Looking back at my first year as academic director at the Ashoka Visionary Program 🗯, I feel joy and gratitude.
On the weekend, we held a final module and a closing ceremony of the program🎉.
As I joined the program last year, building on the solid foundations laid by colleagues Raphaela and Georg, my passion has been to refine the #LearningExperience so that it would enable changemakers to understand and effectively lead #SystemsChange - within and beyond their organizations.
Throughout the year, together with 24 leaders of change from across sectors - civil society, government & development aid, foundations, business and public broadcasting - we explored answers to these questions:
✅ What are different ways to be a #changemaker? Which resources and ecosystem of support does a changemaker need to be effective?
✅ What does it mean to change systems for the better? How to understand the roots of the problem? How to articulate a targeted systems change and milestones towards it?
✅ How to trace #MentalModels underlying a systemic problem? How to shape a new narrative environment?
✅ How to get the “big fish” – government or corporations – to co-create a solution with you or adopt one that you have already proven? How to engage “many fishes” – replicators who could carry a solution further?
✅ How to fund systems change? What does it take to have a hybrid model of funding? Do funders who support systems change exist? 👀
✅ What kind of leadership is needed for systems change? How do we move from rigid hierarchies towards #SharedLeadership within our own teams? And how do we organize for #MultistakeholderCollaboration - at the ecosystem level?
✅ And, lastly, what is my own unique story of a changemaker that would move people to join me in this systemic endeavor?
A huge thanks to the amazing speakers and facilitators who contributed big time to this year’s journey being a meaningful and bonding learning experience:
🙌 Social entrepreneurs: Riccarda Zezza, Ole Kassow, Walburga Froehlich, Sonja Betschart, Andreas Heinecke and Kerstin Humberg, Regina Honu, Carmen Gheorghe, Sascha Haselmayer, Maria Deskur, Ioana Bauer and Joana Breidenbach.
🙌 Ashoka colleagues & friends: Rado, Marie,Georg, Alexander, Loic, claire, Banan, Felix, Maggie, Michael & Marketa.
👉 And, most importantly, a shoutout to all participants of this year’s cohort that have had the trust and courage to embark with us on this journey and brought so much commitment and wisdom into our shared space:
Klara, David, Nadja, Agnieszka, Simon, Urska, Nicole, Katharina, Ricardo, Tamara, Ursula, Weirong, Monika, Cornelia, Lesley, Benjamin, Kristina, Abebaw, Stella, Oleg, Birgit, Anastasia and Marsha.
Thank you, Raphi for your trust, and thank you, Mar, for being a great host and wizzard in organizing smooth logistics of the program!
P.S. If you want to join the next year's Visionary Program, we are excited to receive your application by July 31st here! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/dqsJuZJh!
