Dear Fellows, ASNs and partners of Ashoka,
Our role at Ashoka is to support you in your journey towards unleashing your full potential as changemakers. We have thus put together this calendar to help you navigate the wealth of events and activities Ashoka has to offer. The events listed below will be taking place in Switzerland and around the world between September 2020 and August 2021. You will find 3 types of events:
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Inspiration: Conversations that give you a chance to discuss the most pressing social problems directly with Ashoka Fellows.
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Learning: Courses, workshops and training programs to gain new skills and deepen your knowledge of social innovation.
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Community: These events bring together our closest community to network, get to know each other and, maybe even work together.
For any further information, please contact Nicole ([email protected]). This calendar will be updated on a regular basis, and you can find the full list of Ashoka events happening around the world at anytime on Live.ashoka.org.
We look forward to engaging with you!
JUNE
June 1st
Apéro featuring new Swiss Ashoka Fellow
Type: Community
Place&Time: Online
Description: Celebrate the election of a new Ashoka Fellow, and welcome him into our family of changemakers.
Invitation to follow.
June 10th
Inspirational Talk | The tires that bind: Combating loneliness & creating intergenerational relationships through cycling.
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 13:00 CET
Description: Join us as we host Fellow Ole Kassow of Cycling Without Age to learn how cycling helps build intergenerational connections.
Invitation to follow.
MAY
May 7th
Kenya Changemaker Landscape Report Launch
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, 08:00 - 12:00 CET
Description: Ashoka East Africa in partnership with CARE Kenya invite you for the changemaker mapping report launch. The mapping, carried out last year, sought to identify individuals with innovative solutions across the country. Our focus for this exercise was to create visibility of these changemakers who are positively contributing to the development and implementation of solutions in the field of education, climate and agriculture, health, youth, and disability.
May 12th
Welcome Change Wednesday News Series: Indigenous traditions and the future of food
Type: Learning / Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Explore Indigenous food systems for a healthy planet with Sean Sherman, founder of NATIFS, in conversation with Paula Daniels, co-founder of Center for Good Food Purchasing. Come with your questions about big system-level reform, as well as favorite recipes from each of their traditions - Sean is Oglala Lakota Sioux in South Dakota, and Paula is native Hawaii’an.
May 27th
Presentation of French Ashoka Fellows
Type: Community / Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 08:30 CET
Description: The newest Swiss Ashoka Fellow Alain Werner will also be presenting his project.
Invitation to follow.
APRIL
April 28th
Welcome Change Series. The right to sign: Deaf children and early language access
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Today we'll meet Melissa Malzkuhn, founder of Motion Light Lab at Gallaudet University and creator of bilingual (ASL-English) digital storybooks for Deaf children. Melissa, who is 3rd generation Deaf and from a family of storytellers, will share what’s ahead for language access, and game-changing projects coming up at the Lab. Think: motion capture for 3D signing!!
April 7th
Welcome Change Series. From rights to jobs: LGBTQ+ liberation in the Arab World
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Before the Beirut Port blast last August that killed hundreds and destroyed entire neighborhoods, Lebanon’s economy was already under enormous pressure due to long-standing political challenges and the Covid pandemic. Amid all of this, Lebanon’s LGBTQIA+ community has been particularly hard hit. Come meet social entrepreneur Tarek Zeidan who is building a better economic future for Lebanon by elevating queer voices.
April 12th
UN Global Compact Workshop. Transforming business into a force for good: Learning future skills from Social Entrepreneurs.
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, 13:00 CET
Description: UN Global Compact Workshop. Transforming business into a force for good: Learning future skills from Social Entrepreneurs.
April 14th
Welcome Change Series. Confronting the other pandemic: mental health and young people
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: One year in, how is the pandemic hitting our students? Explore with Louise Langheier, co-founder of Peer Health Exchange, and David Flink, co-founder of Project Eye-to-Eye - both Ashoka Fellows shaping peer-led learning for (and with) young people. They will share how they’ve had to adjust during the pandemic, including as it relates to supporting teen mental health and students with learning differences.
April 22th
Ashoka Inspirational Talk Series. Justice for all: How can the rule of law protect the disadvantaged
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Another month, another inspiring conversation in which you get to talk directly to an outstanding Ashoka Fellow. For this episode, you will meet (or reconnect) with Karen Tse and Alain Werner, two great Ashoka Fellows working in the field of international justice, which happen to be the first and most recent elected in Switzerland.
MARCH
March 17th
Mutualism and the Next Economy
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Explore with Sara Horowitz the crisis of work, the collapse of the safety net, and a vision for a better way forward that is rooted in cooperation and mutualism. Sara is the founder of Freelancers Union and Freelancers Insurance Company, a former labor lawyer, and former Chair of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York - and also an Ashoka Board member. Her new book is Mutualism: Building the Next Economy from the Ground Up. The conversation will run about 30 minutes. Bring your questions!
March 18th - 22nd
Replication & Transfer module
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, 19:00 CET
Description: Co-learning space to explore how to scale your impact, and to bring solutions to new regions or countries. Get inspired from existing examples from the Ashoka network and learn about issues such as organizational transfer readiness.
March 26th - May 6th
Everyone A Changemaker Strategies
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online
Description: Opportunity to explore Everyone a Changemaker strategies, powerful approaches to enable resilient systems change. Discover best practices from the Ashoka community and get support to empower your communities to contribute to your work.
March 31st
Welcome Change Series. Building wealth & economies that work for everyone.
Type: Learning/Inspiration
Place&Time: Online
Description: Join us on March 31 when we talk with Tim Lampkin, founder of Higher Purpose Co., about strategies for building community wealth and Black ownership and entrepreneurship in underestimated communities in the Mississippi Delta.
FEBRUARY
February 5th (until March 26th)
Collective Action for System Change course
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, more info on the website
Description: Opportunity to take a step back from your day-to-day activities and rethink or deepen your personal role as a collaborative leader. Work on your approach to facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborations for system change, get tools, leadership skills and strategies for effective collaboration.
February 25th
Ashoka Inspirational Talk: Surprise guest
Type: Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 13.30-14.30 CET
Description: Another month, another inspiring conversation in which you get to talk directly to an outstanding Ashoka Fellow. For now, we are keeping the guest as a sweet surprise for you!
February TBD
Government Alliance module
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, more info on the website
Description: Working with government is increasingly recognised as an effective pathway to systems change. This training will focus on how to choose the right tactics for increasing government’s awareness on the problem, willingness to act and capacity to implement.
JANUARY
January 13th
Apéro: Welcoming a new Swiss Fellow
Type: Community
Place&Time: Zurich, TBD
Description: Celebrate the election of a new Ashoka Fellow, and welcome him into our family of changemakers.
DECEMBER
December 10th
Ashoka Inspirational Talk: Bee Agile, How biodiversity brings value and inspires business
Type: Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 13.30-14.30 CET
Description: Conversation with Michael van Custem, co-funder of Beeodiversity, on how biodiversity can teach us to be more flexible and agile.
NOVEMBER
November 17th-19th
Ashoka Changemaker Summit
Type: Inspiration, Learning and Community
Place&Time: Online, 9.00 CET
Description: Ashoka's largest global gathering will celebrate newly elected Ashoka Fellows and Ashoka Young Changemakers, and connect the largest community of social entrepreneurs and leaders from business and philanthropy to learn and collaborate on strategies for systemic social change.
November 25th (to December 1st)
Hybrid Social Finance workshop
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, 9.00-11.00 CET
Description: Two-day workshop on creating blended finance raising strategies as well as investment offers that appeal to both commercial and social investors.
OCTOBER
October 2nd (until January 2021)
System Change module
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, more info on the website
Description: Training based on Ashoka Fellows' most powerful strategies to achieve large scale and long term social change.
October 13th
Ashoka Inspirational Talk: Being Aligned, How to connect your inner self with your role in society
Type: Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 13.30-14.30 CET
Description: Conversation with Ashoka Fellow Bart Weetjens, founder of Apopo, on how to be at peace with career and purpose in life.
October 15th (until February 11th)
The Wellbeing Lab (for Fellows only)
Type: Learning
Place&Time: Online, more info on the website
Description: An online journey to delve into the relationship between wellbeing and social entrepreneurship. Through the guidance of experts, explore wellbeing practices and get the tools you need to be your best self.
SEPTEMBER
September 3rd
Changemakers Unidos Summit LATAM
Type: Inspiration & learning
Place&Time: Online, 16.00-18.45 CET
Description: Changemakers Unidos is a collective effort to support social innovators on the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America. This Summit will showcase the 20 Ashoka Fellows whose innovations will be accelerated over six months.
September 8th
Ashoka Inspirational Talk: Empathy, the new essential skill
Type: Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 13.30-14.30 CEST
Description: Conversation with Ashoka Fellow, Mary Gordon, founder of the groundbreaking Roots of Empathy, on why empathy is so important in today's world, and how it can be taught.
September 30th
Joint event with Women in Sustainable Finance
Type: Inspiration
Place&Time: Online, 12.15-13.45 CET
Description: Dynamic conversation with Ashoka and Women in Sustainable Finance to celebrate socially engaged female leaders, with a successful Ashoka Fellow who will share her powerful story live.