Changemaking Leadership

What is Changemaking Leadership?

Leading social entrepreneurs organize as networks and communities to mobilize ecosystems for change. They create the conditions for others to be changemakers at all levels. We can practice leadership that ignites the changemaker potential of others, builds open and fluid organizations, and unfolds collective power.

The Invitation

We see that if we are ever going to solve the complex challenges ahead of us – from climate change, to racial and gender inequity, and more - we need to build on the leadership and changemaking capacity that exists within each and every one of us. In order to understand the complex leadership structures, systems, culture, and behaviour, that are needed to create this kind of leadership - we are launching this invite-only initiative, as we seek to bring us closer to relevant, practical and high-quality learning and support.  

INSPIRE: We convene Communities of Learning where people, stories and projects interact, intersect, and test assumptions to learn the cutting-edge lessons on what it takes to put changemaking leadership into practice.  

PEER LEARNING: We then use the session for the community to connect with each other and surface their questions and challenges around changemaking leadership to help us enhance or develop our own structures towards enhancing the leadership of others. 

This initiative will be a convening of multiple weekly sessions launching in April for 2 hours each inviting Ashoka Fellows, young changemakers and other leading social change leaders highlighting specific case studies about what changemaking leadership looks like in-practice. 

HOW WILL WE USE THE LEARNINGS FROM THESE SESSIONS?  

  • Share practical insights into what changemaking leadership is and looks like – and what makes it possible – how it creates impact that is equitable, scalable, sustainable etc.  

  • Package and design co-learning spaces for leaders that want to transition, deepen, or strengthen their changemaking leadership to allow for collective impact and systems change  

  • Increased visibility by position Ashoka Fellow & Ashoka Young Changemaker organizations as leaders and experts in changemaking leadership through their experience – through knowledge products, events, and communications campaigns. 

Join the Action Learning Hub

Ashoka Fellows, Ashoka Fellow team members, Ashoka Young Changemakers, Ashoka Changemaker School Leaders: This module is for you, if:

  • you want to explore practices and lessons
  • you are keen to connect with some of the most innovative social entrepreneurs and experts to co-learn / co-create systems change strategies.

Ashoka Support Network (ASN) Members, Ashoka Partners, other Change Leaders (including from businesses, funders, intermediaries, etc.): This module is for you, if you;

  • want to implement systems change strategies to your own project, to your organization, in your own field / industry to scale your impact.
  • want to connect to leading social entrepreneurs.
  • want to establish connections to key-players in the field of systems change.
  • want to implement systems change strategies in your own field / industry to scale your impact.

Ashoka Staff: This module is for you, if:

  • you want to actively support the Ashoka community to aim for systems change.

Meet the Module Leads

staff person

Michela Fenech

Program Co-leader

staff person

Michela Fenech

Program Co-leader

Michela Fenech co-created and co-leads the Ashoka Europe Fellowship program including the New Leadership & Wellbeing Co-Learning Modules. She also co-facilitated the development of the newly established Elders Council for Social Entrepreneurs. Michela is interested in creating transformational spaces that explore and support questions on the leadership and wellbeing for system change and collaboration. She has also done Theory U Facilitation course, the power of Embodied Transformation and has started her coaching journey through NeuroSemantics. She is also a Team Co-Lead for the Ashoka Globalizer Program, Ashoka's leading accelerator for system change strategies.

Shafat Khan

Shafat Khan

Program Co-leader

Shafat Khan

Shafat Khan

Program Co-leader

Shafat is a partnerships manager at Ashoka, based in London, stewarding a thriving network of leading social entrepreneurs, young changemakers, business leaders, donors, supporters, and partner organisations. Shafat is a storyteller who has a background in building programs to activate changemaking journeys, facilitating ideation sessions, marketing and communications having worked at various startup organisations. He led his own sustainable clothing brand and is extremely passionate about human rights within supply chains. Shafat grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh and holds a certification on Systems Change and Social Impact from The University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business and Bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia. Prior to being on the UK & Ireland team, Shafat worked at the Ashoka Global HQ.

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