Why? 

 

To build and nurture a community of sports changemakers who can drive irreversible changes in society.

1. Learning dimension

The program consists of 6 learning and practice modules, starting from these questions:

  • How do I develop a solution-oriented mindset?
  • How do I achieve and increase my impact?
  • How do I fundraise for and position my project/organization?
  • How do I build a community around my project/organization to achieve impact?
  • How do I manage the human resources needed to produce impact (volunteers, employees)?
  • How do I use the online environment to increase my impact?

Each module will start with a 2-4h online session (depending on the topic) followed by an individual assignment for which the changemakers get feedback from the facilitator of the session, from Ashoka Fellows, and the Ashoka Romania team. 

2. Community dimension

Woven with the learning sessions, each month, we will host a space for the community to learn more about their initiatives and together explore how they can grow together and learn from each other. This will be a safe space for reflections and conversations needed by the changemakers. The process will be guided by a professional facilitator and is the base to build and grow the community after the program ends. 

This program brings together a mix of people from different walks of life to create a community of change that uses sports for social good in Romania. We will not repeat the program as we want this community to grow organically. Each changemaker will have ownership over the community and will be entrusted to bring other peers to the group to pass on the knowledge gained in the program. During the community meetings, changemakers will plan actions to increase the community and their practices. 

This program is offered free of charge for changemakers who invest their energy in using sports for social good.

 

Eligibility criteria

1. the changemaker has an ongoing program/project which uses sports for social good;

2. changemakers can come from any environment - education/schools, NGOs, journalism, businesses with social impact, etc.;

3. feels confident in using both Romanian and English for communication;

4. commits to 6-8h per month for the program (each changemaker will sign a participant agreement before joining the program).

Selection criteria

Together with our program strategic partner, Decathlon, we will select  the 15 changemakers based on the following diversity and impact criteria:

1. region of impact (changemakers with initiatives from different parts of Romania);

2. potential to produce change through sport (we will select changemakers that have the highest chances to achieve greater social impact by being part of the program);

3. type of sport used to produce impact (changemakers that use different types of sports in their initiatives);

4. type of social problem addressed & intervention used (changemakers with diverse means of interventions);

5. gender distribution.