Students Make Change in a Day
The University of East London is one of the UK’s most ambitious universities. They are always looking to provide their students with opportunities to make an impact. The University of East London Change Day brought together 15 students to support 5 Social Enterprises making change across the world.
THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
The Social Enterprises they supported were:
A.Mal Collective who aim to address the interconnectivity of colonialism and climate injustice by questioning current relationships between the global north and global south through research and art 🇬🇧
BizGees who support refugee communities to take ownership of their own lives using alternative finance streams like crowdfunding campaigns and arts sales 🇬🇧
Female Magik who enable young women in the North of England to have a platform and toolkit to ensure their wellbeing and success in both their personal and work environment 🇬🇧
Junction 5 Studios who are creating an app to help change the black narrative by showcasing the contributions and achievements of Black British individuals 🇬🇧
Spher who are building a womxn-empowering community and security application that is set out to create a better and safer tomorrow 🇸🇪
WHAT HAPPENED
Ahead of the day, the students were matched with a Social Enterprise based on the causes they care about and the skills the Social Enterprises needed.
On the day, they got to work! During the 4 hour session, the students worked in teams to support the Social Enterprises with what they needed, including developing communication strategies and researching topics including mental health, partnerships, education and a whole lot more!
At the end of the day, the students and Social Enterprises presented their work together, including the steps they would take beyond the Change Day to grow the impact of the Social Enterprise.
WHAT CHANGEMAKERS THOUGHT
“Change Day was a fantastic opportunity for me to participate in and meet some amazing people! I can make change using my current skills and develop these further. It was a great experience and as a Psychology student, I would recommend that students studying any course can take away something from such an experience.”
- Mya
“This experience just made me realize that I can be a good help as well as many other people so when we have the opportunity to help and make change we should not hesitate and go for it, try to do the minimum will end up creating the maximum that one person alone couldn’t achieve.”
- Helena
“The UEL Change Day gave me valuable insights about global issues and how they can be tackled. It was inspiring to see how everyone can make a change in our world, even with small steps at a time.”
- Elena
WHAT SOCIAL ENTERPRISES THOUGHT
“Taking part in the Change Day provided my project with additional help and research that it needs. This is a very content-heavy project and it's massively important to have dedicated and engaged volunteers, so having the Change Makers for a few hours was invaluable.”
- Kayleigh: Founder, Junction 5 Studios
“BizGees found the Change Day highly valuable. We managed to come up with a full blue print of a student ambassador program we will now be working on going forwards. Co-creating with students was a great experience.”
- Zufi: Co-Founder, BizGees
“I am astonished over the fact that We Make Change always manage to find people that truly match the skills I am looking for. But even better is that they always find highly motivated people motivated to my cause.”
- Jitte: Co-Founder, Spher
TAKE PART IN THE NEXT!
We’re hosting a Change Day each month. Don’t want to miss it?
Take part as an individual: Sign up as a ChangeMaker and receive our weekly newsletter with the latest projects you can join and Change Days coming up!
Bring a Change Day to your university or company: Get in touch to discuss how we can create your very own Change Day for your university or company, so you can engage your employees by enabling them to use their skills to make change happen.
Don’t take it from us - take it from a ChangeMaker who experienced it:
“Honoured to participate in just an amazing unique experience, hope it could be more than a day in the year!” - Noran
