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There are too many reductionist stories about those who are different from us, especially around identities that aren’t dominant in our immediate environment and globally. Our brains are wired to take shortcuts and trust what is similar to us, with conscious and unconscious bias. This leads to stereotypes and xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia , and all other -isms and -phobia around.
Shift – Connections for Change wants to… shift that, through telling unfamiliar stories from successful changemakers in unexpected places : Real people with inspiring stories of change . Learn from the co-founder of the first trans high-school in Argentina, and the artist-turned-urban-gardener in a township in South Africa. And many more.
Participate in Shift – Connections for Change and through the 5-week virtual program you get to know a changemaker’s story, project, successes, and challenges. The program supports you in building 5 core competencies: self-awareness, empathy, changemaking, critical thinking, and bridging differences, all highly relevant in today’s professional context, and the communities we live in. Your participation also supports each changemaker’s project financially.
Have a look at this video from a cohort of participants from 7 countries and get a sense of the learning, connecting, and shifting.
It’s not just a video conference call. We create your journey tapping into different ways of learning, complementing each other. These are the 8 delivery methods throughout the Shift – Connections for Change program:
Engaging videos
Get to know the changemaker and their story in a deep and involved way.
It’s like you are there! Listen to the sounds and experience the changemaker’s environment.
Connect playfully and creatively with the changemaker’s stories.
Meet the changemaker in a small cohort and ask all the questions you want to ask.
Assess your level of five competencies and take the opportunity to develop them.
Group sessions
Meet in a small cohort with a trained facilitator to learn, process, and reflect.
Exchange learnings with your peers and deepen your connection.
Exchange learnings with your peers and deepen your connection.
Shift works with real-life changemakers from different parts of the world. Here are three of them:
Maryanne Lettieri is part of the world’s first high school for trans people in Buenos Aires fighting against the marginalisation of her community. Besides teaching at the school, she’s an advocate for the employment of trans people in Argentina and beyond.
Xolisa Bangani is the creator of Ikaya Kulture Garden, a pioneering urban garden in Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s biggest townships. His project offers hope and opportunities for young people in the community who’s suffering from violence and unemployment.
Odenilze Ramos is an environmental cyber activist from Brazil that fights for the sustainability and understanding of the Amazon’s diverse inhabitants. Together with her team of young women aged 15-25, she collects and disseminates information from across the Amazon.
Explicit and active equity is important. Besides sharing unfamiliar stories in unexpected places from changemakers with marginalized identities, we also hire local crews to capture the stories, remunerate the changemakers for their time, and 25% of your fee goes towards the changemaker’s project.
We built up our program so that you develop 5 competencies relevant for today’s world,
both in our immediate communities and our professional context. We measure this
through formative evaluation. Whether you are just starting out, or have an advanced
career, in today’s professional environment we need key skills that generally aren’t
developed – or are underdeveloped – in formal learning paths.
Shift aims at supporting participants develop as critical thinkers and including leaders who can bridge across differences and collaborate to help create solutions for local and global challenges. We built up our program so that you develop 5 competencies relevant for today’s world, both in our immediate communities and our professional context. We measure this through formative evaluation. Whether you are just starting out, or have an advanced career, in today’s professional environment we need key skills that generally aren’t developed – or are underdeveloped – in formal learning paths.
We further provide language around how to describe these competencies in your current professional environment, on your CV, job sites, and in conversations with future employers.
For example, this is the definition of empathy that we use in the program: “Understanding relating and opinions to the feelings, needs, and experiences of other people, while distancing oneself from one’s own perspectives and perspectives”. And we can say that someone is developing empathy when they progress on the following:
Being able to recognize that different people experience situations differently.
Being able to put themselves in other people’s shoes, seeking to understand their perspective, feelings, and experiences.
Being able to consider other people’s emotions, needs, and experiences before acting.
If you are interested in this program and want to know more details such as cost, timeline, group size, etc., get in touch.
Shift is a collaboration of different organisations that care about equitable and accessible global education and shifting old narratives.
