Changemakers is changing. Through the new Changeshops platform, we now offer improved ways to help build the world of social good. Changeshops users will be able to tell the online community what they need to grow their projects; search for collaborators, innovators, and competitions in the field; and access funding opportunities for world-changing ideas.
The Changeshops community is growing each day; to get a preview of what might be in store, Changemakers is catching up with a few of the platform’s top users.
For today’s interview, we sat down with James Waruiru, whose work focuses on girls’ development in the bustling cosmopolitan area of Kiambu County, which borders Kenya’s capital and largest city, Nairobi. In Kiambu, Waruiru provides poor and marginalized girls and women with health education, including information on the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS, as well as sanitary towels and undergarments.
Waruiru talked to Changemakers about his experience of opening a changeshop, his first impression of the platform, and about the $500 grant he won.
Changemakers: What motivated you to join Changeshops?
Waruiru: I first learned of Ashoka Changemakers from a competition alert on Funds for NGOs. From the time I visited your website to learn about your mission, I was so excited to follow your activities and stories. Changemakers is more than an organization focused on funding social activities; I see Changemakers as the bone marrow or blood in the life of social actors and their interventions.
Changeshops, the platform, is where ideas and dreams are nurtured and revised into capable solutions that can transform lives. I would say that it is the best thing that can happen to social actors, especially to small and new players in social work.
Changemakers: What are your initial impressions of the platform?
Waruiru: I did not expect much at first—I thought it was just another social platform, so I was reluctant even to join. But when I created my changeshop, I discovered it was actually fun to use and a great tool for collaboration. And, more importantly, it opened my work in Kiambu to feedback, critique, and advice, and it gave me a chance to connect with people who can help my idea grow. In addition, I can even offer myself as a resource to help others.
Changemakers: Late last year, you were recognized as one of the five top beta users, winning a prize of $500. How did you invest the grant?
Waruiru: The money came in very timely. We normally get very little cash support and so it is always a dilemma dealing with fiscal debts. We rely mostly on what we collect locally in material. We invested the cash in paying for office rent for three months that we had a deficit and invested some cash in sanitary towels program. We love this project, but sometime we find ourselves in a tight situation when we are short on supplies—how are you supposed to tell someone in need of your services to wait?
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