COMMITMENTS
A commitment is defined as a new, measurable, and specific impact that an individual, institution, or multiple organizations decide to work to achieve.
Ashoka U’s global call for commitments serves as an opportunity to build momentum at your institution and grow the number of partners who are working with you to support changemaking. The announcement of commitments and reporting progress on commitments at the Ashoka U Exchange each year acts as a motivating deadline to get work across the finish line.
Commitments may focus on a completely new initiative, or commit to a scaling, deepening, or integrating existing initiatives.
Through Ashoka U’s platform your commitment joins many others to collectively build towards enabling millions of changemakers.
Topic Examples
> Launching, deepening, or expanding a single course, internship program, student club or orientation experience
> Cultivating a change team made up of individuals who are working on different aspects of changemaker education on campus
> Conducting research on the impact of changemaker education
* Note: this is not an exhaustive list and is only meant to spark
ideas around what’s possible for your own commitment. Need
more ideas? Check out these innovative changemaker education
initiatives or this blog post.
> Developing department-wide changemaker curriculum modules or learning outcomes
> Adding changemaker criteria into the admissions process
> Hosting a regional convening focused on changemaking
* Note: this is not an exhaustive list and is only meant to spark
ideas around what’s possible for your own commitment. Need
more ideas? Check out these innovative changemaker education
initiatives or this blog post.
> Integrating a changemaker education pathway that includes both curricular and co-curricular experiences open to all students
> Embedding a commitment to changemaking into the institution’s strategic plan
> Supporting other institutions or organizations to do this work
* Note: this is not an exhaustive list and is only meant to spark
ideas around what’s possible for your own commitment. Need
more ideas? Check out these innovative changemaker education
initiatives or this blog post.
ANATOMY OF A COMMITMENT
University ABC commits to increasing the number of students participating in our changemaker education programs from 1,000 to 1,200 over the 2019/2020 academic year.
A commitment should reference a new, specific, and measurable level of impact and follow the formula: organization ‘A’ (with organization ‘B’ if you are working with other partners), commits to taking action ‘C’, with the goal of having ‘D’ impact in X time.”
COMMITMENT CRITERIA
Ashoka U will review all commitments to ensure they meet the following criteria:
> Contributes to equipping or activating more changemakers.
> Is specific, measurable, and focuses on a new level of impact (this can include integrating, expanding, or deepening an existing initiative).
> Commitment leads take an intentional approach to minimize inadvertent harm resulting from their commitment. Read Ashoka U’s Primer on Responsible Changemaker Education for more.
> Commitment leads work in, or have a strong connection to, higher education.
COMMITMENT TIMELINE
- Mar. - May 2019
Attend a virtual design session for help to design your commitment. Register here.
- May 31st 2019
Deadline for commitment submission. Submit here.
- Jun. 2019
Ashoka U reviews all submissions and publicly announces 1st cohort of commitment makers.
- Jun.- Feb. 2020
Ongoing support for commitment makers.
- Feb. 2020
Deadline for commitment makers to report on progress and be considered for the #MillionsofChangemakers awards.
- Mar./Apr. 2020
Announcement of #MillionsofChangemakers award winners, and collective progress of all commitment makers at the 2020 Ashoka U Exchange.
FAQ
We encourage you to view the commitment process as a tool to help you shine a light on an initiative you want to invest in more during the coming year. Use the deadline to push your stakeholders to agree on an initiative, leverage the potential of visibility and recognition to get additional support, and the connections and resources you’ll get through the learning community to bring your commitment to life.
In addition to anyone associated with a higher education institution, (student, faculty, staff, or administrator), we will also accept commitments from organizations, companies, or policy-makers working with higher education. Commitments can be at an individual-level, team-level, or institution-level.
The #MillionsofChangemakers call to action is designed to be a kick-off point and a gathering ground.
After successfully making a commitment, you (and others on your team), will be invited to participate in different aspects of Ashoka U’s learning community. Through this community we will act as match-makers, connecting those who are working on similar commitments, or have resources that can help you achieve your goals.
However, the supports offered are not a comprehensive suite of tools, funding, and resources. Rather this platform is our call for entrepreneurial individuals, institutions, and co-creators of all kinds who can leverage this platform and network to help activate millions of changemakers. If that’s you – join us!
While a commitment is defined as something measurable, we have purposefully moved away from a single unifying metric that all commitments contribute to or are measured against. We want each individual, team, or institution to choose a metric that is meaningful in their particular context. We value both depth and breadth of impact and we will ask you to report on both for award consideration.
We also value the learning and inspiration that comes from making an ambitious commitment – one that you aren’t sure that you can achieve. A large part of the award consideration will be based on how much progress you, (or your team/institution), have been able to make in a given year, and the value of the lessons you’ve learned in the process of working towards your commitment. We encourage you to use this as an opportunity to think big and fail forward – and then tell us about so we can all learn with you.
#MillionsofChangemakers
is an initiative of
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