Welcome Change: Recent Episodes
Ashoka Live
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play. Browse the series: https://ashoka-usa.org/explore/
Ashoka Fellow Aisha Nyandoro has pioneered an approach to ending generational poverty for families. In 2018, she launched a guaranteed income program for Black mothers in Mississippi, and through its success has become a leading champion of federal guaranteed income, including the Child Tax Credit. Across all efforts, she and her team are changing the narrative about poverty and power, challenging long-standing prejudices about who deserves to make it in America, and countering gendered and racialized narratives about why people don’t.
Speaking with Aisha is Angelou Ezeilo, an Ashoka Fellow from Atlanta, now living in Lagos, Nigeria.
*Episode records live on April 10, 2024
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Countless examples across the world show us that living in multicultural neighborhoods frequently results in people living side-by-side but in parallel communities. This deprives us of the opportunity to build shared lives, focus on the many things we have in common, and work together on the challenges we experience close to home. We can do all this while treasuring our own cultures and backgrounds.
Many people want to be part of creating cohesive communities, but need and want fresh opportunities to connect and build vital understanding and friendship. These opportunities don't emerge spontaneously. New bridging social infrastructures, specifically designed to include as many people as possible, are necessary. Creating practical opportunities built into the fabric of everyday life can be made inclusive and regular rather than extraordinary or infrequent occurrences for a select few.
Listen in as we hear from Ashoka Fellow Tessy Britton in the UK, creator of Participatory City and the Every One Every Day project. For over 14 years, she has designed, tested, and refined this inclusive approach with communities. Tessy will share the underpinning principles we can all apply in the places we live – to make them more creative, resilient, and welcoming for all.
Speaking with Tessy is Sascha Haselmayer, an Ashoka Fellow in Berlin.
*Recorded live on April 3, 2024.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
The U.S. spends $80B annually to incarcerate more of its people than any other nation in the world — with a hidden ecosystem of corporate and other actors benefiting financially from high incarceration rates.
Listen in to hear from Ashoka Fellow Bianca Tylek, founder of Worth Rises, about exposing these financial incentives and creating alternatives. Learn about her team’s unique strategy that has prompted swift local and federal policy change and shifted narratives around the real cost of incarceration and the communities who shoulder that burden.
Mentioned in this episode is "The most famous speech never given." You and watch and learn more at: https://endtheexception.com/
*Episode recorded live on March 20, 2024.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
People in many parts of the world are living longer, and ideas about aging are evolving, too. Listen in to explore with Ximena Abogabir of Chile what conversations about longevity are missing, how advertisers and the media can be allies in shaping new norms around aging, and what lifelong contribution can look like – for all of us, whatever our age.
An Ashoka Fellow since 1995, Ximena is a serial entrepreneur, having most recently founded Travesía 100 (“Journey to 100”).
*Episode recorded live on February 28, 2024.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
With the Olympics kicking off, we'll explore how sports can create positive change (if responsibility is built into sporting ecosystems); how major sporting events can drive new norms and lasting change; and of course, what highlights we’re all looking for at this year’s Olympics!
We'll be joined by three Ashoka Fellows in the UK:
-Mel Young, founder of the Homeless World Cup (the inspiration for the new Netflix film 'The Beautiful Game'), former Chair of Sport Scotland, and former Board member of UK Sport;
-Michael Sani, whose latest venture Play Verto looks at how to measure change and engage people in creative ways for authentic responses and actionable insights;
-Kelly Davies, former footballer from Wales who co-leads Ashoka's impact on sports as a force for positive change in society.
*Episode recorded live on July 24, 2024.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
In many places, care structures and notions of family are evolving. In the U.S., for example, less than 20% of households now fit the mold of married couples with kids. Even so, the nuclear family is still the basis for such benefits as health care, health insurance, tax breaks, and citizenship.
On this episode of Welcome Change, we hear from Ashoka Fellow Diana Adams, who is expanding the legal and cultural understanding of family and showing how a more spacious definition can help everyone – especially kids, who benefit from stable adult relationships (including same sex couples, single people, multi-partner and multigenerational families).
*Episode recorded live on February 14, 2024.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
There are more than 15 million stateless people across the world. Without a recognized nationality, they are left isolated and denied basic human rights. On this episode of Welcome Change, listen in to learned from Ashoka Fellow Christiana Bukalo what led her to found Statefree in Germany - the world's first community for and by stateless individuals. We’ll heard about the power of developing a common identity and sense of belonging, the importance of shifting narratives around statelessness, and how they are building political power to ensure equal rights.
*Episode originally recorded on Jan. 17, 2024
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Access to justice is a fundamental right that remains out of reach for far too many people. In Nigeria, 1 in 8 people experience legal challenges, but hiring a lawyer is a luxury few can afford. At the same time, Nigerian courts, like so many around the world are clogged up with cases taking on average between 1 and 6 years to move through the justice system, with 70 percent of inmates in Nigerian prisons “awaiting trial”.
Is this an area where technology and artificial intelligence might help? And what are the safeguards to put in place to ensure we do not further entrench biases in our judicial systems? Ashoka Fellow Nelson Olanipekun offers some answers. The organization he founded, Gavel, leverages technology to connect ordinary citizens to the legal help they need. He joins us in the episode to teach us more about how they are partnering with courts and artificial intelligence to improve case management systems and more.
*Episode originally recorded on Dec. 13, 2023
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
In artificial intelligence (AI), climate and many domains impacting our futures, change is happening so fast – requiring new skills, mindsets, and modes of learning. Join us to hear from two Ashoka Fellows – François Taddei and Stephen Friend – on the evolving work of Learning Planet Institute, codesigning with young people planetary Higher Ed and lifelong collaborative action for all.
Episode record live on Nov. 29, 2023
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Indonesia has abundant natural carbon capture areas critical for stabilizing our planet's climate -- such as tropical forests and roughly one-third of the world’s tropical peatlands. Join us to meet Gita Syahrani in Jakarta and explore how she’s weaving a collaborative governance network among the relatively few local jurisdictions (kabupaten) that oversee 80% of these important resources. Gita became an Ashoka Fellow earlier this year and was just recognized with a Climate Breakthrough Award. And yet she feels 2024 will be an even bigger year for this work and impact. Join us to find out why!
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
How are communities reimagining their economic futures? Join us on Nov. 1 to meet Ashoka Fellow Molly Hemstreet who co-leads The Industrial Commons, a network of worker owned textile cooperatives in North Carolina – in conversation with Brandon Dennison, an Ashoka Fellow and founder of Coalfield Development in West Virginia. They’ll be talking about centering heritage industries (textiles), seeding future industries (clean energy), advancing worker ownership, and a new economic playbook for communities everywhere – for closing wealth gaps and distributing ownership.
*Recorded live on Nov. 1, 2023
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Whether due to conflict, climate change or economic opportunity, more and more people find themselves on the move across and within borders. Ukraine is a case in point, with more than 8 million of its citizens forced to leave their homes since the war broke out in 2022. Nearly one million of them landed in Poland, doubling the size of the country’s Ukrainian diaspora.
For Ashoka Fellow Myroslava Keryk, who had moved from Ukraine to Poland more than 20 years prior, it was clear that the approach of seeing migrants merely as recipients of aid would fall short and end up stoking tensions in the long run. She founded Dom Ukrainski (Ukrainian House Foundation) to ensure newcomers could quickly become active contributors to the common good in their new home and their homeland, playing a key role in welcoming newly arrived refugees.
Tune in to hear a conversation between Myra and Ashoka’s Kenny Clewett on reframing our narratives about migration and recognizing people on the move as powerful changemakers.
*Episode recorded live on October 25, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
In March 2023, UN Secretary General António Guterres was unequivocal when he spoke at the release of the UN’s 6th IPCC report: “our world needs climate action on all fronts – everything, everywhere, all at once.” But who is going to deliver this action? The answer must be: Everyone. We need a groundswell of changemakers: to shift the systems and structures they’re part of, in their work, schools, neighborhoods and countries.
For a practical look at how two Ashoka Fellows are activating climate agency in millions of young people, listen in on this Welcome Change. We’ll speak with Kuldeep Dantewadia (India), founder of Reap Benefit, and Koen Timmers (Belgium/Global), founder of Take Action Global – the world’s largest climate education initiative.
*Episode recorded live on October 11, 2023
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
In journalism and many other fields, "local" is understood as somehow less than global, limited. But what if the reverse is true: What if the most sought-after expertise is closest to the story? In her new book Byline, Fellow Cristi Hegranes, founder of Global Press, looks at the future of news and opportunities to meld local and global for greater accuracy and trust. We’ll also hear from Cristi how some reporting practices from Covid times may be here to stay – and why that’s a good thing.
*Episode recorded live on September 20, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
The world just experienced one of the most significant global celebration of women’s sports – the 2023 World Cup. Cited as the most internationally inclusive women’s sporting event, breaking viewership and attendance records, it showed us how sport can be a platform for progress. Yet it also revealed how much more is needed to put women on an equal footing to men and address systemic problems in plain view to players and hundreds of millions of fans.
For a look at what’s next in the world of sports and changemaking, we heard from Ashoka Fellow and former football/soccer player Kelly Davies, live from the U.K., in conversation with Ashoka’s Ana Saenz de Miera in Madrid.
*Episode previously recorded live on Sept. 13, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Rev. Heber Brown III, an Ashoka Fellow in Baltimore, is activating one of the most resilient of Black institutions in the U.S. – the Black Church – to become a food producer network. His Black Church Food Security Network is now 170 congregations strong, all working to grow and distribute nutritious food to congregants and communities.
Listen in to hear from Heber, in conversation with Rev. Jennifer Bailey, also an Ashoka Fellow, and founder of Faith Matters Network.
*Previously recorded live on June 21, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Some key industries can play an outsized role in ending human trafficking, says social entrepreneur Mariana Ruenes, who has been working to end modern slavery since age 17. Now, her Mexico City-based network equips businesses in such industries as travel and tourism with strategies to identify, report, and ultimately prevent human trafficking and exploitation in Latin America.
Listen in on this episode to learn more about modern slavery and how Mariana's organization is partnering with the private sector to fight against this issue.
*Episode previously recorded on May 10, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
From Syria, to Yemen, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Mali, and the United States – conflict has migrated to online spaces. Recognizing this important shift, peace-builder and Ashoka Fellow Helena Puig Larrauri, co-founded Build Up to transform conflict in the digital age. Working with NGOs, UN agencies, community leaders and multilateral organizations, Build Up develops innovative tech solutions to conflict.
Over the years, tackling the exponential growth of viral polarizing content spread on social media has become a pressing challenge for peacebuilders and a key question emerged: What if we made social media platforms pay for the harms they produce, like polarization? Imagine a tax on polarization, akin to a carbon tax.
Listen in to this episode as we explore novel ideas on how to measure and reduce the polarization footprint of social media platforms.
*Episode recorded live on May 3, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
With the increasing frequency of storms, wildfires, tornadoes, and other natural disasters, Fellow Saket Soni, a labor organizer instrumental in the response to Hurricane Katrina, sees a new group of workers emerging: the resilience workforce. Essential to recovery efforts, these workers, many of them migrants, are less visible, more vulnerable and temporary, requiring new labor protections to support their critical role.
Listen in to hear from Saket about his work and what's ahead.
*Episode originally recorded on April 26, 2023
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Sabotaging her job. Refusing to work. Demanding she accounts for every cent. Destroying her credit. These are just a few examples of economic abuse. It’s a form of domestic violence that affects most women in abusive relationships, the consequences of which often continue even after they exit their relationship. Ashoka Fellow Meseret Haileyesus founded the Canadian Centre for Women’s Empowerment, to build a social, financial, and regulatory safety net against economic abuse.
Listen in to learn more about how she works with survivors, the financial sector, policymakers and more to enact ground-breaking changes in Canada's financial ecosystem.
This conversation is part of an insight series on what's next for gender equity, supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
*Episode recorded live on April 19, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
At a time when the U.S. is experiencing a childcare crisis, family childcare educators offer critical support to working parents and families. Yet these providers (who are, in essence, our children's first teachers) are under-valued and many struggle to keep their neighborhood businesses open. For a look at the national landscape and possible reforms ahead, we’ll talk with Ashoka Fellow Jessica Sager, founder of All Our Kin, who is working to transform the childcare system. Her insights and policy recommendations are informed by her network of 1,100 family childcare educators in under-resourced communities in Connecticut and New York City, and by partners in 23 states.
This episode previously recorded on March 8, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Over the last five years, more than 300 journalists worldwide have been tragically killed. Ashoka Fellow and investigative reporter Laurent Richard founded Forbidden Stories, a global journalist network that collaborates to ensure “killing the journalist won’t kill the story.” Since 2018, they have published countless major investigations in 50 countries, bringing the world breaking news on the Pegasus Project among others, which revealed a global web of cyber-surveillance of unprecedented scale targeting journalists, human rights defenders, politicians and more.
Listen in to this episode of Welcome Change as we hear from Laurent about the impact of their investigations —including their most recent one on the disinformation-for-hire industry— and the role collaboration plays in safeguarding press freedom.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
We’ve likely all had the unfortunate experience of needing to replace our phone because it didn’t support the latest operating system or because repairing it would be nearly as costly as getting a new one. This industry practice is called planned obsolescence and it explains why electronics are now the fastest growing source of waste in the world, with serious impacts on our planet, let alone our consumer culture. Ashoka Fellow Laetitia Vasseur is out to reverse the practice in France and across Europe by building new incentives (and laws) for tech companies to embrace designs that work for people and planet, now and in the long run. Join us on February 15 to learn more about our right to repair.
*Episode recorded live on February 15, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
After 10 years of negotiations, the UN signed a historic international agreement to protect the world's oceans and the staggering 10 percent of marine species at risk of extinction. This is welcome news for the blue planet, and it raises the question of how the treaty will get implemented once ratified.
Ashoka Fellow Wietse van der Werf, founder of Sea Ranger Service, has some answers. For the last 7 years they have been training young people from coastal areas as Sea Rangers to manage Marine Protected Areas, grooming them as the next generation of maritime workers. On this episode of Welcome Change, listen in to learn more about the High Seas Treaty and practical, scalable solutions that conserve our oceans.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Ashoka Fellow Ariel Koren is elevating access to expert translation as a basic right and working towards a future where people of diverse backgrounds and languages can give and receive vital information – whether managing a health crisis or applying for asylum – in a language they know well. Ariel's translator collective currently supports 110 languages.
On this episode, we look at what's working and what's next when it comes to increasing freedom of mobility and eliminating language barriers.
*Episode recorded live on February 22, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
All over the world, women face astounding rates of sexual harassment on public transport. In Kenya, this issue affects 88 percent of women. What if we could redesign public transport systems to fundamentally improve safety for women and other vulnerable groups? This is the question social entrepreneur Naomi Mwaura is answering with FLONE Initiative – the organization she founded in 2013.
Listen in to hear about Naomi’s deep love and appreciation for “matatus” - Kenya’s minibuses - and how she is transforming an entire industry from the ground up by putting more women in charge and by paying attention to things like bus routes, predictable schedules, incident tracking and more.
This conversation is part of an insight series on what's next for gender equity, supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
*Episode recorded live on February 8, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Ashoka Fellow Laura Zommer is a fact-checking pioneer from Argentina who founded Chequeado and co-founded FactChequeado to combat Spanish-language disinformation across 17 Latin American countries and the U.S. While several of the large platforms, from Meta to Google and Twitter, make efforts to combat misinformation in English, their investments in other languages, including Spanish, is dismal in comparison. With 60 million Latinos living in the U.S. and no significant Spanish-language fact-checking efforts operating in the U.S., Laura paired up with Spanish Ashoka Fellow, Clara Jimenez Cruz of Maldita.es to fill that gap and address the rising societal costs of rampant misinformation.
Listen in to hear from Laura about how their new U.S. outfit FactChequeado is debunking and defunding Spanish-language disinformation.
*Episode recorded live on February 1, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
From his global headquarters in Kampala, Uganda, Ashoka Fellow Solomon King is on track to deliver hands-on science and technology education to one million African children by 2030. On the youthful African continent - where 60% of the population is under 25 - Solomon believes that building robots, learning to code, and working with AI is the best way to equip young folks with world-class science and technology skills and help them transform their continent and the world.
On this episode, we hear about the kinds of robots' kids are building, what Solomon thinks about the power of AI, and how to ensure every child has access to practical, engaging STEM education.
To follow along with his work, see his twitter here.
*Episode recorded live on January 18, 2023.
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Starting in Baltimore, Ashoka Fellow Bree Jones sees an opportunity to restore neighborhoods that have rich histories but are experiencing hyper-vacancy due to decades of disinvestment and systemic inequities. Working with first-time home buyers and an array of city actors, she is catalyzing block-level restoration and building the wealth of Black residents – without displacing legacy neighbors.
Listen in on this episode to meet Bree, learn more, and check how her team's development approach and principles may apply in your community.
*Episode recorded live on December 7, 2022
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
Armin believes that everyone of all ages and across all socio-economic groups should have access to legal knowledge and services. By launching the first legal clinic in the U.S. staffed by young people (and supervised by a licensed attorney), Armin has proven that it is possible to simultaneously harness the untapped power of young people, reimagine high school legal education, extend community access to legal services, and transform the pathways into the legal profession.
In addition to the legal clinic model he piloted in Austin, Texas in 2017, Armin and his team at Youth Justice Alliance develop curriculum, host a scholar's program, and work with law schools and bar associations around the country to ensure talented, bilingual, and diverse students from underrepresented communities are equipped with the legal knowledge and tools to navigate the justice system, support their communities, and pursue legal careers.
Join us on November 16 to hear Armin reflect on his journey so far and his vision for how this model can take root around the country, democratizing legal knowledge and transforming the legal field in the process.
*Episode recorded live on November 16, 2022
Welcome Change is Ashoka's news and insight series - short conversations with the world's leading changemakers on what works, what's next, and the role we can play.
Browse the series: https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/welcomechange
Follow here: https://twitter.com/ashokaus
On this episode of Welcome Change, we heard from Mark Campanale to explore how climate change impacts financial markets, and how investors can support a sustainable future. Ashoka Fellow Mark Campanale (UK) started the Carbon Tracker Initiative in 2009 that ended up placing terms like “carbon bubble”, “unburnable carbon” and “stranded assets” into the financial and environmental lexicon. More recently, he founded Planet Tracker that focuses on agriculture, seafood, forestry, water and textiles. Mark worked for 25 years for major asset management companies, and co-founded some of the UK's first responsible investment funds in late 1980s.
*Episode recorded on March 24, 2021
What is Welcome Change? Meet the world's best social entrepreneurs and get an insider look at what works now, and what's next. Timely topics, all geographies, every Wednesday.
Nigeria instituted a Twitter ban nation-wide on June 4, threatening "prosecution of offenders," after Twitter deleted a violence-inciting tweet by Nigerian President Buhari. Some believe this most recent move could be a precursor to further democratic clampdowns and an internet shutdown - a practice used in 29 countries last year to silence protests, sway elections or hide human rights violations.
As the clash between nation states and "cloud nations" intensifies, regular citizens are stepping up to defend democratic norms. On this episode, we speak with Ashoka Fellow 'Gbenga Sesan of Paradigm HQ about building civic power and defending digital rights & inclusion across the African continent.
*Episode recorded live on June 30, 2021.
Come learn about the Built for Zero movement of 100+ communities across the U.S. committed to ending chronic homelessness. We'll hear from Ashoka Fellow Rosanne Haggerty, founder of Community Solutions/Built for Zero, about how participating communities work together to make homelessness, when it happens, rare and brief. So far, 14 communities have achieved "functional zero" homelessness, with dozens more on track to do so.
Speaking with Rosanne will be Berlin-based Ashoka Fellow Sascha Haselmayer, founder of Citymart and an author of Ashoka's new report on social entrepreneurs partnering with cities worldwide.
This conversation will run about 30 minutes and will be in English with simultaneous interpretation available in German. All are welcome, see you there, bring your questions!
Episode recorded live on Sept. 14, 2022.
Who decides whether we get a mortgage, a job interview, or quick attention in the emergency room? It might be a machine: because algorithms, and the data they process, play an increasingly dominant role in our lives.
The problem: the models and datasets underpinning these algorithms are not neutral. They are social constructs, shaped by imperfect societies, and more often than not by male technologists with limited expertise in social sciences or the communities their work impacts.
In this episode of Welcome Change we hear from Ashoka Fellow Gemma Galdón, a leading voice in the field of tech and ethics, and learn about her work with businesses and governments to spot and correct biases in algorithms.
What is Welcome Change? Meet the world's best social entrepreneurs and get an insider look at what works, and what's next. All topics, all geographies, every Wednesday.
In this episode of Welcome Change, we hear from Tim Lampkin in Clarksdale, Mississippi, about how he and his team at Higher Purpose Co. are expanding Black ownership - of businesses, homes, and land - and resourcing a statewide network of entrepreneurs, artists, and farmers with deep roots in the region. Listen and learn about what's working in the Mississippi Delta, and what lessons can extend to rural economies elsewhere. Bring your questions!
What is Welcome Change? Meet the world's best social entrepreneurs and get an insider look at what works, and what's next. All topics, all geographies, every Wednesday. Browse the series here.