Ashoka
Imagine a world where everyone is really a changemaker.
If everyone is a changemaker, there’s no way a problem can outrun a solution.
Changemakers scale deep when they change perceptions, behaviors, the way people think, and mindsets. Once you have changed how people think and behave, then they change the way their kids behave and the way their neighbors and friends behave, this creates deep social impact.
Media plays a fundamental role as a tool for changing norms, attitudes and behaviors. Media sets the agenda by presenting the topics we should be caring and reading about, and later by normalizing those topics. You will be able to find in this page changemaking stories, events and reports from Ashoka Arab World.
Ashoka Arab World Stories
When War Follows You Into “Safety”
Sometimes it shows up as a sudden flash of anger from a teenager who cannot explain their emotions. Sometimes it looks like a parent going silent, then feeling guilty about it. Sometimes it looks like grief that has lasted so long that it starts to feel like an organ, indistinguishable from the body...
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A Supernova You Can Hold in Your Hands
Supernova. It begins as something almost invisible, pressure building silently and energy gathering to a point until there’s a single moment that changes everything. Dr Rana Dajani (Ashoka Fellow, Jordan) uses that image to describe what happens when an idea uses people as catalysts rather than...
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From a spark to a bonfire
In many schools, sexual harassment is treated like an uncomfortable status quo, a topic mentioned with haste and then set aside, or something that “doesn’t happen here.” Silence can feel like the safest choice for institutions. For students, it often means the opposite This collaboration began with...
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Building Belonging: Traditions Revived in the Medina of Tunis
On a February afternoon in the Medina of Tunis, a room full of strangers took turns packing damp earth into a small frame, ramming it down layer by layer. Teenagers, architecture students and professors all got muddy for a shared notion of “heritage” and how it manifests as a living skill. That...
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Ashoka Newly Elected Fellows Advancing Systems Change
Meet our newest Ashoka Fellows: Mohannad Hesham — Building Long-Term Water Resilience Founder, Life from Water Mohannad Hesham is pioneering a systems-level approach to clean water access and sustainability in local communities. Through Life from Water, he works with more than 80 local communities...
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Turning Adversity into Resilience: Where Low-Cost Meets Revenue Innovation
More often than not, it’s the case that social entrepreneurs spend a lot of time engaged in discussions surrounding “sustainability.” But in practice, sustainability is more than just a buzzword; it’s the consistent effort of keeping impact alive when grants end, crises hit, and the world changes...
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Addressing pollution and climate change: a VeryNile idea
Pollution and climate change are pressing issues for humanity but – particularly in the COVID-19 area – it is difficult for nation-states to prioritize and adequately fund environmental protection efforts. Despite these challenges, changemakers are equipped to step in to find creative solutions that...
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A Young ChangemakHER story - Rofida Essam increasing access to first aid training
Rofida is one of the winners of the 2019 Young ChangemakHERs Transformative Journey and Competition. She has been actively working on shifting community mindsets in Cairo to raise awareness about the importance of First Aid by increasing people's access to training. Despite the challenges in 2020...
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Ashoka Fellow Meher Khelifi journey to break down social insurance barriers: “I want to help every single woman that has no social or health coverage”
Meher Khelifi, newly elected Ashoka Arab World Fellow and founder of Ahmini, shared with us his first reactions to becoming an Ashoka Fellow, the challenges he faced along the way, and his experience pursuing social security coverage for women in rural Tunisia.
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Once Upon a Time, There was an Ashoka Fellow…
New Fellow Rana Dajani is the founder of We Love Reading, an initiative aimed at empowering young people as empathetic leaders by encouraging a love of reading and sparking the development of locally run libraries around the world. Read more in this Q&A with Rana herself!
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Inside the Innovator: a Q&A with Newly Elected Ashoka Fellow Dan Driscoll
New Fellow Dan Driscoll is the founder and head of Anou, an online platform and cooperative that gives Moroccan artisans full autonomy over selling their products. Curious to learn more about Dan's trajectory and why he's excited to be a Fellow? Read this interview.
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Ashoka Fellows Celebrate Ramadan By Giving Back
Beyond being a period for spiritual reflection, celebration, and gathering with family, Ramadan has always been a season of generosity and an opportunity to give back to the community.
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Fellows Respond to COVID-19 Pandemic
Ashoka Arab World Fellows are pivoting their work to adjust amidst a staggering global health crisis and building innovative approaches to deal with the challenges unfolding from the pandemic
Forging Public-Private Collaboration to Preserve Traditional Music in Tunisia
How social enterprises can serve as an example for tackling heritage regeneration
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Fellows from Ashoka Arab World and Ashoka Africa Convene for Storytelling Training
In May 2018, Ashoka Arab World convened 11 Fellows from the Arab World and Africa for a training on how to tell their stories of social change.
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Hear Ashoka Arab Fellows Describe What the Fellowship Means to Them
In January 2017, Ashoka Arab World convened 10 Fellows for a retreat in Fayoum, Egypt, where they had the opportunity to reflect on their place in the Fellowship Community.
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Fellow Abla Al Alfy Launches a Campaign to Reduce Prematurity in Egypt
Ashoka Arab World Fellow Dr. Abla Al Alfy organized the kickoff event of "Ibn al Badry," a year-long campaign to advocate for the reduction of prematurity in Egypt.
WISE Launches at Arab World Social Innovation Forum March 15 in Cairo
The Arab World Social Innovation Forum (awsif.org) is the region's premier platform for gathering an international community of social entrepreneurs and accelerating the local-to-global and global-to-local movement for social change. Leveraging Ashoka’s position as the world’s largest network for...
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How girls are changing the world
Advice from and for young women leading the future of impact.
Ashoka and The UPS Foundation join forces on Pan-African Project to Promote Equity and Economic Empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship
January 11, 2023 - Ashoka, a global network of over 4,000 social entrepreneurs, and The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of global logistics leader UPS, today announced a partnership to create greater equity and economic development across the African continent. The partnership will empower...
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Ashoka Arab World Events
How governments can unlock the potentials of social entrepreneurs for the common good.
Reading Corner : Live Storybook Reading
WISEUp Event Series - Women Initiative For Social Entrepreneurship
