“The young people who step up early and challenge the existing youth culture and broader expectations are powerful role models for others”—Bill Drayton
William Bill Drayton, Founder, Ashoka, in an interview with The Daily Star shares the journey of Ashoka in Bangladesh and their new launch of Ashoka Young Changemakers/ Everyone A Changemaker movement.
It has been 32 years your organisation has been playing a great role in Bangladesh. What is your point of view on the social improvements in Bangladesh? What are the changes you have noticed from 1987 to till date?
When I first went to Bangladesh in 1987, the country already had some of the world's greatest social entrepreneurs including Sir Fazle Abed and Prof. Muhammad Yunus. Both of them and so many others welcomed us. Apart from sitting on the first five or six selection panels for Ashoka Fellows, Sir Fazle Abed nominated our first Bangladeshi Fellow, the late Ibrahim Sobhan.
Ibrahim's goal was to ensure effective education for all at a time when only 15 percent of the population made it to the fifth grade. He succeeded in doing so by putting young people in charge in very creative ways. At the end of four years, he had persuaded some 4,000 schools across the country to take up these new approaches and the result was a 44 percent increase in enrolments and a halving of the dropout rate.
Today, there are many greater social entrepreneurs in the country. We have over 90 Ashoka Fellows in Bangladesh now. They are great entrepreneurs in terms of conveying pattern and changed mindset. With the launch of our Young Changemakers program now, we also see today's youth in the country is very proactive and is taking initiative to address some of the most critical social problems including farming, education, human rights, women and youth empowerment, across Bangladesh.
You once said in an interview, "if you want true equality, empower teenagers to change"-Bangladesh is still lagging behind while empowering teens. How do you think Bangladesh can change in this aspect?
Those who have the abilities to contribute in a world of change are doing very well. There is the other, very large part of society that does not have these abilities. These people are unable to contribute in this change-driven world and are left out of the new game. This section of society is therefore deeply depressed (which is reflected in their rates of drug use, obesity, broken families, and premature death.) The people who society has allowed to sink on the other side of the new inequality are deeply hurt and deeply angry and this explains the rapid spread of the "us versus them" politics worldwide.
This is also where the Ashoka Young Changemakers (changemakers under the age of 20) program comes in. The young people who step up early and challenge the existing youth culture and broader expectations are powerful role models for others. By identifying and selecting inspiring Teenagers as Sir Fazle Hasan Abed Ashoka Young Changemakers in Bangladesh, we believe we are creating a new type of role models for Bangladesh's youth who have the potential to impact an entire generation to aspire to become changemakers.
The young people who step up and realise their power to give have a very special impact on adults.
Education is the most important aspect for change. Bangladesh's education curriculum, social mindset needs to change on a large scale to accept change. What are the steps that should be taken?
Through the launch of our Young Changemakers program in Bangladesh, in partnership with BRAC, we identify and select inspiring teenagers as our first set of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed Ashoka Young Changemakers. They are doing incredible work to build solutions to critical social problems that they have identified in their communities. Ashoka supports this community of young changemakers in influencing other stakeholders of society such as schools, parents and the educational system so that every child in Bangladesh grows up as a changemaker.
In which aspects do you think Bangladesh needs to change?
Bangladesh's future, like that of every country, depends centrally on whether or not it sees and seizes the profound historical turning point we are now at. In a world of exponentially accelerating change, any society that enables all its people to be changemakers will thrive and move forward. A society that misses this turning point will be left behind.
We need to start asking questions like "Are your children practicing changemaking now? Do they have the essential life power of being able to contribute in a world that requires abilities that are almost the exact opposite of what the old society built on efficiency in repetition is required? Does the country have a future if all its young people aren't changemakers? (The new measure for success in growing up)". This stands for each individual and organization within the country and for the country as a whole.
Powerful organisations with strong ethical fibre and leadership who can see their and the country's new strategic reality are also absolutely critical. The leadership must also have the courage to change their organizations' core strategy to seize the opportunity.
Tell us a bit on the launching of the Ashoka Young Changemakers/ Everyone A Changemaker movement.
So far, Ashoka has searched for and selected leading social entrepreneurs of Bangladesh, who are working directly with communities and at the systems' level. We have supported them through what we call the "Ashoka Fellowship". With an insight that many of these fellows started to be changemakers at a young age – Ashoka is now launching the next phase of our work in Bangladesh by launching an 'Everyone A Changemaker' framework through the launch of Ashoka Young Changemakers (AYCs) community in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh will be the fifth country to launch this amongst Ashoka's network of around 90 countries, after countries like US, Brazil, Indonesia and India. We will work to build and strengthen our community of leading social entrepreneurs, Ashoka Young Changemakers, and core partners in the 'Everyone a Changemaker' movement like BRAC, and anyone else who is ready to stand up and build their power while also building the power of those around them and of society.
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