You are a current or former Ashoka Employee with direct experience delivering or participating in the Changemaker’s Challenge product.
Yes
Will you be 18 or older by the application deadline of the Challenge?
Yes
You consent to the use or implementation of your idea in future Changemaker Challenges without credition or monetary renumeration beyond the possible initial prize of the “Challenge 2050” Challenge.
Yes
You agree to the "Challenge 2050” Challenge terms and conditions.
Yes
Preferred Name
Ana
Which Ashoka Team are/were you a part of?
Changemakers
If you chose other, please indicate that team here.
Which country are you base in?
United States
How are you applying to this Challenge?
Desktop 🖥️
Idea Name
The Power of Local: Incorporating In-Person Engagement and Programming
Project Summary: Describe your contribution in one sentence
The Power of Local, inspired by a recent Challenge's name, aims to harness the energy and excitement of in-person Summits and embed in-person engagements throughout the Challenge process.
Challenge Focus: What topic does your idea most directly relate to?
Design - a new or different way for how we source, select and engage; Or a completely new design for what Challenges can be.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve?
I’ve been lucky enough to attend multiple in-person Summits and witness the energy and inspiration that the events inspire. When young changemakers get to meet each other, exchange ideas, and share space with one another, powerful things happen. But some finalists, not to mention challenge participants or general applicants, never get a chance to meet others in person. Because of staff capacity, logistical hurdles, and budgets, not every Challenge is offered a Summit or in-person chances to engage with one another. Additionally, Challenges can have target audiences across the U.S. or the globe, so it makes it hard to plan out events that can be accessible to everyone.
Your Idea: What is your idea for re-imagining Changemaker Challenges? Share your specific approach.
My idea is to fully integrate in-person engagements into Changemaker Challenges. If there was a budget set aside in partnerships specifically for in-person events or opportunities at every step of the Challenge, participation and impact could be greatly increased. What if we could do outreach and info sessions not just on social media, but in classrooms and community centers? While staff and judges are deliberating on winners, what if we had in-person reviewing sessions, like Peer World Cafes? And for the Winners, if an in-person Summit wasn’t in reach, what if we could connect them with local Ashoka offices and invite them for a tour or the next event that office is putting on? By utilizing our wide-ranging network of both Ashoka officers and Fellows, we could connect with applicants and winners on a more personal level, and really invite them into the Ashoka fold.
Your Inspiration: What inspired your solution? Feel free to reference competitors, or other techniques or technologies.
One of the most impactful days I had working on the Time for Change Challenge 2024 was when we Zoomed an entire 3rd grade class per a teacher’s request: we gave information on the Challenge but mostly focused on the young people. What issues do you want to solve in your community? The answers from students flew by in the chat, and we got to learn about each student’s passion: animal welfare, homelessness, food insecurity. By doing more awareness-raising work in promoting the challenge, we could unlock ideas and reach potential applicants that might not already be plugged into the youth activity/advocacy world.
The Impact: How will your idea benefit Changemaker Challenge design or delivery?
Hosting more in-person events, from outreach to winners’ celebrations, will help solidify Ashoka and Changemakers as true allies and people who are activity participating in changemaking spaces, not just orchestrating everything from the sidelines. In-person events will no doubt take a lot of staff time and effort, but what if we could harness network partners as well as Ashoka country offices: if a Challenge is U.S.-wide, we could host events at the global office in Arlington, but also connect young people with network partners’ events or workshops around the country. Focusing on in-person events could thus strengthen our networks and underscore the value Changemaker Challenges brings to both applicants and Ashoka as a whole.
Your Passion: What do you love about Changemaker Challenges?
I love that Challenges source so many incredible ideas and can provide a sense of what innovators in the field are doing. Personally, it's really inspiring to be able to view so many changemakers' ideas and get to intimately know about solutions being implemented in our world today - it's such a breath of fresh air from the news cycle and doomscrolling. I also feel very humbled that Challenges seem to really validate changemakers' work - the feedback from participants is priceless, and I think being associated with Ashoka and our programming is really meaningful for them. Challenges helps me gain perspective and highlight truly incredible people and their work.
How many Challenges have you participated in?
Between 2 and 4
