Open Call for Changemakers for the Planet 2025 for Young Leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa and United States/Canada

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The Changemakers for the Planet Programme provides young leaders with bespoke support for their changemaking journey, in-person summits, funding for collaborative efforts and life-long access to ChangemakerXchange’s vibrant global network of changemakers & activists.

Changemakers for the planet 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.

They intentionally recruit a diverse group of changemakers because the climate crisis demands an intersectional and coordinated approach involving various stakeholders. This includes those tackling the root causes and those responding to the societal impacts of these changes.

What They Do?

Find: They search, identify, and recruit young changemakers, activists and leaders, who tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, air, sea and land pollution.
Support: They help them to develop their changemaking capacity by connecting them to tailored supports. They also provide funding to support collaborations between changemakers.
Connect: They facilitate the development of deep bonds and solidarity on the regional level, connecting changemakers to one another at their 5 day summits. They also connect changemakers globally via their events, and they connect their community members to exciting opportunities throughout the ecosystem.

Changemakers for the Planet Benefits

Capacity Building: The program starts with an online kick-off call, followed by a needs assessment to help them make recommendations of support to participants based on their individual needs. The cohort will also have the opportunity to attend online group sessions based on their collective needs.
In-Person Summits: An immersive 5-day, in-person summit awaits all participants. Held in a breathtaking nature-based location in their respective region, this unique gathering is designed to forge deep connections, foster well-being, and sow the seeds for meaningful collaborations.
Collaboration Funding: The cohort is invited to explore collaborations between their initiatives, causes or areas of interest, and they can unlock funding to support these collaboration projects.
Community: Those who participate in the in-person summit have the opportunity to become lifelong members of the global ChangemakerXchange community. This means accesses to curated changemaking resources and regular opportunities to connect, learn, and co-create.

Cost Covered

Participants are responsible for covering the following costs:
- Transportation to Nigeria (for the Sub-Saharan Africa summit) or to Canada (for the USA & Canada 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.

Eligibility Criteria for Changemakers for the Planet

For programme in Sub-Saharan Africa 2025) You must come from or currently living / having impact in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte-d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, eSwatini, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, 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, or Zimbabwe.
For programme in USA & Canada 2024 You must identify as a woman or be gender diverse and either live in or have an impact in the USA or Canada.
Age: For this programme you must be aged 18–35. Due to permission reasons, they focus on over 18s. (Please note that changemakers of all ages are welcome to join other activities like Train the Trainer programmes or activities or the Possibility).
Role: You are the founder/co-founder, leader/co-leader, manager/co-manager (or hold an influential position with decision-making power, e.g. entrepreneur) of a social/environmental venture/organisation which is up and running and addresses the planetary crisis.
Values: Applicants for a ChangemakerXchange summit should demonstrate an alignment with the CXC values.
Motivation: Applicants should show motivation to co-create and collaborate.
Diversity: Diversity is also a critical criterion for you. The planetary crisis disproportionately affects society’s most at-risk individuals and regions. As such, they are putting a strong emphasis on curating cohorts that are diverse in terms of demographics and types of initiatives. Applicants from marginalized contexts and those with intersectional initiatives are a great fit for this programme and encouraged to apply.