Global Changemakers is a global youth programme for social entrepreneurs and community activists from 128 countries worldwide [2]. Its mission is to empower youth to catalyse positive social change in their local communities [3]. Since 2013, Global Changemakers has been an independent organisation registered in Switzerland.
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History
Global Changemakers was founded in 2007 by the British Council [4] in collaboration with the World Economic Forum as a way to bring the voices and experience of young people worldwide to key policy and decision-makers at World Economic Forum events. In 2009, the mission of the programme expanded to include project support for youth-led initiatives worldwide and to collect best practices in youth-led development. In its eight years existence it has become a close knit network of over 1,000 young social activists, supported 280 vetted youth-led projects through which 200,000 people got directly involved and over 4 million people benefited. Global Changemakers has youth representatives from over 128 countries, focused on a subject of their interest, ranging from the environment, girls and women rights, education, tolerance and peace building, amongst others.
In 2013, it became an independent, Swiss-based organisation pursuing the same goals, empower youth to catalyse social change by providing them with skills, contacts, opportunities and a world-wide community of like-minded people.
Programme Overview
The programme is built on three pillars:
- Learning & Teaching: Global and regional youth summits, supported by free online curriculum and outreach to schools.
- Doing: Individual and group projects address key global issues; since April 2009, Global Changemakers has supported 111 projects in 61 countries
- Advocacy: Changemakers are invited to high-level events including the World Economic Forum, Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton Global Initiative University, Women Deliver, various UN events, and meetings of the G20 to share ideas and best practices and are engaged in joint-initiatives with the World Bank
Selection Process
Individuals join the Global Changemakers network by being selected for a regional or global youth summit. Criteria for selection are:
Candidates submit a written application as well as a YouTube video. Selection is made by existing Global Changemakers, the Global Changemakers team and advisors.
Impact
Since its inception at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum[5] in 2007, Global Changemakers has hosted over 50 regional and global youth workshops across the world, in Amman, Beirut, Cape Town, Doha, Harare, Rio de Janeiro [6] and London.
Hundreds of thousands of young people are involved in Global Changemakers projects each year. To date, projects have reached over 4 million individuals around the world. Global Changemakers and their work have been featured extensively in the media [7], including on CNN[8], BBC, CCTV, Al Jazeera and NDTV as well as in The Washington Post, Hindu Express, and Financial Times, online [9][10], and on the radio.
Partners
Under the British Council, the Global Changemakers programme partnered with other independent non-profit and policy organisations, foundations, and media organisations. Each partnership was tailored to the individual needs and objectives of the respective entities – a sampling of existing partnerships follows: