You want to be heard with your concerns and get a stage for your ideas? You want to strengthen your self-confidence, acquire new skills and become part of a young community where you can learn from each other? The international organization Ashoka has launched the new youth program Generation Changemaker (GenC) to support you on your journey to drive impactful change.
Become a GenC Changemaker
✅ You are empathetic, team-oriented, courageous, and motivated.
✅ You are between 14 and 24 years old and live in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or Austria.
✅ You have already engaged in positive change in your environment or would like to start now.
✅ You want to get a stage with your concerns and be part of an inspiring community to make a difference together.
Become one of Ashoka's GenC Changemakers and join the new cohort of 2024!
We support young people aged 14-24 in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria who are committed to the common good.
What makes the GenC youth programme special:
1️⃣ Resources and formats from the world of Ashoka and its partner organizations that cater to the needs of young Changemakers, supporting them on their personal journey (and giving them a stage to be heard).
2️⃣ Together, we aim to change the public perception of young people by recognizing them as experts and taking their concerns seriously, while sharing their diverse life stories, experiences, and ideas with a wide audience.
3️⃣ The international NGO Ashoka is represented throughout Europe and has strong partnerships with organizations that work together with young people, thus enabling a cross-boarder network where participants can meet young Changemakers and learn from each other.
For further questions, feel free to contact Alina from the GenC team at [email protected]
The three Pillars of GenC
Peer-to-Peer Gatherings
We organize meetings, discussion rounds, and online workshops where you can exchange ideas with young individuals as well as experienced experts from various industries. There, you can make valuable connections and learn from and with young Changemakers.
Changemaker Weekend
At this unforgettable weekend, you will get to know each other better and reflect in various workshops on how you can make the world a better place. You will share your personal experiences and support each other in advancing your engagement.
What happened at the Changemaker Weekend in September 2023?
We share your diverse stories, experiences, and ideas to a wide audience. We provide you with a stage to make your voices heard, expand your network, and give you the opportunity to discuss your thoughts with decision-makers in your country. We want the public to become aware of your concerns and perceive you as valuable Changemakers!
What do young people need to implement their ideas for a better world?
As the kickoff of the GenC project, we launched a survey with our partner organization YEP Austria. Over 1000 young people (aged 14-20) participated in the process from May to July 2023, providing exciting insights into their needs and desires. The survey responses were incorporated into YEP's youth report and form the basis for the GenC program.
The youth report shows that 90% of young people have ideas for a better world, however, not all of them have been able to take the first steps to implement their ideas (yet). With GenC, we aim to change that!
Together, we are working towards a Changemaker world for everyone!
At our community events and discussion rounds, we bring together young Changemakers (as well as those who want to become one) to exchange ideas with each other and with experienced experts from various industries. We aim to strengthen mutual understanding and encourage equal communication - across age and national boundaries.
At previous events, we've explored questions such as: What is a Changemaker? What do young people need to implement their ideas for a better world? What do I want to change?
Young Changemakers on stage! Just like at the 4GAMECHANGERS Festival in Vienna
At the panel discussion "Turning ideas into action: empowering youth to become changemakers" at the 4GAMECHANGER Festival in Vienna, moderated by Stephanie Cox (Children and Youth Lead for Austria, Switzerland & Liechtenstein, Ashoka), young Changemakers Asal Rahmany (student and Caritas Mutfluencer) and Sophie Drescher (founder of GREEN, winner of the NEXT GENERATION idea competition) shared their stories with Austrian Minister of Justice Alma Zadic. And that was just the start. We help you to tell your stories, ideas, and visions. You are experts - and we want the world to know that!
But what is a "changemaker"? ?
"Young changemakers recognise problems and work on solutions. They take a stand against bullying at school, start a campaign against food waste, organise a march for climate justice or form an organisation to improve society. They feel empowered to stand up for the world."
What young changemaking means for Ashoka ➡️
"I think in the past we told young people that this was the job of adults and that it couldn't be done by themselves. But that's not true. Young people can really change the world and we have to believe in them."
Matine Khalighi
Co-founder of "Helping the Homeless Colorado" and "Ashoka Young Changemaker" ➡️
"Start small by looking at the environments around you in your everyday life and think about what you can do to improve them. Once you've identified a problem, take some time to find the spot where your skills and passions work together - and how you can use them to make a difference."
Riya Sharma
Co-founder of Coppercutties and winner of the 2018 T-Mobile Changemaker Challenge ➡️
Inspiration from Young Changemakers in Ashoka
Bringing about change is not just the work of idealists or entrepreneurs. Thanks to people like YOU, our cities, schools, and workplaces come alive. Changemakers are people who care. People who look beyond the problems. The ones who find solutions. The doers. The slightly restless. Because in a world defined by change, we need a whole lot of Changemakers.
Let yourself be inspired by the stories from Ashoka's international network.
#EveryoneAChangemaker
Katie, Gründerin der Future Coalition
"Nur weil etwas so ist, wie es ist, heißt das nicht, dass es so bleiben muss.Und wir als Individuum und als Kollektiv haben die Macht, etwas zu ändern, wenn wir es nicht für richtig halten..Wenn man sich die sozialen Bewegungen im Laufe der Geschichte anschaut, sind es immer junge Menschen, die den Wandel vorangetrieben haben. Und das liegt daran, dass wir offen dafür sind, dass die Dinge anders sind, und nicht daran gewöhnt sind, wie sie immer sind. Und ich denke, dass Erwachsene etwas von jungen Menschen lernen könnten, nämlich diese Denkweise. Wenn wir alle offen für Veränderungen wären, würden wir viel weniger Spaltungen zwischen Menschen, Gemeinschaften, Städten und Ländern sehen."
Chirag, Gründer von Steam3D
"Zunächst entwickelte sich alles aus einer Leidenschaft und einem Hobby hin zu etwas, das meinen Freunden Spaß machte. Und dann in etwas, von dem ich erkannte, dass es einen wirklich großen Einfluss auf die Gemeinschaft haben könnte. Nicht alle Möglichkeiten der Freiwilligenarbeit berücksichtigen die Leidenschaften und Talente der Kinder." Nicht im Fall von Chirag's 3D-Druck-Workshop, der von Jugendlichen für Jugendliche geleitet wird.
Meagan, Gründerin von Books for Bedtime
"Jedes Kind sollte, unabhängig von seinem ökonomischen Hintergrund, Zugang zu Büchern haben. Ich bekomme die Bücher von normalen Familien, wie du und ich. Ich habe bis jetzt 70.000 Bücher hergegeben und hoffe, noch mehr zu schaffen."
Matine, Gründer von Helping the Homeless Colorado
"Macht dir keine Sorgen, dass du 'zu jung' bist um das zu machen. Wenn du eine Leidenschaft hast, dann erfülle sie. Finde die Menschen, die die gleichen Ideen haben wie du und arbeite mit ihnen."
Peyton, Gründerin der Global Minds Initiative
"Wir brauchen eine ganze Reihe neuer Fähigkeiten, wir brauchen Veränderungskompetenz. Denn wenn jede*r ein Veränderer wäre, wenn jeder sich einem Thema widmen würde, das über das Twittern und Posten hinausgeht und etwas bewirken würde, wäre unsere Welt ein viel besserer Ort. Meine Oma hat mir das immer jeden Abend vor dem Schlafengehen gesagt: Dein Geist ist wie ein Fallschirm, er funktioniert nur, wenn er geöffnet ist."
Joshua, Gründer von Joshua’s Heart Foundation
"Ich traf am Straßenrand einen Obdachlosen, ich war damals viereinhalb, und das war das erste Mal, dass ich jemanden traf, der nicht das hatte, was ich hatte. Und ich wollte etwas dagegen tun. Es war ein ganz grundlegender Drang, jemandem zu helfen, und mit der Zeit führte er zu etwas Größerem. Ich glaube, solange du der Verantwortung nachkommst, jemand anderem zu helfen, bist du ein Changemaker. Und du bist nie zu jung, etwas in deiner Community zu verändern."
Watching list
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Katie, Gründerin der Future Coalition
"Nur weil etwas so ist, wie es ist, heißt das nicht, dass es so bleiben muss.Und wir als Individuum und als Kollektiv haben die Macht, etwas zu ändern, wenn wir es nicht für richtig halten..Wenn man sich die sozialen Bewegungen im Laufe der Geschichte anschaut, sind es immer junge Menschen, die den Wandel vorangetrieben haben. Und das liegt daran, dass wir offen dafür sind, dass die Dinge anders sind, und nicht daran gewöhnt sind, wie sie immer sind. Und ich denke, dass Erwachsene etwas von jungen Menschen lernen könnten, nämlich diese Denkweise. Wenn wir alle offen für Veränderungen wären, würden wir viel weniger Spaltungen zwischen Menschen, Gemeinschaften, Städten und Ländern sehen."
Chirag, Gründer von Steam3D
"Zunächst entwickelte sich alles aus einer Leidenschaft und einem Hobby hin zu etwas, das meinen Freunden Spaß machte. Und dann in etwas, von dem ich erkannte, dass es einen wirklich großen Einfluss auf die Gemeinschaft haben könnte. Nicht alle Möglichkeiten der Freiwilligenarbeit berücksichtigen die Leidenschaften und Talente der Kinder." Nicht im Fall von Chirag's 3D-Druck-Workshop, der von Jugendlichen für Jugendliche geleitet wird.
Meagan, Gründerin von Books for Bedtime
"Jedes Kind sollte, unabhängig von seinem ökonomischen Hintergrund, Zugang zu Büchern haben. Ich bekomme die Bücher von normalen Familien, wie du und ich. Ich habe bis jetzt 70.000 Bücher hergegeben und hoffe, noch mehr zu schaffen."
Matine, Gründer von Helping the Homeless Colorado
"Macht dir keine Sorgen, dass du 'zu jung' bist um das zu machen. Wenn du eine Leidenschaft hast, dann erfülle sie. Finde die Menschen, die die gleichen Ideen haben wie du und arbeite mit ihnen."
Peyton, Gründerin der Global Minds Initiative
"Wir brauchen eine ganze Reihe neuer Fähigkeiten, wir brauchen Veränderungskompetenz. Denn wenn jede*r ein Veränderer wäre, wenn jeder sich einem Thema widmen würde, das über das Twittern und Posten hinausgeht und etwas bewirken würde, wäre unsere Welt ein viel besserer Ort. Meine Oma hat mir das immer jeden Abend vor dem Schlafengehen gesagt: Dein Geist ist wie ein Fallschirm, er funktioniert nur, wenn er geöffnet ist."
Joshua, Gründer von Joshua’s Heart Foundation
"Ich traf am Straßenrand einen Obdachlosen, ich war damals viereinhalb, und das war das erste Mal, dass ich jemanden traf, der nicht das hatte, was ich hatte. Und ich wollte etwas dagegen tun. Es war ein ganz grundlegender Drang, jemandem zu helfen, und mit der Zeit führte er zu etwas Größerem. Ich glaube, solange du der Verantwortung nachkommst, jemand anderem zu helfen, bist du ein Changemaker. Und du bist nie zu jung, etwas in deiner Community zu verändern."
What is Ashoka anyway?
Theinternational home for impact-driven Changemakers and groundbreaking social entrepreneurs. This is what we stand for: a world where all people have the right and ability to lead together, bringing solutions that change society for the better.
Since 1980, the global nonprofit organization Ashoka has been pioneering in the field of social entrepreneurship - by building the first and largest community of outstanding, system-changing social entrepreneurs. These 4000 Ashoka Fellows, along with Young Changemakers and Changemaker Institutions, see that the world now demands everyone to be a Changemaker - a person who sees themselves capable of creating large-scale, positive change.
Timo is Youth Embassador for the Ashoka Fellow Christiane Daepp's 'Ideenbüro' project in Biel. This initiative receives letterbox problems from younger pupils, organizes consultations and looks for solutions together. Having co-pioneered this initiative in a co-working space some years ago, Timo is currently working in the cultural sector of his town and engaging in politics. He wrote his matura thesis on 'the school of the future'.
In her 'Democracy Kitchen' project, she develops recipes to strengthen democratic awareness. She brings people with different opinions together over coffee, asks teachers about their needs in the area of political education, and motivates young people to participate more in politics.
Liza is studying health sciences in Lucerne and has been interested in sex education and STI prevention for a long time. She would like to reform sex education in Switzerland. In connection with her studies, I developed a theoretical prevention program for STIs, which she would now like to implement and roll out in Switzerland.
The trained medical practice assistant is the Co-President of the Federal Youth Session, where he and his team try to promote the political participation of young people. The federal youth session is one of the largest participatory projects for and by young people in Switzerland. Each year, 200 young people get the chance to spend four days formulating their concerns and presenting them to the president of the National council
She is Co-President of the Federal Youth Session and a personal assistant to a National Councillor. Elma took over from National Council President Martin Candinas on 29 September 2023 as part of the #GirlsTakeover campaign.
Manon is part of the Future Council U24, a citizens' council for young people made up of 80 people aged 16-24 who live in Switzerland and have been selected on a representative basis, who work together to develop and publicize recommendations for action on a topic relevant to the future. At the moment, they are working on the topic of 'mental health'.
Remo is part of the Future Council U24, a citizens' council for young people made up of 80 people aged 16-24 who live in Switzerland and have been selected on a representative basis to jointly develop recommendations for action on a topic relevant to the future and make them public. At the moment, they are working on the topic of mental health.
Initiator of 'once again': Weekly acDviDes for students and young people who are otherwise unable to find a connection.
In his role as the chairman of the Liechtenstein Youth Parliament, Michael stands for expanding local youth participation. Alongside his apprenticeship as a software developer, he co-founded 'Bookspread', a start-up that makes it possible to find suitable publishers and submit your manuscript through an intuitive process.
Eduardo, Lorena and Julia are part of the association
Youth Energy. Together with their teacher, they organized money for photovoltaic systems in Liechtenstein. Which they all installed together on the roofs at the end of 2023.
Asal came to Austria when she was 7 years old. During her school years, she fell in love with reading, writing and the world of literature. Asal has written an anthology of short stories that focus on the various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. She is currently finishing school and would like to to move many more people with her words.
Has invited actors from the 2nd-hand sector in Tirol to join him in transforming the school gym into a 2nd-hand store.
Holds lectures and workshops at his school on topics such as sustainable shopping and healthy eating.
Initiator of the "WeStitch" project, which is aimed at disadvantaged women in the labour market. Integration Ambassador (Red Cross) and winner of the "Sag's Multi" award (ORF's multilingual speech competition). She has already spoken at the UN. Theatre is her passion, she has already been an actress and co-developer of the following projects at the Vienna State Opera: "The Strat-Up" and "Sugar Revolution". Banan has written and published a book about her escape story entitled "Meine Flucht und ihre Begleiterinnen".
Luis is trying to use artificial intelligence for a good cause. In particular, he focuses on environmental issues. For example, he has developed a forecasting algorithm that predicts food requirements in supermarkets with a high degree of accuracy.
With her impact startup uptraded, she is pursuing her personal "purpose", namely to close the gap between consumer needs and climate protection goals through exciting circular economy tools. Together with her team, she is currently developing a clothes swap app to promote second-hand fashion and drive forward the circular economy.
Valentin and Daniel are launching a project that aims to strengthen the neighborhood. Young people take on small everyday tasks for their elderly and disabled neighbors.
Nevena is currently building a community for women who meet regularly and exchange ideas on how to help us as a society live longer, healthier and happier lives.
Maya is currently completing an apprenticeship as a forwarding agent. She has also been working for the social enterprise Sindbad since 2016. She is a mentor there and manages a location. Maya supports people who have been displaced and would soon like to start a project on a topic that is particularly close to her heart: racism and bullying.
Together with Team 2022, she implemented the topic of mental health in the successful "Good, and yourself?" youth initiative (including the successful Mental Health Youth Referendum) and developed the communication strategy for mobilizing young people. The initiative won the National Youth State Prize and the Austrian PRVA PR State Prize.
Advocates for equal opportunities for women in the STEM sector. She is the youngest ambassador of the WomenInICT initiative, and the AI Ambassador for the Austrian Society for Artificial Intelligence (ASAI). Lilia works in the field of data science and has, for example, developed a project to recognise soil sealing using AI and satellite data as part of a team.
Founded the platform Youth Power Network (www.youthpowernetwork.at), which offers young people in Austria access to educational programmes and opportunities to develop their potential. Larissa is one of the Youth Experts at the Sinnbildungsstiftung. She won the Hans Riegel Fachpreispreisin (1st place Computer Science) for her VWA on the topic "Correlation of Artificial Intelligence and Brain Research". She is active in education and research at Women in AI Austria, and is a law student and captain of the national English-speaking debate team.
Studies JUS and was a member of the chair team of the Innsbruck faculty representation. There she worked on new curricula and organised excursions and training courses. Together with the faculty and the publisher LexisNexis, the chair team also published the starting code for first-semester students for the first time. She has been a member of the Executive Board since December 2020 and President of the Alpbach Tirol Club since October 2023, where she organises scholarships and events. Most recently she organised a poster campaign and workshop day to mark the EU elections, and a panel on parenthood and equal rights.
Adrian is now part of the Moonshot Pirates team. He was the initiator of 'Eusync'. Their goal was to centralize European rail transport in order to strengthen public transport, be it local or long distance.
Oliver is completing his apprenticeship at A1.
He is an advocate for other apprentices and is also the former regional spokesperson for vocational schools (Vienna).
Sophie pursues her passion as a presenter and now hosts well-known events. She also uses her talent to represent and reshape key youth issues in the media. Co-founder of the GREEN initiative and active in organisations, her focus is on promoting sustainability and environmental friendliness.
Florian is a student at the University of Applied Arts and Chairman of the educational organisation "HPV vaccination now!" With his association, he has created an alliance that has achieved an extension of free HPV vaccination up to an individual's 30th birthday.
With her company Pro4uture, Luiza wants to help people with a migration background to find a job in Austria and provide them with long-term, individual support.
Franz had the idea for Kärnten Ride Share: an environmentally friendly mobility concept in Austria that enables people to share journeys and thus reduce private transport. The platform connects drivers and passengers, promotes social interaction, reduces CO2 emissions and offers a cost-effective transport alternative.
Ashoka
