Global Changemakers

Well, I’m back at the office, and so are Fran (who was stuck on her way back from the UK for 50+ hours) and Gaby – but Kath is still stuck in the United States of America. She’s made it from Florida to Washington, for what it’s worth… and  now we’re hoping to bring her, Scott, Charlotta and Louise over in a nuclear spy sub left over from the Cold War. It’s either that or building a raft from empty Starbucks styrofoam coffee cups (Venti, of course!).

Which means that we’ve got a very empty, sad looking office chair that doesn’t quite know what to do with itself:

Here’s a happier bit of news, though, from our CAP Woman Gaby: “Tomorrow Wednesday April 21 st will be the launch of Chatting Wednesdays! I will be on SKYPE (add global.changemakers) from 13:00-15:00 (GMT) answering all your questions on CAPs. Remember, May 1-15 reception for CAPs funding applications!”

Finally, we’d like to answer some of the questions that have come in over the last couple of weeks. (Don’t worry – the other questions will also be answered… and please keep posting questions, either in the comments thread or on Facebook.)

Q: Do you plan on doing specific events for 20-25 year olds?

A: The overall age range for Global Changemakers is 16-25, but we hope you understand that we wouldn’t want to bring new Changemakers to youth summits and then they immediately become too old to apply for CAPs funding! Therefore we work with an age range of 18-24 for the regional summits. Also, for the in-between events (like last year’s World Climate Conference WCC-3) we have also been known to pick 25 year old Changemakers, although they already need to be in the network.

Q: How can I become a Global Changemaker?

A: While you can join the Changemakers network by registering on this website (also check the last question for more on this), you need to take part in one of our youth summits to become a Global Changemaker. This is because we want to give people the benefit of the training programme we’ve developed and keep finetuning so we can afterwards support their events.

Q: Can you give us more information on how to make a successful application to attend a Global Changemakers event?

A: There is no infallible way of applying successfully for one of our summits – not least because there are usually 60 available slots and over 1000 applications. What we can say, though, is that the two most important elements of an application are: 1) track record and 2) communications skills. 1) You don’t have to have launched your own global NGO yet, but you need to show us that you’re a doer and that you’ve already engaged yourself actively. (Basically the people we’re looking for are already Changemakers, even if in small ways – we do our bit to make them Global Changemakers.) 2) You need to be able to get your enthusiasm passion across to the jury, and for that you need to be good at communicating. This doesn’t mean that you need to have perfect native-speaker English – we know that most of our Changemakers learnt English as a second or third language only. However, you need to get your points across clearly and effectively. You need to be convincing.

Q: What can I do after I join the website as a member?

A: Once you’re registered and logged in, you can access parts of the website that were previously off-limits: primarily the message boards and the online tools (in the CAPs section). The former will help you get in touch with the network and start exchanging thoughts, ideas, best practices etc. The latter will help you improve your own community work – and perhaps give you the right ideas so you can start your own project!

Okay, that’s it for the moment. More Team Tuesday to follow next week – stay tuned!