Ashoka's Young Changemakers 2023

Operaatio Arktis, Co-Founder

Operaatio Arktis conducts a comprehensive risk analysis of global warming and the state of natural systems from a perspective relevant to the younger generation.

The project aims to bring together researchers, policy makers, young people, decision makers, businesses, environmentalists and other organisations through networking, science communication and collaborative events.

“Our goal is to get the Finnish government to immediately start a technological intervention to fix the Arctic sea ice.”

Qaareva Ry, President and Founder

Mathilda is a passionate changemaker who finds joy with community work and work tirelessly for human rights whether it’s in the field of activism, working with refugee services or with the LGBTQIA+ NGO Mathilda founded, Qaareva Ry.

Qaareva Ry was founded to advocate LGBTQIA+ rights, bring community together, race awareness, hold space for queer culture and safer spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth and students in universities and in society as whole.

"Our philosophy is to be open for all LGBTQIA+ people regardless of student or work status."

FASHCENE, Founder

Panashe’s main focus is fashion that he uses as his tool to promote inclusion among youth. FASHCENE is Åbo/Turku’s first ever Fashion show held annually in the city with live performances and selected designers (Independent, Students or Freelancers).

Through FASHCENE, Panashe aims to give youth a voice and a platform where they may freely express themselves, without the fear of being judged for doing what they love and taking a different path to what is considered ordinary. 

“Without fear of failure to do what they love, without the shackles of not having the right education or anything of the such.”

Human rights activist, performer and content creator

Piki is a 25 year old non-binary transgender activist from Tampere, Finland. Piki is known for ze art, such as make up and spoken word poetry as well as ze informational instagram page, where Piki discusses human rights focusing on LGBTQIA+ issues.

Piki’s initiative is to loudly and publicly speak out about every day- and legal struggles that trans people face in Finland and globally. Piki’s goal is not only to inform people of the struggles trans people face, but also be loud about the pride of being trans: The joy, the unique beautiful experiences, the love of the community Piki’s vision is not only to make trans people a visible, equal, recognized part of society, but even more so to convey a message that gender diversity is something we should celebrate and embrace.

Demarinuoret, President

Demarinuoret is a national political youth organization. Their activities are aimed at young people aged 15–29 who want to influence social issues in a like-minded group.

Pinja believes that we all have the right to education, work, well-being and a happy life, by making sure that everyone has an equal and equal opportunity to live and fulfil themselves, so that it does not weaken the opportunities of others. 

"I strive to change the world in ways guided by values such as solidarity, equality and sustainable development. We are a feminist organisation defending the principles of democracy, solidarity and internationalism.”

Co-Founders Rewina, Fiona and Alice

The Ubuntu Film Club team consists of Alice, producer and event organizer, Fiona, filmmaker and artist and Rewina, community educator and event organizer.

Ubuntu Film Club brings people together, giving young people a platform to share their thoughts and opinions on important societal issues without the pressure to use academic language. Their target group is black and brown youth (16-25). They want to expose them to films from all over the world made by African and Black filmmakers. The goal is to create a safer space for people who are interested in their stories and who want to share their own as well. In their words:

"We are a collective that organises free film screening and events for black and brown youth all around Helsinki. Our aim is to expand narratives with a twist of fun.”

Founder

Levisncoffee is passionate about and is inspired by aesthetics from earlier periods, especially the period between 1920-1950.

Levisncoffee's dream is to be able to collaborate with a company that manufactures eco-friendly cosmetic products and designs their packaging and tools in a vintage style.

"I would love to bring back the beauty of these eras within the makeup industry, to have the opportunity to design and create environmentally friendly makeup compacts in vintage style.”

Vera is passionate about inclusion, non-white minorities, anti-racism, multilingualism, intercultural dialogue and institutional discrimination.

She has worked to support individuals who belong to a linguistic, cultural and/or religious minority in the Finnish society, developing competence in antiracist work and intercultural communication as well as developing new guidelines for inclusion in workplaces and educational institutions. She believes that:

“Knowledge is a tool through which everyone can learn to empower themselves and others. Accessible technology and increased literacy are the most powerful means for combatting “knowledge poverty” in the world. The internet has opened up access to education, new businesses and learning new skills in a way that has never been seen before.”

Advocate & Activator

Maija is a 24 year old All in-advocate from Joensuu, Eastern Finland. By all in, Maija is a person who has found a way to connect the levels of advocacy by building bridges between these different levels and actors. In 2018, Maija became a climate activist and one year later, she created the concept of her All in -idea. Soon after that, she established the Kestävä Pieksämäki group.

Maija has been able to create impact in diverse ways: building the all in-network and method to mobilise people to act jointly, avoid duplication of work and create a real impact.

“One of the main problems of Finnish environment and climate advocacy has been that the actors are working in silos. Together with All in-network, those members could jointly fighting to solve the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and the root causes of these crises like overconsumption, inequality and lack of common regulation.”