Empathy and Young Changemaking

Young changemakers play a critical role in Ashoka’s global movement to tip society to an everyone a changemaker world — a world where each person can contribute fully to positive change.

They serve as examples for our partners and larger community for the new definition of success in growing up: having an idea, building a team, and changing your world.

Together with our partners, we are on the forefront of a movement to redefine success in growing up and to inspire every young person to become a Changemaker.

One hundred years ago, accelerating change had reached the point that society needed everyone to be literate.

Now society needs everyone to be ready to thrive in a world of constant, rapid, exponential change as a skilled Changemaker.

It needs every young person, parent, and educator to grasp this new paradigm for success in growing up — and in life.

~ Ashoka Founder and CEO Bill Drayton

In our 21st century world (a world defined by rapid change), societies around the world are becoming confronted by an increasing number of complex challenges and opportunities.

If solutions are to outpace problems in this world, it will require effective collaboration between people, as well as the ability to organize into fluid teams-of-teams. So that every player is set up to become a contributor, a leader, a Changemaker.

Impactful collaboration in such a world is only possible with empathy: the ability to understand and respond to the feelings of others. In a Changemaker world, empathy becomes as fundamental as reading, writing and math. This creates a new social imperative for societies worldwide to ensure that every child fully develops their own innate capacity for empathy.

Ashoka's Initiatives in Empathy and Young Changemaking

Active Programs

Ashoka’s programs support changemaking in young people, adults, organizations, and companies. Engage with our dedicated programs today to help advance an “Everyone a Changemaker” world:

Ashoka Young Changemakers

Ashoka Young Changemakers (AYC) is a global network of powerful young people who are creating an Everyone A Changemaker world

Ashoka Changemakers

Ashoka Changemakers is building a global movement where anyone, anywhere, can take action to solve a social problem in in their community. We work to build this movement by supporting social entrepreneurs, innovators, business leaders, policy makers, and activists who are changemaking, by delivering...

Ashoka Youth Venture

Our vision is of an Everyone a Changemaker society, where every young person has the confidence, ability, and support to be a changemaker for the good of all.

Ashoka U

Ashoka U is working at an institutional level to make a difference in the education of millions of students, building on Ashoka’s vision for a world where Everyone is a Changemaker. We collaborate with colleges and universities to break down barriers to institutional change and foster a campus-wide...

We no longer run the Changemaker Campus and Changemaker Schools programs and are not adding Changemaker Campuses or Schools to our network. But our worldwide network of schools and campuses are still leading the way as the premier models of Changemaking within educational institutions.

Click below to learn about our historic Changemaker Campus and Changemaker Schools Programs, and explore the network of Changemaker Campuses and Changemaker Schools:

Ashoka Changemaker Schools

From 2010 to 2016, Ashoka elected primary and secondary schools around the world who had a track record of enabling their students to become changemakers—young people who have the skills and confidence to change the world for the good of all. Even as we no longer elect Changemaker Schools at the...

Ashoka Changemaker Campus

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Helping changemakers be powerful and safe

Find out how we keep young people in our community safe so that they can fully step into their power as changemakers

How Ashoka Engages Young People