Make Change sprints

Finding solutions to the most pressing challenges in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector - with the help of allies beyond it.

Explore our sprints

In these laboratories of change small teams will take part in a structured collaboration to innovate and prototype exciting solutions.

Over the course of All Systems Connect 2023, ideas from our design sprint participants will be critiqued, validated and reinforced. By the end of the symposium, three concrete outcomes to drive systems change will be presented be taken forward by one or more of the participating stakeholders.

Sprints challenges

SPRINT 1:

Water and climate activists unite to catalyse the movement to achieve SDG6

How can an alliance of young water and climate activists drive greater public awareness and more urgent national and global policy responses to prioritise 'water for people' at the heart of climate narratives and adaptation?

Our Sprinters

Meet some of the people leading the MAKE CHANGE sprints.

Hajar Yagkoubi

Youth Inclusion Expert and former UN Youth Representative for the Netherlands

An unstoppable force for change, Hajar has been collecting representing young people's views and ideas on international platforms since she was 18 years old. She is particularly passionate about human rights, the climate crisis, and water, sanitation and hygiene – and of course, the interconnections between them.

Valery Molay

Youth participation, Climate and Global Systemic Justice expert

A former UN Youth Delegate for Ireland and Climate Justice officer for the National Youth Council of Ireland. A climate activist at heart, she is passionate about justice and the role of young people in advocacy.

Spurthi Kolipaka

University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Engineer turned social worker with 10 years of experience in the development sector. Currently, working as a UNICEF WASH consultant supporting the roll out of the flagship programmme of the Government of India. Interests lie in exploring intersections of WASH, gender, climate change, and participatory governance.

Saoirse Moriarty

Public health, MSc student

A driven and socially conscious. She's led the Global Issues network, a student organisation dedicated to raising awareness of global challenges and promoting solutions. Currently, pursing a Master's in Public Health, she is passionate about the intersection of health and climate change.

Hadi Toure Guindo

President Afr’eau, Water Treatment Engineer

A water treatment engineer from Mali. She has participated in many global conferences and events, including the UN 2023 Water Conference. She is the co-founder of Afr'eau, a civil society organisation in Mali dedicated to delivering action-based interventions, training for young professionals and applied research in water management that supports thriving communities in West Africa.

Diandra Ní Bhuachalla

Cork ETB Gaelcoláiste Choilm

Diandra is a former student of Cork ETB Gaelcoláiste Choilm. She is currently serving as United Nations Youth Delegate for Ireland, recently addressing participants at a UNDP event on youth perspectives for sustainable development, a UN Women event on Women, Peace & Security and the Humanitarian Action Compact, and an EU Delegation event on the role of youth in tackling poverty and hunger.

Thalia Rizou

Director, among

Thalia is the Director of the among organisation, one that develops holistic methodologies to address social challenges in Greece in a more participatory, systematic and innovative way. Over the past 15 years, she has been working as a systemic thinker, a social innovator and a project manager. Her passion is navigating complexity to design systemic solutions.

Pranaya Udash

UNLEASH, Sprint 1 Facilitator

Pranaya is a Nutritionist and co-founder of NuageNepal, a youth start-up dedicated to sustainable development. He has been working with UNLEASH Innovation Lab since 2018 in various roles, including as a facilitator, showcasing his commitment to creating a positive impact through innovative solutions.

Sisira S. Withanachchi

UNLEASH, Sprint 1 Facilitator

Sisira S. Withanachchi is a consultant, educator, project manager, and researcher in environmental management and social development. He has been engaging with UNLEASH Innovative Lab as a facilitator since 2019 and contributes as the lead facilitator in SDG 6 (WASH) in UNLEASH 2022 India.

Nicole Doray

Climate Capacity-Builder & Social Impact Strategist, Sprint 2 Facilitator

Sustainability professional and facilitator, Nicole works at the intersection of climate and social justice to drive bold impact forward. She solves problems using insights from a combination of 10+ years of experiences in NGO management, anti-oppressive human-centered design, research, and communications.

Murray Cowan

Sprint 3 Facilitator

Murray is a transformation advisor and mentor experienced in public sector reform projects from South East Asia to the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean with leading development partners. His professional interests lie in the use of rapid methods with integrated team collaboration to achieve faster change impact.

Esther Grossman

Sprint 3 Facilitator

Esther is a service-designer and strategic facilitator, specialised in climate, education, and innovation. With diverse experience across these sectors, she supports organizations in building people-centered programs, leveraging futuring, design thinking, and radical collaboration.

Learn more about our sprints

Our Sprint process

Design Sprint Process - Sketches_neon - white.png

What is a design sprint?

Design sprints are structured intensive processes to redefine and solve complex problems as a team. The group will refine an initially long list of potential solutions into a single idea that will be elaborated and tested with external stakeholders during the three days of the design sprint.

A design sprint is perfect for coming up with new, innovative game-changing ideas and testing them quickly in a cost-effective and risk-free way.

At the end of the sprint, the idea will be either validated, rejected, or sent back to the sprinters for reworking.

What is the end result of the MAKE CHANGE Sprints?

MAKE CHANGE Sprints at All Systems Connect will develop concrete project ideas, campaigns, product ideas, or roadmaps for action. They could be policy-oriented, programmatic, influencing-focused, or technological.

For example, a solution could be a new idea for public engagement, or a specific modality for channelling finance. We won’t know until we’ve sprinted!

Who participates in a design sprint?

The sprinters will be a mix of (6-10) diverse experts from within and beyond the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, hand-picked for their diverse perspectives that represent the key stakeholders involved in the problem and its solutions. One or two ‘quasi external’ perspectives can also add richness by bringing new ways of viewing the challenge context.

Facilitated in collaboration with

ChangemakerXchange empowers a global community of over 1,000 of the world's leading young social and environmental changemakers. Through their Facilitators for Change initiative, they train civil society leaders in facilitation & community building skills and support with facilitation and agenda creation for social impact events.

UNLEASH is a global initiative committed to bringing youth together to share ideas, build networks and create innovative and scalable solutions to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Our mission is to accelerate positive change towards the SDGs by mobilizing young talented people in community leadership, problem-solving, and launching social and environmental solutions.