Whilst Ashoka has been supporting its Fellows over the last four decades, we have also seen a profound transformation in the dynamics of the world around them. Change began to accelerate. What used to take centuries now takes decades, and what used to take decades now takes years. Trying to fix broken systems involves new challenges to embrace these complex and ever-changing dynamics. For all the great work of social entrepreneurs, we cannot rely on them alone to create the scale of solutions now needed. Indeed, to achieve the necessary scale, we need everyone to step up. This is how Ashoka defines its strategy as we enter this new world – Everyone a Changemaker™.

Ashoka UK and Ireland has worked for over 15 years to support outstanding social innovators with transformative solutions to social issues and now focuses on the following areas:    

Searching, selecting, and supporting UK and Ireland’s leading social entrepreneurs 

For those elected as Fellows, Ashoka provides tailored lifetime support to scale their solutions’ impact. This ranges from initial monetary support, in the form of a stipend for up to three years, to strategic advice from a global network of peers, experts, and key decision-makers. Learn more about The Ashoka Fellowship programme and how you can get involved. 

Enabling our society to embrace social innovation and changemaking 

In the last 40 years, we have not only built the world’s largest community of leading social entrepreneurs but also continued to build and empower the field of social entrepreneurship. At the heart of this effort has always been the commitment to make systems change the central goal of social entrepreneurship. Learn more about our work in promoting systems change across sectors and how you can get involved. 

Activating all young people to be changemakers 

Our mission is to trigger a shift in mindsets across the learning ecosystem in the UK and Ireland so that the experience of education empowers every young person to be a changemaker. Our approach to achieving this is to find, connect and organise social innovators, government, foundations, thought leaders and young people themselves that are already pioneering the field of changemaking. And then, to organise these communities to lead initiatives which eventually tip ecosystems toward a future in which every young person is becoming a changemaker. Here are some examples of young changemakers.