Ashoka POV

Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship missionof Skills to Succeed and the Ashoka Changemaker School programme – building the skills for “Everyone a Changemaker ©”

An Ashoka programme supported by Accenture for its first edition with the objective of building a network of Changemaker Schools in Belgium, as part of a wider global Ashoka initiative – aimed at empowering youth with the skills they need to succeed in the world of tomorrow

ACCENTUREIn the context of the global partnership between Ashoka and Accenture, I take a personal interest in ensuring thatalso in Belgium, we do support Ashokain a very concrete and pragmatic way. The Changemaker School initiative specifically is very fascinating as it links to the future generations and the essential role of the schools and our teachers. I was pleased to take part in this new programme’s kick-off meeting and exchange with experts in education on the importance of establishing bridges between private, public and associative actors in order to raise awareness, develop synergies and co-create.

Olivier GillerotCountry Managing Director forAccenture Belgium and Luxemburg

ASHOKA“This world requires a new paradigm for growing up and therefore also for education. Just as 50 to 100 years ago society took the radical step of saying that every person must master written language, now we must insist that every person have the social skills necessary to be an effective, confident changemaker before age 21.”

As a leader in promoting social entrepre-neurship globally over 30 years, Ashoka needs to reverse three centuries of walling the for-profit and non-profit sectors off from one another. When you think for-profit and non-profit, you most often think of entities with either zero social return or zero return on capital. Clearly, there’s some opportunity in the spectrum between those extremes. This is where our collaboration with Accenture has the most value.

Bill Drayton Founder of Ashoka

ABOUT ASHOKARanked 17th most influential NGO in the world in 2012 by Global Journal, Ashoka is the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide with nearly 3,000 Ashoka Fellows in 85 countries. With 42 M$ of annual budget, Ashoka provides start-up financing, professional support services, and connections to a global network across the business and social sectors. Website: http://www.ashoka.org

OPENINGMESSAGES

THE FRAMEWORKOF THE PROGRAMMEAshoka – as a global leader in social innovation - has gained insight through its thousands of social entrepreneurs (« Fellows ») from its network on the most impactful strategy for an « Everyone a Changemaker » world. This gave rise to Ashoka stretching its boundaries to education and the launching of the Changemaker School programme in Belgium as part of a wider European initiative.

Accenture’s role within the Belgian programme was to offer project management support to Ashoka in adapting the processes, materials and implementation practices in order to identify, screen and select schools according to a set of defined criteria, before structuring the Ashoka methodology for future editions. This was based on the learnings and the insights from the different stakeholders working in or around education that were engaged on the project:

• 10 Ashoka European country teams

• 14 French and Flemish experts

• About 50 strategic organisations

• About 100 professionals

THE KEY RESULTS• 22 schools (Flemish and French speaking) were visited in Belgium by a member of the Accenture and Ashoka Belgium team, accompanied by an expert in education.

• 8 schools were selected and presented to the Ashoka European team for the second round.

• 4 schools (2 Flemish and 2 French speaking) were selected as the first Changemaker schools in Belgium after successfully being validated by a panel of independent experts.

This achievement by the Belgian team, who were the first to select their Changemaker Schools in Europe, contributes to an international network of Changemaker schools.

The success of the first edition of the programme underwrites Ashoka’s strategy to:

• reiterate the programme for 3 consecutive years

• increase the size of the network through the school selection process

• develop the wider community around the initiative

• raise general awareness and change the conversations around education

• accelerate a paradigm shift in education that empowers more people to become Changemakers from a young age.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

This story contrasts with the often pessimistic messages conveyed about education on issues such as:

Excess rigidity/standardisation annihilating creativity and in-novation• levers of success are not unique and depend on the school’s situation (1)

Disengagement of school staff and students due to lack of recognition and respect• teachers are recognised as the most important factors of success (1)

• absenteeism is still a problem as 11% of students report skipping classes or days of school on a regular basis in Belgium (2)

Stigmatised failure and inefficient use of resources• 40% of students in Belgium repeat a school year at least once before the age of 15 (2)

Social-economic prejudice in education• differences in students’ socio-economic background impact their performances more strongly in Belgium than the OECD averages

Violence – whether moral, physical or material :• strong correlation between violence in school and students’ backgrounds, but also educational practices focused solely on competence learning and the level of coherence of the leadership teams (3)

Therefore, even for an educational system that on average performs above OECD averages in topics such as reading, mathematics, and science (2), there are more subtle parameters and skill sets that need to be taken into account to produce a performant and fairer educational system that better prepares the youth for their future.

The good news is that stories of schools that encourage their youth to become actors of positive change are in fact not so unique. In Belgium (and in several other countries), we set out to find these visionary schools that provide their children with the skills and the environment to become Changemakers.

It is the desire to enhance young peoples’ learning environment and to build the Skills to Succeed © of the upcoming generation that has motivated Accenture in supporting this programme. For Ashoka, this project represents a way of changing the conversations around education to a tipping point and promoting the emer-gence of a new paradigm in education – one that is aligned with the Everyone a Changemaker © vision.

Source: (1) How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better (McKinsey, 2010) (2) OECD – PISA Report - Belgium, 2013(3) Les clés de la gestion scolaire, Benoit Galand (InDirect #9, 2008)

THE DYNAMIC

Let me share an experience that very much moved me. At a Youth Venture meeting, over comes a young girl. I could just feel her power. Sheimmediately tells us: “I’m 12 years old” (because she’s sick of having people think she is 8) “My brother’s autistic and all through school I would cry when he was mis-treated, but now we fixed that. When any of the ‘special’ students (with dis-abilities) is mistreated, we meet and decide how to intervene -- and we then do so, and we’re very persistent.” Everyone listening to her knew that she will never be afraid, that she already is a changemaker. She has her power. And she has also brought her team right along with her into an “everyone a changemaker” culture. If a student sees a problem or has an idea, the culture says: “Go ahead and dream a solution and build a team and make it happen. That’s the norm. That’s how the world works.” No community or country will do well in a world defined by change unless everyone is a changemaker and has the necessary underlying abilities. Both schools and companies must become “everyone a changemaker” places.

Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka

THE APPROACH IN BELGIUM

APPROACHThe selection process gave rise to very profound reflexions on factors such as network, educational orientation, geo-graphical location, socio-economical background etc. The selected schools, though diverse, were assessed/challenged against a common set of criteria – the Changemaker School criteria © :

Vision: to foster pupils as changemakers with the skills of empathy, creativity, leadership and teamwork

Innovation: to demonstrate an ability and willingness to develop and test new ideas

Influence: to inspire other schools and share their best practices

Leadership & Team: that are working towards a common vision

“Progressing from the theoretical methodology (as shown in Figure 1), to the desk research work, and going into the field - discovering not only the challenges that schools face daily, but also very inspiring and motivated men and women, bringing creative solutions and a vision full of hope - was an exciting, rewarding and eye-opening experience”

Joachim WautersAccenture consultant on the project

SELF-EVALUATIONSchools fill a self-evaluation form based on the Ashoka Changemaker Schools criteria

ASHOKA 2ND OPINIONPre-selected schools are presented to the Ashoka Europe team for validation

NOMINATIONSchools are nomina-ted by the Ashoka network comprisedof education experts, Fellows etc.

EXPLORATIONPerform desk research and site visit

EXPERTS’ PANELFinal panel evaluated the selected schools to make final decision

FIGURE 1 – ASHOKA METHODOLOGY APPLIED TO THE CHANGEMAKER SCHOOL PROGRAMME

Support network with experts in educationA group of experts in the field of education, supporting and advising throughout the programme

Pipelineof schoolsin Belgium

100schools

22schools

18schools

8schools

4schools

OUTCOME

The initial target set for Accenture was to help Ashoka adapt the selection methodology to the programme needs, build a wide community of schools and education experts around the initiative and finally select between 2 and 4 Changemaker schools in Belgium that meet the criteria. This goal was fully reached and confirms the feasibility of the vision set forth by Ashoka. The diversity and quality of the schools selected is very promising:

De Fontein

A small school set in an urbanely mixed neigh-borhood that is convinced of the necessity to adapt educational practices (inspired by Freinet, Feuerstein, Laevers etc.) to empower their children towards being actors of change. This school was on the verge of closing down and now has waiting lists of youngsters who want to benefit from the uniqueness of this school.

“For us, Ashoka is like a window in a wall - into which fresh wind can blow and out of which we can take our messages to the outside world” Kris Zaman, HeadmasterWebsite : www.defontein.be

Sint-Joost-aan-zee

An urban school in an underprivileged neigh-borhood that is going out of its way to develop the potential of all of its pupils. For example its ‘Wider School’ project around health, safety, talent development, career perspective etc., in-spiring other schools as far as in Eastern Europe. This school also values and encourages profi-ciency in the students’ mother tongues as a way of (paradoxically) enhancing the social integra-tion of non-native Dutch speakers in the local Flemish community.

“We believe in every child – and they can feel it” Sven Moens, HeadmasterWebsite : www.sintjoostaanzee.be

St Joseph de Boondael

An urban primary school that puts the child at the center of every initiative, continuously re-visiting its practices to serve its vision, while making sure to bring everyone on board. It now aspires to share its practices beyond its class-room walls – which were physically knocked down in order to create a more transparent and collaborative learning environment.

”Interacting with Ashoka gives each team member the recognition that our posture is meaningful, and helps everyone to shine” Marc Decastiau, HeadmasterWebsite : www.saintjosephboondael.be

Athénée Royal Prince Baudouin de Marchin

A large rural secondary school (with day and boarding students) that was originally built for orphans and children of prisoners after the Sec-ond World War. Running through its DNA is the continuous engagement of the youngsters to direct their own lives. The school has a strong culture of peer mentoring and solidarity for the wider community. A school in Africa and anoth-er in South America were built inspired heavily on this model.

“Our school inspires everyone to find their place and take an active role” Jean-François Angenot

“The culture of this school has enabled me to unleash my potential both academically and personally – and lead student initiatives” Jean Ronchaine (student Head of School)Website : www.ecoles.cfwb.be/arpbmarchin

“We found that the school leaders share a DNA that is similar to that of social entrepreneurs. They too are working to put their skills and knowledge to the service of a social challenge, risk taking, entrepreneurship and empowering others (their pupils) to be agents of change”

Virginie SamynAshoka Representative for Belgium and launching director for the Changemaker School programme.

CONCLUSIONS

LEARNINGS FROM THE ASHOKA CHANGEMAKER SCHOOL PROGRAMME IN BELGIUM AND IN EUROPE The analysis of the results provided by the schools in the Self-Evaluation Reports and by the education experts in the Panel Score-Cards in Belgium (Figure 2A) show trends that are comparable to the rest of Europe (Figure 2B) – namely that:

• the vision is the cornerstone on which all other criteria rely – and has been evaluated as very strong by the schools and the expert panellists

• the innovation although not always easy in the field of education, is one of the highlights at the selected Changemaker schools in Belgium and across Europe

• the team is made up of a united group of people from within and outside the school and is supported by a strong leadership that is not limited to the headmaster

• the influence potential is a growing point of interest for most selected schools but their levels of capacity to effectively do so is variable

The conclusions are clear that the area where the schools need most support in order to maximise their impact as Changemaker Schools is in their ability to influence others and spread their models and best-practices.

This is specifically where the programme’s value proposition focuses:

• giving the schools visibility

• creating a network effect

• enhancing collaborative entrepreneurship

• engaging a broader peer-to-peer community

Schools joining the network are confirm-ing their engagement in the vision for an “Everyone a Changemaker ©” world by bringing together a critical mass of Changemaker Schools, driven by influential leaders and strong extended team ( teachers, students, parents, broader ecosystem...), working to put their skills and knowledge to the service of an international network. This can lead to a significant and durable paradigm shift in education – one in which the younger generation will be better prepared to address and solve the social challenges of the future.

FIGURE 2A – RESULTS FOR BELGIUM FIGURE 2B - RESULTS FOR EUROPESchool Self-Evaluation Panel Experts Score

VISION INNOVATION LEADERSHIP& TEAM

INFLUENCE VISION INNOVATION LEADERSHIP& TEAM

INFLUENCE

OUTSTANDING

“We will certainly learn from other schools in the network, improve our own work and benefit from the exchange. However, what is even more important to us is that we want to change and positively influence the entire educa-tion system … and make sure all children have the skills they need to be successful in the chaotic ever-changing 21st century, as individuals, employees and changemakers - We believe only together with Ashoka and the other Changemaker Schools we can achieve this, which is why we’re so excited to join this effort.

Changemaker School headmaster

THE NEXT STEPS

Now that the foundations of the Changemaker School programme have been formalised with Accenture’s support and the exchange of best practices across the Ashoka European country teams, Ashoka’s focus for the future editions will be to:

Grow the network quantitatively doubling it every year, while maintaining the qualitative selection process

Continue to stimulate and engage the network in order to increase its influence: • creating a platform highlighting best-practices and facilitating communication between schools• organising opportunities for schools to meet and exchange nationally and internationally• uniting the different stakeholders around the Changemaker schools to enhance their visibility and credibilityas leaders of change in the field of education

This growing and powerful network of Changemaker schools will contribute in shifting education to a new paradigm – one which empowers the youth with the skills necessary to help them tackle the future challenges responsibly and sustainably.

The continued collaboration between Accenture and Ashoka is creating synergies that are proving to be of great impact – especially given the alignment in their respective missions of Skills to Succeed and Changemaker skills.

200

150

100

50

02014 2015 2016

European Schools Belgian Schools

NUMBER OF CHANGEMAKER SCHOOLS IN THE NETWORK

FINAL WORDS ON THIS GREAT SUCCESS

Preparing the future generation is key and the Ashoka Changemaker initiative has strong potential to do so. I was very proud that Accenture was able to contribute to this program in Belgium this year. Schools are definitely a great enabler and the mo-tivation is truly there. Next ? Grow the dynamic towards more and more schools in the coming months!

Erika CogneDirector of Corporate Social Responsibil-ity for France, Belgium and Netherlands

For Accenture, this initiative contributes to our global Corporate Citizenship mis-sion called ‘Skills to Succeed’ launched in 2010. It is aimed at helping address the global need for skills that open doors to employment and economic opportunity. By March 2014, Accenture had already reached its target by equipping more than half a million people with the skills to get a job or build a business. The enhanced target is to hit an ambitious 700,000 peo-ple globally by 2015.

Adriaan VanderheydenManaging Director - Communications, Media & Technology and Corporate So-cial Responsibility lead for Belux

For more information on Accenture’s Skills to Succeed mission: www.accenture.com/us-en/company/citi-zenship/Pages/skills-succeed.aspx

The insight from the thousands of social entrepreneurs (‘Fellows’) that are part of our global Ashoka network, on the most impactful way to develop the vision of “Everyone A Changemaker ©” was recently collected. One of the two main outcomes clearly identified the need to stretch the frontiers of our initiatives to education. This is what has made this initiative so important and why Ashoka Belgium is so grateful for Accenture’s continued sup-port.

Virginie SamynAshoka Representative for Belgium

For more information: http://belgium.ashoka.org/changemaker-schools

Copyright © 2014 Accenture All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

Special thanksAccenture and Ashoka would like to thank all the experts in education that sharedtheir time and insight in the field of education, the people and associations thathelped us nominate schools and take part in school visits, the Ashoka teams in other European countries and last but not least, the « true heroes » working on the field: headmasters, teachers, parents, volunteers and the young changemakers.

This project was realised by Accenture, with the support of Joachim Wauters, thecontributions of Bart Van Wynsberghe and Michael Verbinnen, together with the Ashoka team members, Anne Clark, Louis-Alexandre Carli and Elisabeth De Sonis, all under the direction of Virginie Samyn (Ashoka Belgium representative).

Olivier Gillerot (Accenture Belux Managing Director), Ericka Cogne and Imka Custers (Accenture Corporate Citizenship team) offered further support during the programme.

About AccentureAccenture is one of the world’s leading organizations providing management consulting, technology and outsourcing services, with more than 293,000 employees; offices and operations in more than 200 cities in 56 countries; and net revenues of $28.6 billion for fiscal 2013. Website: www.accenture.com

Contacts

Accenture Belgium

Erika Cogne Director of Corporate Social Responsibility France, Belgium and Netherlands [email protected] +33 (0)1 53 23 48 67

Adriaan VanderheydenAccenture Managing Director - Communications, Media & Technology and Corporate Social Responsibility lead for [email protected] +32 (0)2 226 73 49

Philippe RuttensMarketing Manager of Accenture Belux [email protected] +32 (0)2 226 78 29