ChangemakerXchange Summit: ‘Changemakers for the Planet’ in Sub-Saharan Africa 2025: (Deadline 16 September, 2024)

Applications are open for the Changemakers for the Planet in Sub-Saharan Africa 2025. ‘Changemakers for the Planet’ supports, connects, and amplifies the work and voices of hundreds of young changemakers, activists and innovators from all regions of the world who address the planetary crisis. They search, identify, and recruit young changemakers, activists and leaders, who tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, air, sea and land pollution.

This program is an initiative by ChangemakerXchange, an international non-profit organisation with a mission to provide inclusive, supportive and collaborative spaces for changemakers, social innovators and activists from across the world. If you are a young changemaker aged 18-35 who is tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution of air, sea, and land, this opportunity is for you.

Participants are invited to join the ChangemakerXchange in-person summit in Nigeria from 7th to 11th April 2025.

What You Can Expect as a Participant

The programme consists of the following key elements:

• Summits: convening 20 – 25 innovators for a 5 day intensive experience of bonding, learning, and collaborating.
• Capacity Building: tailored skill-building sessions and connections to ecosystem leaders who can take your work to the next level. (Coaches, fundraising experts and much more).
• Collaborative Funding: to go towards collaborative efforts among participants.
• Community: giving you lifelong membership in ChangemakerXchange’s vibrant global network of 1000+ changemakers from 130 countries.

Attending a ChangemakerXchange summit is the first step into the program, connecting you with our global community of 1000 changemakers from around the world. After the summit, you will be invited to reflect on whether you would like to join our vibrant global network of 1000+ changemakers from 130+ countries.

Also, as part of the specific programme you join, there is a modest budget to provide Funding to go towards systemic collaborative efforts among participants. And last, but not least we’d make personalised recommendations for support and connections, based on your needs.

Cost and Benefits

Participants are responsible for covering the following costs:

• Transportation to Nigeria (for the Sub-Saharan Africa summit), including local transport from the airport, train, or bus station to the designated meeting point.
• Visa fees.
• Travel insurance.
• Any additional expenses if they choose to arrive earlier or stay later beyond the summit dates.

ChangemakerXchange will cover ALL OTHER COSTS associated with the summit and programme, such as: accommodation, catering, local transportation, room hire, equipment & material, COVID-19 rapid tests, FFP2 masks, facilitation & hosting compensation, programme manager compensation, carbon emissions offsetting derived from the local hosting, post-summit capacity-building programme and post-summit community engagement activities.

Stipend

They always strive to make our summits accessible and inclusive so if your circumstances do not allow you to afford the trip to the summit, please state so in the application and confirmation form. We will evaluate the possibility of offering you a partial or full stipend to ensure you can join the summit.

Eligibility

• This programme is for Changemakers aged 18-35 who are based in or making an impact in Sub-Saharan Africa with solutions to tackle the planetary crisis.
• Applications are welcome from individuals with diverse backgrounds, including social entrepreneurs, innovators, change agents, activists, and civil society leaders who are addressing the planetary crisis.
• Role: You are the founder/co-founder, leader/co-leader, manager/co-manager (or hold an influential position with decision-making power, e.g. intrapreneur) of a social/environmental venture/organisation which is up and running and addresses the planetary crisis.
• Complete application: The application form must be fully completed – with no open questions or very obviously insufficient answers remaining. Only applications submitted before the deadline can be accepted.
• The application form is available in both English and French.

ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte-d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Réunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Criteria

Personal:

• Values: Applicants for a ChangemakerXchange summit should demonstrate an alignment with the CXC values.
• Character: Applicants should show an entrepreneurial and creative mindset.
• Motivation: Applicants should show motivation to co-create and collaborate.
• Diversity: Diversity is also a critical criteria for us. The planetary crisis disproportionately affects society’s most at-risk individuals and regions. As such, we are putting a strong emphasis on curating cohorts that are diverse in terms of demographics and types of initiatives. Applicants from marginalised contexts and those with intersectional initiatives are a great fit for this programme and encouraged to apply!

Organisation:

When assessing the work of changemakers who apply to become a part of ChangemakerXchange we usually take the following aspects into account:

• Stage: The organisation should be beyond the idea stage and currently active.
• Impact: The organisation should solve an issue within the sphere of the planetary crisis (biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change) and have some tangible impact.
• Innovation: The organisation should show some elements of innovation for the specific context.

Deadline: 16 September, 2024

Application

Deadline: 16th Sept 2024 (midday CET)

Click here to apply.

For more information, visit ChangemakerXchange.