What's special about the Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2022?

Article by: Ellen Hietsch 

Decisions. What decisions do we make when faced with a rapidly changing world? How can we ensure the choices we make are based on values for the good of all?

This year’s concept is precisely that, decisions, as we connect and mobilize our community in the heart of European and global decision-making: Brussels. 

Here are five reasons why we believe the 2022 Changemaker Summit will be particularly special:

1. We're back in person

At last year’s Changemaker Summit, Ashoka Europe’s Director, Marie Ringler, highlighted the resilience of social entrepreneurs in their reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though about half experienced a reduction in funding, the emergency also provided many social entrepreneurs with inspiration toward developing new ideas.

Now that we can once again meet in person, we have the chance to share these pandemic-driven ideas. Between the Ashoka Changemaker Summit and the greater Belgium Impact Week of which it is a part, Brussels will become a hub of social entrepreneurs coming together to collaborate on building a better world.

2. The opportunity to enable changemakers in our own communities

Just as Ashoka Fellow Neo Hutiri stresses the importance of sharing knowledge across different spheres as opposed to limiting it to one small sector of a community, activating changemakers is not just limited to two days and one location.

Well after the final sessions of the Changemaker Summit have ended, the Ashoka community will be taking the knowledge they’ve gained and using it to activate others as changemakers in their own communities. These are 11 strategies that they’ll be using, as reflected in this year’s Unlonely Planet report.

3. The chance to imagine a post-covid world together

When describing anti-surveillance activists, Ashoka Fellow Albert Fox Cahn re-envisions a crisis as an opportunity to mobilize and push forward ideas for a more just world. Now that the “new normal” has arrived, we have the chance to do this in the context of Covid-19.

During the worst of the pandemic, we saw that it was possible to do things differently. We also saw that many aspects of our societies can still be improved. Now is the chance to use the momentum of a global crisis to mobilize changemakers; making good revelations permanent and taking action on what needs to be improved. 

4. Close proximity to decision-making processes

Ashoka Fellow Alberto Alemanno's work is based in the belief that citizens can influence the public sector. Leading social innovators work through a variety of channels to put changemaking into action, including the public sector. Surrounded by high-level EU institutions, the Changemaker Summit’s location in Brussels provides us with the opportunity to better understand decision-making processes within this vital area. 

5. The ability to learn from diverse individuals

The ‘everyone’ in Everyone a Changemaker is not achievable without a deliberate commitment to inclusion. This is not just an ideal, but a necessity for successful changemaking if it is to have a reach beyond the most privileged. According to Ashoka Fellow Tatiana Fraser, the privileged environment from which discussions about systems change arise heightens the need to listen and shift resources across different communities. 

Intrigued? Ticket sales for the 2022 Ashoka Changemaker Summit in Brussels are now open. Buy yours today to learn, connect and celebrate.