Curated Story
How can we rediscover certainty in a year of uncertainty?
Source: Pioneers Post

Rediscovering certainty in a tumultuous year

This article originally appeared on Pioneers Post

Could listening to social innovators help us find more certainty in the current crisis? Next week’s digital Ashoka Changemaker Summit 2020 will look at how key principles of social change, which have been tried and tested in the most difficult situations, can bring much-needed solutions to Covid-19 problems – and hopes to bring the sense of stability that we’re all craving right now.

Next week’s Ashoka Changemaker Summit has an ambitious aim: bringing back certainty. Drawing on its network of more than 3,800 social entrepreneurs, the digital summit will gather social entrepreneurs and business and philanthropy leaders from around the world for more than 100 sessions. These will explore how pre-existing, tried and tested solutions can help resolve some of the problems caused by Covid-19, and restore a sense of certainty to the world.

The key principles of social change developed over the years by social entrepreneurs have proved successful in times of adversity, according to the network. 

“What's new for us, in the northern part of the world, has been a reality for the global south forever,” said Marie Ringler, leader of Ashoka Europe and a member of the organisation’s global leadership group. 

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Ashoka insight

“What's new for us, in the northern part of the world, has been a reality for the global south forever,” said Marie Ringler, leader of Ashoka Europe and a member of the organisation’s global leadership group. “I see all these fabulous entrepreneurial minds that empower people to find the solutions of really tough problems in the most difficult situations — in the midst of civil war, in the midst of extreme poverty, in the midst of earthquakes and their aftermath. They have already shown us so many times that they know how to deal with crises.”

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“Many impactful approaches for a resilient future are already there. We are just not yet applying them on a large enough scale,” said Ringler.

Ashoka’s 40 years of experience have revealed another key approach to sustainable social change that can be applied in a crisis: empowering people and communities.