Youth Leader

Ashoka is the world’s largest community of leading social entrepreneurs and pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship more than 40 years ago. We find, select, and support a robust network of more than 4,000 Ashoka Fellows in 90 countries who have successfully implemented systems-changing solutions to human and environmental problems globally. By learning from and collaborating with our Fellows and other social entrepreneurs, Ashoka identifies patterns and key levers to help society gain a new framework for living in the world as a changemaker. Ashoka’s work therefore started with the Fellows, building and spreading the construct of social entrepreneurship, which has led to our current work – the ‘Everyone a Changemaker’ movement.

“Everyone a Changemaker” stems from our belief that everyone is a “giver”, and that everyone must recognize both their potential and responsibility to make positive change in an everchanging world. Central to this movement is breaking down silos and replacing them with new networks (and new networks of networks) that together fundamentally change how people of all ages identify and act as changemakers. 

The Opportunity 

Ashoka is seeking an individual with a track record of entrepreneurialism, innovation and changemaking to lead the “Everyone a Changemaker” movement in the region. As a Youth Leader, they will create partnerships with leading media outlets, publishers, unions, educational institutions, and corporate entities to activate networks that together create a world where everyone – children, young people, and adults of all ages - masters what Ashoka has identified as core changemaking skills: empathy, initiative to act for impact (i.e., changemaking), teamwork, and leadership.

What You'll Do:

• Spearhead a Global Movement: Increase the number of young people, parents, educators, partners, and citizens that identify as changemakers so that “Changemaking” becomes the new norm. 
• Unleash Systems-Level Insights: Design and lead systems to extract and scale compelling insights from Ashoka Fellow innovations
• Drive Resource Generation: Pioneer new revenue models, raise vital resources, and garner strategic support to make “Every Young Person Practicing Changemaking” the new societal normal.
• Build a Team of Teams: Work closely with Ashoka’s Leadership, 6 regional leaders (Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and MENA), and senior stakeholders to integrate each region by weaving together Ashoka Fellows, business entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and strategic partners.
• Strategic Partnerships: Search out, nurture, and solidify partnerships with funders, corporations, foundations, unions, educators, and other entities

What You Bring:

Given that this role is in Ashoka’s Leadership Group and involves international influencing and impact, the right candidate will have the skills and 15-20 years of related experience to effectively execute deliverables. They will have already:

• Identified a shared problem and created an innovative solution with system- or sector-wide impact.
• Founded their own social impact organization to scale their innovation, advanced a mission/cause through an innovation that has since changed a sector or system, or launched a movement driven in part by innovative approaches with measurable systemic impact; this work may have started as early as one’s student years.
• Created partnerships with key actors to advance an innovation and its social impact.
• Elevated the profile of an organization, cause or mission.
• Supported the building of a systemic change movement and needs across teams to advance a mission through fundraising efforts. Or, raised substantial funding to support their own organization and mission.

The right candidate also

• Has an ability to adapt and thrive in an entrepreneurial, fluid, team of teams environment in which needs, strategy and short- / long-term goals may change to adapt to shifts in the ecosystem or social impact landscape.
• Has an ability to balance creative strategy design with day-to-day execution based on current needs.
• Is skilled at leading and managing a team that has autonomy and independence to further cultivate Ashoka’s emphasis on creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
• Understands and exhibits empathy, teamwork, leadership and changemaking in their lived experience and has the ability to enable or share these capacities with others.

Ashoka Core Criteria

• Entrepreneurial Quality: Compelled to take creative initiative and ownership (e.g. founding an organization or company, starting a movement, or re-shaping the work of an existing organization). Demonstrates relentless and realistic how-to-thinking and passion for seeing their ideas come to life. 
• Understanding and Belief in the Everyone a Changemaker: Understands and believes the Everyone a Changemaker vision at a gut level. To be able to innately ‘get’ this, candidates should have a broad and inquisitive intellectual and a thinking pattern that connects the dots between historical trends and current social context. 
• Emotional and Social Intelligence: Ability to work efficiently and respectfully in teams, putting organizational/team goal first (personal glory second). 
• Ethical Fiber: Exceptionally strong ethical behavior. Is self-reflective and has strong empathy skills. Trustworthy. 
• Self-Definition: The person expects that changing the world in big ways and on a continental scale is what he/she will do in life.