By Johnson Adebowale
A global organisation that supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, Ashoka, has launched the Everyone a Changemaker (EACH) movement in Nigeria.
It is to be implemented in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Yola.
It is targeted at a connected ecosystem of influential institutions, leaders, and actors in a region, who are collaborating and co-creating innovative strategies that foster and support the next generation of change makers in their communities.
The organisation, as gathered, has also started the selection panel for Ashoka Young Changemakers (AYC) in Nigeria. The AYC programme is a selected network of young people under the age of 21 who demonstrate inspirational leadership in their communities by creating innovative solutions, leading a team to implement their change-making ideas, and are ready to take on the role of youth influencers, peer allies and co-leaders.
The programme is tailored to provide an enabling ecosystem for young change makers to thrive by connecting them to change-making tools, opportunities, and supportive networks.
As the selection panel for the programme begins, Ashoka has convened various stakeholders, including Ashoka fellows, NextGen leaders, media, government institutions, teachers, parents and others critical in establishing and building a strong ecosystem for partnerships and opportunities for collaboration for the young change makers.
A recent report by the British Council revealed that there could be more than 443,000 citizen-led solutions in Nigeria.
The regional director, Ashoka Africa, Josephine Nzerem, said: “At Ashoka, we recognize the imperious need to inspire change and activate the mindset among young people who make up the greatest percentage of this country’s population. One of the ways we achieve this is by reimagining the growing up years of children and young people and the factors that influence them and can inspire a shift in mindsets, change in attitudes, and empower young people to be the drivers of change in their communities.”
Also contributing, empathy leader, Ashoka Africa Children and Empathy, Angelou Ezeilo, stated: “To achieve a greater impact and shift everyone in our society into the new reality, every stakeholder needs to have a better understanding of the role they can play to help young people step out boldly and implement their change-making ideas. It is a call for co-leadership, collaboration, and coordinated efforts on the part of the government, citizens, social entrepreneurs, the private sector, funders and investors.
“Change makers are in the business of disrupting systems and creating better ones no matter the challenges they encounter. We are determined to connect the young entrepreneurs we have identified to resources, materials, tools, opportunities, and partnerships that will help them scale their ideas for social change and empowerment for a better Nigeria.”
She added that change making must become the new norm so that old systems become self-correcting as they will be managed by empathetic people who care for the good of all.
In the weeks leading up to the launch, Ashoka also held media dialogues on the “Role of the Media as Champions and Co-leaders of the EACH Movement” aimed at sensitizing the media to its role in informing, educating, and inspiring the change-making mindset shift of billions of people across the world.
With the theme: “Everyone a Changemaker” the week-long series of events promises to witness the commitment of the Lagos State government to the scheme’s framework as well as showcase the power of change makers who have led change from an early age and the impacted their communities. The young champions will be matched with strategic partners, NextGen leaders, Ashoka fellows and other cross-cutting connections for spreading the movement.
Beyond Lagos and the six metro areas where the EACH movement will be implemented, Ashoka and the co-leaders will delve into other countries in Africa like Kenya, South Africa and Senegal.