Ashoka
While the Philippines is blessed with the beauty of its abundant natural resources, a rich and multicultural heritage, and a people with warm smiles, it is also riddled with numerous systemic problems such as socioeconomic inequality, corruption, and pollution, among many others.
Enter Ashoka Fellows in the country. These skilled, creative, and empathetic social entrepreneurs navigate a gauntlet of challenges to deliver innovative solutions across multiple sectors like health, environment, employment, and education.
These inspiring innovators prove that by working with teams, challenging outdated models, and empowering others, change is not an impossibility. This space aims to curate their stories and provide practical examples as well as invaluable mindsets on how any Filipino can be a changemaker. Get to know our Fellows here.
We need changemakers more than ever!
An Ashoka PH article on Rappler describing the local Fellowship
SEA women social entrepreneurs scale deep, up, and out to enact systemic change
From parliaments to boardrooms, gender reports have shown a disparity in female voices in seats of power, where their concerns can be acknowledged and genuinely heard. Despite this gap, women in social entrepreneurship have made strides in ushering in change. This is evident in the impactful work of...
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Welcoming the new Ashoka Fellows
In Part 1 of this article , we introduced the Ashoka Fellowship and the 9 previously inducted Fellows in the Philippines who are transforming systems in society to solve complex problems. But what does it take to be an Ashoka Fellow? Social entrepreneur candidates are invited to undergo a selection...
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Amina Evangelista Swanepoel has been empowering girls through health education
JP Maunes: putting accessibility and inclusion center stage in the Philippines
JP’s life’s work to change mindsets in Filipino society about disability inclusion started when he was a teenager, growing up in the central Visayas region of the Philippines.
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Peace advocate: Children 'confused' between good, bad in Marawi crisis
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 23) — Maranao princess and peace advocate Bai Rohaniza "Honey" Sumndad-Usman said some children affected by the Marawi crisis have moral confusion — and peace education is the way to combat it. The founder of the NGO Teach Peace Build Peace Movement said she was...
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How this real-life mermaid empowers ‘seatizens’ for marine conservation one shark pun at a time
Whether it’s grooving to “ Thresher ” (Bruno Mars’ Treasure) or making fin-tastic visuals on how ‘ crazy rich ’ the Philippine oceans are, Chief Mermaid Anna Oposa makes saving (and appreciating) the environment inviting for everyone. Unlike mermaids in cartoons, Anna does more than singing on rocks...
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Top LGBT Supporters That Inspire Us
Mental Health Care is Helping Children with Cancer Live Better
Charm Mercado is a thin and rather shy man in his early twenties. He uses two crutches, having lost his leg a decade ago to osteosarcoma, a cancerous tumor in the bone. Growing up with cancer, Mercado used to have constant resentment toward the people around him. He believed the world was unfair. He...
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Millennial leaders driving positive change–in schools, at sea
In a country where education and environmental challenges loom large, two millennial leaders are making a mark: Jaton Zulueta, who started his education advocacy teaching street kids at Manila South Cemetery, and Anna Oposa, a “mermaid” at heart who aims to turn every Filipino into a “sea-tizen.”...
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Can tourism drive regeneration?
The Philippines is one of 18 mega-biodiverse countries in the world. These regions are home to roughly 70 percent of the world’s plants and animal species. Yet, biodiversity loss in the Philippines– largely due to illegal logging — is increasing at a rapid pace, making it a top priority for global...
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How BagoSphere is navigating the funding world — and succeeding
Persons with Disabilities: A Strong but Unseen Force of Humanity
Employment discrimination is what triggered Ryan Gersava of the Philippines to establish Virtualahan, a company that champions inclusivity. Due to a diagnosis, no companies in the Philippines would employ him even after he obtained his license as a medical technologist. Virtualahan is a social...
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Powering business with Benevolence
Before companies modified their business models to incorporate more socially relevant causes because of the recent tragic events, Ashoka Philippines has been championing benevolent business models since the 1980s. Most villains in films are the business-minded ones — those who are willing to put...
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Education for generations of changemakers
Through his award-winning non-profit organization AHA! Learning Center (Angels Here Abound), Jaton is equipping those who have the least in life the agency to dream and be the change that they want to be. Jaton does this by creating long-term and accessible citizen-powered programs that ensure the...
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Learn more about migration in the Philippine context from the DEI Global team's interview with Ashoka Fellow Tina Liamzon
There are around 2 million Filipinos who have left their homes to be migrant workers in pursuit of higher incomes for their families. However, the majority are unable to save or invest and become stuck in often lonely and demeaning jobs. Ashoka Fellow Tina Liamzon believes that equipping migrant...
Ashoka Philippines welcomes 3 new social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows
For more than 35 years, Ashoka has built and nurtured the largest network of leading social entrepreneurs in the world. After a rigorous selection process, they are introduced to a life-long fellowship, where every member is committed to championing new patterns of social good. Meet the 3 newest...
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