“We all depend on healthy ecosystems for food and energy, water and biodiversity. Their continued degradation contributes to climate change and enhances the risk of severe ecological disasters. Widespread loss of function in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will be catastrophic for our planet and a huge setback on progress made towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It’s time to rebuild what has been lost.”
(United Nations, Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030)
Ashoka Fellows are already making waves in the environmental field - with the right support we can turn the tide. Weaving for a Thriving Planet is a new Ashoka program, co-created with Ashoka Fellows and let by Ashoka the Netherlands. The aim is to accelerate and scale Ashoka Fellows’ systemic solutions to conserve and restore biodiversity by leveraging the potential of their innovations and weave them together to increase their collective impact.
We will:
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Identify 20-30 Fellows with community-based innovations in conservation and restoration of aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and accelerate and scale their solutions by matching their needs with resources;
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Connect them and build powerful coalitions around them - bridging the gap between local communities, the change agents on the ground, with foundations, investors, corporations and high-level institutions like the United Nations, World Bank, World Economic Forum and the EU;
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Develop collective strategies to share networks and best practices, raise more funds, build a strong story and work towards frame change in education and policy making through advocacy (giving communities a voice).
In five years' time:
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We created a sharing platform for community-based innovations to fight biodiversity loss (more knowledge shared);
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We scaled 20-30 successful solutions of Ashoka Fellows (more biodiversity conserved and restored);
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We closed the gap between changemakers on the ground and foundations, investors, corporations and big institutions (more collaboration established between levels);
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We increased collective impact (created a shared story, more funds raised, influenced education and policymaking)
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We aim to officially launch the program in 2021 at the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. In 2022 we envision to organize a Global Transformation Summit with all engaged stakeholders.
2020-2021 focus:
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September – December 2020: Preparational phase to form the co-creation team, interviewing and selecting Fellows participants, assessing needs and low hanging fruits to scale impact.
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Year 1 Pilot: January – August 2021: Connecting and Aligning
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1. Online platform - Creating a sharing platform where these social innovators and their stakeholders can share networks, best practices, concepts and tools and where needs can be matched with resources
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2. Online Weaving - program Aligning the selected Ashoka Fellows and their stakeholders towards a common North Star, and train them for developing collaborative strategies
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3. Collaborating on strategies - Forming Collaborative Action Teams around Community-based innovation, Fundraising, Impact Measurement, Storytelling, Advocacy, Education and Policymaking.
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Are you interested in partnerning with us?
Reach out to Noa Lodeizen, Director Ashoka Netherlands