Ashoka (Belgium)
Ashoka is the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs and has worked for 40 years in 92 countries to promote and enable long-lasting social change and sustainable development. Ashoka’s “Changemaker Education” vision is based on a hypothesis that, to face a world where there is constant change and growing environmental, social and economic challenges, it is necessary that every young person perceives themselves as a changemaker, an actor and protagonist of social change. This "Changemaker Education” is a transformative paradigm, based on the principles of relevance and quality, inclusion and diversity, lifelong learning, wellbeing and health, as well as environmental protection and sustainable development.
In 2020/2021, the Eurofins Foundation provided a grant to the Ashoka Youth for Change’s project in Belgium, a 16-month accompaniment journey for 20 young people aged 12 to 19 from diverse backgrounds in Belgium. Young Changemakers are supported to develop their innovative projects, which address social challenges in areas such as environmental protection, health and nutrition, strengthening local communities and fighting poverty and exclusion through youth empowerment and education, etc.
Ashoka’s methodology revolves around three actions:
- Identify and engage: Ashoka gathered 100 nominators who, in turn, identified 30 Young people, out of whom they selected 10, from different backgrounds, ages, and places in Belgium. Various meetings were organised with Ashoka Fellow Bart Weetjes, following the Tree of Ashoka methodology, to help these Young Changemakers build their projects and develop their public speaking and change-making skills.
- Connect and support: Ashoka connected young people to their network and started the personal coaching phase with experts and Fellows. For example, Young Changemaker Noor Van Reet worked on the topic of wellbeing and mental health with youngsters. Her project convinced the Parliament of the French Community (Belgium) to organise a two-day workshop with experts to advance this issue.
- Communicate and advocate: Ashoka is working on creating a short film about Young Changemakers. They are working with radio stations and journalists to offer Young Changemakers airtime, develop podcasts and write stories about the impact they are making. Ashoka is also planning to provide space in the political sphere, especially for young fellow Noor, who wants to scale her mental health solution to all the Flemish schools in Belgium.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation provided additional support to Ashoka’s programme, thus contributing to creating a community of young changemakers in Belgium and raising awareness within other youth organisations.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
