate social welfare system throughout pregnancy and the first year of a child's life.
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By bridging healthcare and social services, they connect pregnant women and families with tailored support based on psychosocial needs. This innovative approach addresses a critical gap in care during the pivotal early stages of human development.
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The program now covers approximately 20% of all births in Germany, operating across 88 hospitals and 32 private clinics in 12 states.
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Through successful advocacy efforts, he has influenced health ministries across multiple states to amend laws and allocate funding for Babylotse programs.
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Sönke envisions a comprehensive integration of the healthcare and social welfare systems to create a more efficient, user-centered, and responsive social welfare state in Germany. His goal is to restructure and unify systems, people, and resources to promote a holistic, prevention-oriented model of care rather than isolated crisis management.
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Christiana Bukalo
About Christiana
Christiana is pioneering the world's first community for and by stateless individuals, providing belonging, amplifying voices, and offering representation often denied due to citizenship status. By connecting grassroots empowerment with institutional change, she activates these groups to shift the societal perception that statelessness means 'rightlessness,' and champions the intrinsic human right to belong and engage in society.
The problem
Statelessness, which affects an estimated 15 million people, including more than half a million in Europe alone, can have serious consequences on all aspects of a person's life. They are deprived of legal protection, face daily risks of human rights violations, and are often barred from accessing basic services and rights, including healthcare, education, and lawful employment.
Impact
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As the first and only organization led by stateless people, Statefree put statelessness on the political agenda in Germany within a short period of time and is the go-to organization for expert knowledge on the issue in Europe.
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By creating unprecedented political representation and opportunities for participation for stateless persons, Christiana is transforming the narrative around stateless persons from victims of circumstances into active agents of change.
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Ultimately, Christiana strives to create a global movement that not only gives voice to the voiceless, but fosters a society where everyone can fully engage and shape their own paths.
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Mar Cabra
About Mar
Mar is spearheading a movement in the media sector, rallying a community of advocates for mental health to embed it as a fundamental value within the sector and among media professionals, thereby enhancing the quality of journalism.
The problem
Exacerbated by COVID-19, mental health has emerged as a significant challenge for journalists globally, exacerbated by longstanding unhealthy work narratives and practices within the industry. In 2022, over 60% of media professionals in countries like Canada, Spain, and Ecuador reported high anxiety levels, with one in five experiencing depression.
Impact
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Mar recognizes that addressing this threat to democracy's fourth pillar requires action from both journalists and media organizations.
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Mar is catalyzing change by activating newsrooms and cultivating a global community of Wellbeing Agents in the Media. This initiative aims to shift mindsets and foster a new culture of work across continents.
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Through an e-learning and community platform, Mar engages media professionals globally, offering inspiration and practical knowledge on prioritizing wellbeing and mental health at any time and from anywhere.
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Inspired by this approach, many professionals are now leading local communities of wellbeing advocates, providing support, networking opportunities, and strategies to foster workplace transformation.
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Maria Deskur
About Maria
Maria makes reading a public matter. Through The Universal Reading Foundation, Maria is advancing collaborative work with key stakeholders promoting reading as a powerful, yet underutilized, mechanism for shaping the future of resilient citizens and more equal, vibrant, and peaceful democracies.
The problem
Not reading is a powerful driver of social exclusion, while reading is essential for engaged democratic citizenship.
Impact
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Maria developed "The Seven Golden Rules" to promote reading and, through broad partnerships, reaches out to non-readers. In Poland, over 80% of 22,000 preschools participated in the "Superpower of Books" program.
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"Books Give Refuge" distributed over 200,000 Ukrainian books to 1,000 locations in Ukraine and Poland. The #ReadingRules campaign garnered 47 million views in its first month, in a country whose population is 38 million.
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Maria believes that popularizing reading requires the involvement of unexpected allies. This includes city presidents encouraging reading, pediatricians writing reading prescriptions, or an MMA fighter, and the head of a TV renovation crew promoting the "Daddy Also Reads" campaign. By offering easy engagement opportunities, Maria makes spreading the love of reading accessible to everyone.
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Lefteris Arapakis
About Lefteris
Lefteris is engaging fishers as solution stakeholders for tackling social and environmental aspects of ocean degradation. He promotes the sustainability of the marine environment by professionalizing the fishing sector and involving them in huge plastic collection expeditions. These programs to date involve multiple public and private stakeholders in redefining the plastics value chain for the whole Mediterranean Sea.
The problem
Oceans are in danger. Irresponsible fishing and overfishing are causing marine pollution. Environmental NGO’s and Mediterranean fishers have antagonistic positions, because many fishing techniques are not environmentally friendly.
Impact
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Lefteris' approach lies in transforming the role of fishers from being the cause of the problem to being agents of change. Enaleia fishers’ school trains new generations of fishers on sustainable fishing and income diversification.
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Enaleia also involves them in the largest and most effective marine cleanups with professional fishing vessels. These programs have already been implemented over Greek coast, Italy, Kenya, Spain and Cyprus.
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Enaleia collects nowadays, 25 tons of plastic per month, and its entire value chain is monitored through blockchain technology.
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In addition, clean-up programs also involve partners and companies that are interested in joining the plastic recycling and circular economy programs activated by Enaleia. Finally, the use of blockchain applied to collected plastics is Enaleia's tool for interacting with public decision-makers and informing them adequately of the waste life cycle.
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Olga Ślepowrońska
About Olga
The lives of caregivers of people with disabilities have often been reduced to helping others, neglecting their own needs and potential. Olga created a national network to support caregivers, empowering them and unlocking their potential.
The problem
Over two million people in Poland care for dependent family members without specific financial support or autonomy in their professional lives.
Impact
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Olga's comprehensive approach includes respite care, everyday logistics, and advocacy efforts. Mudita established a nationwide respite care network, fostering community and shared responsibility for supporting families with disabilities and normalizing caregivers' needs. This includes online support groups, helplines, and logistical support.
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These initiatives enable caregivers to actively participate in finding solutions and supporting one another, becoming changemakers in their own right.
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Mudita also activates another sector of caregiving: beauticians, massage therapists, hairdressers, etc. This community of professionals is activated as volunteers to care for the carers, giving them the opportunity to disconnect and get cared for.
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One of the volunteer beauticians shared, “I've got so much from them, and it's inspiring to see how well they're managing despite facing challenges.” Another not-so-obvious group involved in Mudita's activities are the caregivers of people with disabilities, who, having gained a space to act, are eager to get involved in the association's work by becoming volunteers but also employees.
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⚡ Changing systems to support everyone
Monica Boța-Moisin
About Monica
Monica pioneers the concept of “cultural intellectual property,” empowering indigenous and ethnic groups to safeguard traditional knowledge. Her framework fosters equitable partnerships with corporations, preserving cultural heritage and promoting biodiversity. By bridging cultural and environmental concerns, she champions sustainability amidst global challenges, reshaping narratives of preservation and partnership for a more inclusive future.
The problem
Monica addresses the neglect of Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Expressions by creating tools for indigenous and ethnic groups to protect their heritage.
Impact
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She introduces Cultural Intellectual Property, enabling communities to design their protection methods.
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Through the 3Cs Rule (Consent, Credit, Compensation), Monica facilitates fair partnerships with companies, empowering marginalized artisans. For example, a company that wants to use a traditional cultural expression in its product line would agree to using the 3Cs framework and engage the custodians of that cultural expression.
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By intertwining cultural and environmental concerns, she fosters sustainability and inclusivity, offering a new narrative in the global discourse on conservation and creativity. Using the 3Cs Rule she translates these concepts into local languages to explain community rights and agency.
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This framework fosters dialogues about new engagement rules, leading to international partnerships and grassroots-led tools. Monica ensures local communities can exercise self-determination in legally protecting their traditional knowledge and intangible cultural heritage.
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Fabio Gerosa
About Fabio
Fabio is making the transition to sustainable energy possible for NGOs. He enables these organisations to achieve their sustainability goals by changing their energy consumption habits to comply with environmental standards and expectations. In doing so, he is also realizing important financial savings, more than 13 million euros in tax deductions (bonuses), that NGOs can channel to their core social operations.
The problem
In Italy, NGOs operate in outdated and energy-intensive buildings. Their daily focus on assisting vulnerable populations leaves little capacity to address energy efficiency, which poses a significant financial burden. Moreover, they lack dedicated governmental programs and economic support for energy transition.
Impact
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Fabio advocates for NGOs in the energy transition, raising awareness among policymakers and advocating for their inclusion in national legislation for tax breaks and deductions on energy interventions.
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He developed an innovative methodology to strategically connect NGOs, communities, energy companies, and technical experts, facilitating both technical and social interventions.
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Through Fratello Sole, Fabio trains NGO managers and their beneficiaries to bridge the ecological divide and promote sustainable practices.
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Through Fabio's advocacy and research, national guidelines on energy efficiency for NGOs have been established. He has begun replicating this partnership model with other civil society entities under the concept of Energy Communities.
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Maciej Otrębski
About Maciej
Maciej has identified key levers in the food system of Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, driving innovation and adaptation across the production and distribution value chain of plant-based products. His efforts focus on improving human health and benefiting the environment.
The problem
Human health and our environment are desperately in need of a radical shift to a more plant-based diet.
Impact
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Maciej understands that accelerating this shift in Poland, and Eastern and Central Europe, requires innovation at each stage of the food system, from government policies to agricultural production, to food processing, and ultimately distribution and retail. To reach each of these critical levers, Maciej and his organization RoślinnieJemy, serve as a hub for providing critical information to key actors, and simultaneously triggering the co-creation of new networks, systems, and products to advance plant-based products.
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This pragmatic approach has made Maciej a key ally of industry and government, including dairy and meat producers who in theory might not seem inclined to support shifts to plant-based products.
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Ugo Vallauri
About Ugo
Ugo Vallauri is the connector and convener of a new European movement on electronic repair rights. He structured a coalition of over 100 community repair organizations to influence European policy makers to promote electrical and electronic repair regulation. In 2023 the coalition, led by Ugo, achieved the goal of legalizing the ‘right to repair’ in Europe.
The problem
E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream globally, with only 17.4% properly recycled. Reusing instead of just recycling is a more sustainable choice. The throwaway economy, strongly supported by electronics companies, makes affordable repairs difficult, posing a significant challenge for EU policymakers.
Impact
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Ugo's work focuses on community participation, campaigning, and raising public awareness. Restart Parties—events where fixers help repair devices—have been hosted across Europe.
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Ugo founded International Repair Day and the Open Repair Alliance, uniting over 100 repair organizations, which evolved into the European Right to Repair Campaign. He also led an open data strategy, providing a consistent database to inform public policy.
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This cultural shift engages communities in repair events, fostering a culture of sustainability and advocacy; builds a comprehensive repair knowledge base, enabling people to share and access repair information, reconstructing the "repair value chain" for over 100,000 categories; and mobilizes advocates to influence EU policymakers, pushing for regulations against e-waste and planned obsolescence.
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David Tišer
About David
David acknowledges the diversity within the Roma community, which has endured centuries of discrimination. Typically, non-Roma individuals lead efforts to address Roma issues, often focusing on the most vulnerable. David aims to change this narrative by targeting middle-class Roma individuals, seeking to shift perceptions and highlight their varied roles as artists, professionals, and contributors to society.
The problem
The Roma community, Europe's largest ethnic minority, has historically faced persecution and marginalization, leading to significant underrepresentation and negative stereotypes.
Impact
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David works to reshape societal perceptions by creating cultural spaces that highlight Roma in non-stereotypical roles. His strategic focus on middle-class Roma empowers them to embrace their identity and challenge prevailing narratives, fostering visibility and acceptance.
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This approach includes cultural promotion, leadership development, advocacy, and public sector training. His leadership academy enhances the skills and confidence of Roma NGO leaders. Through his advocacy efforts, he has secured new state funding for Roma organizations and established the Government Commissioner for Roma Minorities in Czechia.
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David positions Roma artists on national platforms such as television, festivals, and Pride community events to increase their visibility. This achieves two key goals: 1) inspiring middle-class Roma to take pride in their identity, and 2) changing public perception to see Roma as more than just a marginalized group in need of help. David’s organization functions as an agency for Roma artists, ensuring their presence on these national stages.
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Stephanie Brobbey
About Stephanie
The Good Ancestor Movement disrupts the mainstream private wealth industry by challenging traditional ideas about the economy, excessive wealth accumulation, tax minimisation, and resource and power redistribution. As the UK's first advisory firm dedicated to supporting individuals and organizations in radical wealth redistribution, they aim to transform how wealth is managed and shared.
The problem
Over the next 20-30 years, approximately £70 trillion is poised to transfer between generations, with £5.5 trillion in the UK alone. Concurrently, global wealth inequality escalates, with a minority amassing the largest concentrations of wealth. While extreme poverty draws considerable attention, less is focused on extreme wealth and its role in perpetuating global inequalities.
Impact
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The Good Ancestor Movement (GAM) addresses this root issue by reshaping norms and practices within the private wealth industry itself, challenging the concept and perpetuation of wealth.
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GAM is spearheading a movement to engage with wealth holders and their advisors to end wealth concentration. They advocate for wealth redistribution through private giving and fair tax contributions, and champion investment in the solidarity economy.
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Their strategy encompasses three core initiatives: a consultancy guiding clients on wealth redistribution goals, the Reimagining Wealth Programme to educate wealth holders, and a Community of Practice uniting wealth practitioners and stakeholders to redefine wealth advisory practices. Together, they aim to establish a new paradigm for equitable wealth management and distribution.
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Koen Timmers
About Koen
Koen identified a significant lack of accessible climate education. Through Take Action Global (TAG), he is spearheading a global educational movement involving students and teachers to reform climate change curricula in schools worldwide. By connecting local climate initiatives with global empathy-building efforts, Koen aims to inspire meaningful change on a global scale.
The problem
Quality education on climate change remains accessible to only a handful of schools globally, despite its far-reaching negative impacts affecting billions.
Impact
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Recognizing this disparity, Koen realized that fostering local awareness and facilitating global peer exchange could enhance youth understanding of this complex challenge. He initiated an educational movement leveraging technology to create a global, action-oriented learning experience connecting students and teachers, enabling them to share ideas and strategies for addressing climate change.
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To date, over 3.4 million students and 21,000 teachers have participated in this educational journey, empowering students worldwide to pursue their own climate change initiatives.
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Using methods such as collaborative learning, learning-by-doing and playful learning, the curriculum, translated into 14 languages, makes the subject accessible to young people aged 6 to 22. Students also can connect with peers in other parts of the world by visiting partner schools to understand the impact of climate change on their local environment. At the end of the six weeks, students present concrete projects to improve the environment in their area, with the presentations broadcast globally to share emerging solutions.
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Martin Loučka
About Martin
Martin has created a new way to engage, inform, and build bridges in Czechia’s healthcare ecosystem to accelerate the standardization of compassionate, evidence-based end-of-life care. His Center prioritizes scientific research and data collection on the needs and desires of terminally ill patients, using this knowledge to drive stakeholders to institutionalize patient-centered best practices.
The problem
Although Czechia now has a good network of hospices, the adoption of palliative care best practices in hospitals, GP offices, and care homes has been slow due to the challenges posed by the legacy of communism.
Impact
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Martin’s Center has published over 50 research studies targeted at physicians and other healthcare professionals, often co-authored by international experts. The Center also offers palliative care training for healthcare professionals, informed by its research, with around 2,500 participants attending these courses annually.
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He also engages the general public through communication campaigns that aim to normalize conversations about death among families and friends. Additionally, Martin has introduced the concept of "life check-ups," encouraging people to take stock of their lives and reflect on whether they are truly living the life they want.
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To date, seven medical schools, eight hospices, 26 hospitals, and 30 care homes have integrated these best practices thanks to Martin’s insights. Additionally, the Ministry of Health’s initiatives in this area are informed by the Center’s approach.
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Federico Armenteros
About Federico
For generations, LGBTQ+ seniors have been invisible and unable to safely create a community. Federico is changing the mindset that has kept this system in place, by putting LGBTQ+ seniors in charge of building new opportunities for themselves to co-create and lead their best, authentic lives.
The problem
Despite gradual legal and cultural shifts towards inclusivity, LGBTIQ+ seniors remain largely invisible, leading to a lack of supportive policies and resources. This results in a higher proportion of LGBTQ+ seniors living alone and significantly higher suicide rates.
Impact
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Drawing from his own experiences with age and gender diversity discrimination, Federico is creating spaces at community, private, and government levels to ensure the integration and self-identification of LGBTIQ+ seniors. He aims to align laws and public regulations with a new model of inclusive longevity, fostering a supportive environment for healthy and active aging.
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At the core of his strategy is connecting LGBTQ+ seniors with their closest environment, including family and community members. He creates safe drop-in spaces embedded in the local socio-cultural fabric, where different generations can interact and collaborate.
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Federico does so through community centers' activities led by young volunteers, both seniors and youth discover, discuss, and initiate projects. This enables the elderly to contribute to local activities while the youth learn from their wisdom and experiences, fostering intergenerational understanding and support.
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Sam Rosenzweig & Maxime Zaït
About Sam & Maxime
Sam and Maxime founded Communa to address the growing problem of vacant buildings and expensive housing in Europe. They introduced "Temporary Use with a Social Purpose" (TUSP), which consists of temporarily using vacant office or housing buildings, owned by private or public actors, to serve local communities’ and especially vulnerable populations’ needs.
The problem
Across Europe, more and more buildings are becoming vacant, while it is becoming increasingly expensive to rent and live in them. These developments exclude a growing number of people in precarious housing situations in urban areas and have led to an increase in illegal occupation of buildings.
Impact
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Communa has worked with 20 buildings, provided housing for 1,000 refugees and 200 homeless people, and enabled more than 250 social organisations to set up or operate in their spaces.
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They are increasingly building international networks to spread their TUSP model to like-minded actors and to advise cities on how to deal effectively with abandoned or empty urban spaces.
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By collaborating with public and private landowners and using temporary occupancy as an experimental phase, they aim to shape final plans for vacant buildings, demonstrating their potential long-term uses.
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Marine Calmet
About Marine
Marine is cultivating a new generation of environmental advocates through her initiative, Wild Legal. She simplifies and promotes the Rights of Nature, a growing legal field, by providing law students with practical experience through mock trials on real cases. As the rights of nature legal framework gains momentum, Marine is preparing a cadre of professionals ready to implement this transformative legal system designed to protect the environment.
The problem
Marine aims to redefine the legal framework governing the relationship between humanity and nature, moving beyond the Western utilitarian approach that overlooks planetary limitations.
Impact
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Marine uses the Rights of Nature movement to foster a new legal system ensuring environmental preservation. Through Wild Legal, Marine produces accessible tools like books, activities, conferences, and trainings to prepare young lawyers to become guardians of natural entities once they are granted rights.
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Marine also effectively engages policymakers, participating in the Citizen Convention for the Climate and drafting law proposals with French Parliament members. Her efforts as an expert advisor have raised awareness of ecocide, advocating for its recognition as a criminal offense.
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This shift in thinking involves empathizing with natural entities by viewing them as subjects entitled to universal rights, rather than mere objects for human use, disregarding their safety. She engages law students who are interested in the emerging field of Rights of Nature law.
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Eric Duverger
About Eric
With the Convention des Entreprises pour le Climat (in English, the Business Convention for Climate), Eric is building a new community of visionary business leaders, willing to reach prosperity by combining a heightened consciousness of global challenges and connection to their inner purposes. His ultimate goal is to achieve a mindset shift among corporate leaders to establish the regenerative economy model as the prevailing and irresistible standard.
The problem
Recognizing the pivotal role that companies play in confronting the climate crisis, Eric's strategy involves enlisting influential business leaders in an experience aimed at transforming their mindsets.
Impact
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CEC training and workshop sessions are grounded in two objectives. The first is to facilitate a deep self-examination among participants, fostering a receptive mindset primed for embracing transformative change. The second centers on the establishment of a balance between economic viability and environmental sustainability within their business and leadership practices, built upon the principles of a regenerative economy. So far, 300 top leaders have been on a transformative journey towards adopting regenerative practices.
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The initiative's influence has expanded significantly to encompass several regions within France. As of August 2023, there are five active cohorts. This extension owes much to the enthusiastic engagement of former participants who, having completed the program, tapped into their changemaking spirit beyond their own companies, and chose to contribute as volunteers to the CEC's growth.
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Their involvement takes various forms, including program development, financial support, or sharing best practices with other organizations. This commitment underscores the far-reaching effects CEC generates. In total, the ripple effect has touched the lives of around 300,000 employees.
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