Time for Change, a five-year initiative funded by Audemars Piguet and overseen by the Audemars Piguet Foundations, empowers and re-engages young people and educators, while catalysing positive change in communities.
In today's world of rapid and constant change, educating young people means more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. It means teaching critical thinking skills, the ability to work with diverse team members, problem-solving, and more. To equip young people with these new skills, classroom learning must become an active framework for engaging young people in the real world and increasing the relevancy of education.
Time for Change, a five-year initiative funded by Audemars Piguet and overseen by the Audemars Piguet Foundations, is doing exactly that – empowering and re-engaging young people and educators in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while catalysing positive change in communities.
Implemented by three powerhouse social sector leaders – Ashoka, First Book, and Teach For All – Time for Change inspires young people growing up in low-income communities and provides educators with the tools and training to empower their students to be agents of change in their classrooms, schools, and local contexts. This marks the first major collaboration between the three organisations, each of which brings unique approaches to reducing inequities in education and fostering scalable change. This level of global collaboration is, in itself, a model of changemaking for the field.
As of mid-2025, this international initiative has energised 178,000 educators and 5.3 million students, inspiring young people to become active leaders and problem solvers, while gaining critical 21st century skills. But the results are so much broader – providing a ripple effect of positive impact for educators, families, and communities.
Empowering students as changemakers
To accommodate the distinct characteristics in each country, Ashoka, First Book, and Teach For All employ diverse strategies for Time for Change, based on the needs of educators and students, each country’s social culture and educational infrastructure, and opportunities presented through strategic collaborations with wide-reaching in-country partners.
While the programmatic approaches vary by country, the purpose is the same: to inspire a generation of young people to address problems they identify in their communities and create positive change. Strategies include everything from co-creating resources with and for teachers to integrate changemaking in their classrooms, hosting youth changemaker contests, introducing families and community leaders to changemaking, and launching changemaker educator training programmes, in settings from formal classrooms to soccer fields. Through all these diverse approaches, Time for Change enables young people to explore and identify issues they care about – at school, in their neighbourhood, or in the broader world – and trains educators to provide the support they need to create and implement their solutions.
This approach means that students are tackling a wide range of changemaking initiatives with profound impact. For example:
- At a US school, students started a vegetable garden to offer their school a sustainable source of fresh produce.
- In Nigeria, students addressed chronic absenteeism by starting a hair-braiding business to help classmates earn an income and return to school.
- In Canada, students built a school-wide sports programme to promote inclusion for newly arrived classmates and others most often excluded from sports.
- In a UK primary school, a student’s request for more diverse books blossomed into a school-wide, ongoing conversation about identity and belonging. The head teacher called it a profound act of leadership.
- In Indonesia, a middle school student with her teacher’s support created an anti-bullying initiative that promotes positive mental health throughout her school. Already with 30 team members, the work is being replicated in nearby schools.
Across Time for Change classrooms, the most significant impact is often not what students learn – but who they become.
- In Brazil, female students from a low-income neighbourhood formed a storytellers' collective focused on gender equality and campaigning against gender violence.
- In the UK, teachers noted that students increasingly volunteered to lead school initiatives, demonstrating greater confidence and agency. "[Students] used to wait for instructions. Now, they’re the ones stepping up first." – Educator, Cardiff, UK
- Across countries, participating students demonstrate a willingness to lead and engage with authority figures to bring change to their schools and communities.
Time for Change is also making a tangible difference in student learning. Teachers describe more consistent student attendance, stronger peer relationships, and increased student engagement in the classroom. In turn, the initiative is changing the way young people see themselves, and the way communities see their young people.
Transforming teachers today and for generations to come
Time for Change is not only inspiring students; it is transforming how educators see their roles and renewing their sense of purpose.
No longer just instructors, educators are ceding more authority to their students and enabling them to play a more active role in their learning. One educator noted, "Teaching about changemaking has been a game-changer. I've come to realise that, as a teacher, I don't always need to be at the forefront. Instead, I can create space for my students to shine, take ownership of their learning, and develop their unique strengths."
The initiative also impacted educators’ attitudes and beliefs about what they can accomplish. An educator in Nigeria reflected: "Teaching about changemaking has redirected my orientation from the belief that nothing can be done to change Nigeria… to believing that everyone has the power to create change." While a veteran educator in the US spoke to the renewal they feel after the burnout effects of the pandemic, "I'm in my fifteenth year of teaching and the past few years have been exhausting. These lessons have reenergised my thinking and efforts."
Giving educators the tools and training to shift their mindset and support student-led changemaking enables them to transform the lives of children and impact communities now and for all the future classrooms of children they will teach.
A measurable culture shift
Across countries, the results of Time for Change are dramatic: when changemaking is introduced, students begin to see themselves as agents of change, and educators are re-engaged as they step into a new role of inspiring young people as changemakers. After being involved in Time for Change[1]:
- 80% of students model changemaking action, compared to 27% initially.
- 95% of educators identified as changemakers, compared to 58% initially, and 93% were confident in their ability to create positive change, compared to 40% initially.
What’s also clear: there is enormous opportunity to continue to innovate and learn from youth-led changemaking – and the demand and interest in Time for Change is growing. By mid-2025, year four of the programme, Time for Change had outpaced some of the programme goals set for year five.
There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, but through Time for Change, we see again and again the power of youth to raise up a village.
[1] These figures are consolidated from impact surveys conducted in three countries: Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States.
