Welcome Change

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