Changemaker Foundation Programme

Overview

The Changemaker Foundation Programme is for young people aged 15-17 in Kakuma Camp, Kenya and Amman, Jordan with UWC (United World Colleges) and Rise. The programme combines Amala’s Social Entrepreneurship course with a series of workshops and support sessions to help students access further educational opportunities, including global talent programmes such as Rise. 

Target Group

Kakuma, Kenya

The target group for the Changemaker Foundation Programme in Kakuma is young people who are:

• Refugee youth aged 14-17 years old currently living in Kakuma Camp

• Currently enrolled in secondary school in Kakuma

• Want to become a changemaker in the community and have access to further learning opportunities

• Have an intermediate level of English

Components

The Changemaker Foundation Programme consists of three key components:

1. A Social Entrepreneurship course where students will learn about the role that social entrepreneurs can play in solving challenges and explore how to make change in their own communities through designing and implementing a project that does social good.

2. A series of booster workshops to support students on their changemaker journey.

3. Support with applying to Rise, a programme that finds promising young people and provides opportunity for life as they work to serve others.

How it works 

Each year, 40 students from Kakuma and 20 students from Amman are selected to participate in the Changemaker Foundation Programme. The learning is designed to fit around the daily lives and school commitments of our students. 

Facilitator led

The programme is designed to be delivered by facilitators in Kakuma and Amman, who are trained and given ongoing support by the Amala team. 

Length and Duration

It is a part-time programme that is run over a period of 20 weeks (approximately 5 months). The time commitment for students is 10 hours per week, six of which are ‘synchronous’ (together with a facilitator and the class) and four of which are ‘asynchronous’, i.e. independent learning. The majority of the in person programme takes place at weekends.

Modes of delivery

The programme is delivered via a blended learning model, where students come together for in-person class sessions and complete independent work online. 

Language of instruction

The programme is currently available in English. 

Learning

Learning at Amala involves shifts in thinking and behaviour which result in an increased capacity to have a positive impact on the world. Our curriculum was developed collaboratively in partnership with our founding education partner, UWC South East Asia, and involved over 150 educators and refugee students from around the world. It is designed to:

1. Build agency - we develop the ability of our students to develop agency: to positively influence their own life and the world around them. Agency is at the heart of our learning model and sits at the heart of all Amala learning.

2. Develop competencies - using the OECD’s transformative competencies as a starting point, Amala learning builds a set of competencies that will support students in taking action for positive change. Through this programme, students will develop competencies in  leadership, conflict resolution, problem analysis, innovation, wellbeing, embracing diversity and critical engagement.  

3. Be contextually inclusive - our curriculum is designed to work in a range of contexts, taking into account diverse cultures and religions. We start from the assumption that our students have unique lived experiences and prior knowledge and we seek to build on them through the Amala curriculum.

4. Create community -  we recognise the importance of building social connections to engage. Amala creates safe and inclusive spaces where students build strong bonds with their classmates, supporting them to learn. 

5. Support facilitators - our curriculum provides clear and detailed guidance on how to deliver high quality learning that develops agency. This means that facilitators can be trained to run any Amala course no matter its subject area.

Certification

Upon completion of the programme, students receive a certificate from Amala and our partner school UWC South East Asia.

After Amala

All students on the programme will be able to apply to Rise, a programme that finds promising young people and provides opportunity for life as they work to serve others. Each application year, Rise invites 15-17 year olds from around the world to participate in the Rise Challenge. Rise Global Winners will receive a lifetime of support, need-based scholarships, mentorships, networking, access to career development opportunities, and the potential for additional funding as they work towards solving humanity’s most pressing problems. For more information about Rise click here.