These days, responding to loud yells of “Trick or Treat!!!” on Halloween requires both a candy bowl and a bowl of change for the Trick or Treat for UNICEF boxes. Started in 1950, this was designed as a way for kids to help other kids. To date they have raised over $167 million. These children are not just raising money for an important cause; they are practicing empathy for those less fortunate and learning that even at age 6, they can make a difference in the world. They are building a culture of change-making and that matters.

Ashoka Fellows work on the hardest problems in society from human trafficking to medical waste to saving orangutans. However, 73% of Fellows said that cultivating other people to become changemakers is the primary focus on their work. 66% of Ashoka Fellows are specifically changing the culture and social norms around changemaking enabling people to identify and solve social problems. They have recognized that these complex problems will never be solved unless there are more people creating change in the world. As Ashoka’s founder Bill Drayton has said:

“The most important contribution any of us can make now is not to solve any particular problem, no matter how urgent energy or environment or financial regulation is. What we must do now is increase the proportion of humans who know that they can cause change. [emphasis added]” – Bill Drayton, Innovations, Winter 2006.

What does it look like, when you increase the amount of people who know they can cause change? (Note it is about the ‘knowing’ not the doing). Eric Dawson and Peace First are building change-makers by teaching children to be peacemakers and adults to value and teach peacemaking. They have seen a 60% average reduction in incidents of violence, and a 70-80% increase in instances of peacemaking. In direct response to the negative image of youth in the media, Peace First as announced the Peace First prize which will inspire, celebrate, and connect young people who are making a real difference in creating more peaceful and just communities.

But creating change-makers is not just about education and youth programs. Kathryn Hall-Trujillo works to connect “SisterFriends” with at-risk pregnant African-American women to ensure healthier babies and moms. SisterFriends help women access resources, navigate bureaucracy, go for check-ups – not just until the birth – but up until the child is 1 year old (though the relationships often continue beyond that). The benefits to the pregnant women are clear – Birthing Project babies tend to weigh 7.5 lbs compared to 6.5 lbs national average for African-American babies. The benefits to the SisterFriends may be even greater as they learn that they have the power to create meaningful change.

Despite the pioneer bootstrap culture of the Americans who make their own way in the world, we also feel disempowered by the large complex institutions that govern our lives from government to financial to medical institutions.  The real work is not so much understanding how to change these behemoths, but develop a deep knowledge in each of us that we can cause change.
