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Unlocking Youth Empowerment through Social Innovation: A qualitative case study of the Ashoka Youth for Change programme in Belgium

Bento Bustorff, Catarina LU (2025) EKHS34 20251
Department of Economic History
Abstract
This thesis investigates how the experience of founding a youth-led social-innovation project can enhance young people’s agency for sustainable development, through a qualitative single-case study of Ashoka Belgium’s 2023 Youth for Change (Y4C) programme. Grounded in a social-constructivist, abductive logic, the study uses semi-structured interviews and mobilises three strands of scholarship—Social Innovation Education (SIE), Critical Youth Empowerment (CYE), and Sustainable Development (SD). The research asks how founding a social-innovation project empowers young people as agents of change, how participants define and identify with “changemaking,” what enables or hinders their journeys, and whether Y4C functions as an empowerment... (More)
This thesis investigates how the experience of founding a youth-led social-innovation project can enhance young people’s agency for sustainable development, through a qualitative single-case study of Ashoka Belgium’s 2023 Youth for Change (Y4C) programme. Grounded in a social-constructivist, abductive logic, the study uses semi-structured interviews and mobilises three strands of scholarship—Social Innovation Education (SIE), Critical Youth Empowerment (CYE), and Sustainable Development (SD). The research asks how founding a social-innovation project empowers young people as agents of change, how participants define and identify with “changemaking,” what enables or hinders their journeys, and whether Y4C functions as an empowerment mechanism.
Findings show participants frame changemaking as morally motivated action that moves from curiosity and critical reflection to doing, with identification ranging from assertive to aspirational, underscoring empowerment as a process of becoming rather than a fixed state. Analysis of the youth social-entrepreneur ecosystem highlights the interplay of influencers, access to resources, and SI competences that are better treated as learnable than as fixed “mindsets”. A CYE-based assessment points to strengths in safe environments and meaningful participation, while raising questions about equitable power-sharing, depth of critical reflection, and links to sociopolitical change. The thesis offers practice and policy considerations, embed youth co-creation in programme design, widen equitable access to resources, and channel youth voice in policymaking. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bento Bustorff, Catarina LU
supervisor
organization
course
EKHS34 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
language
English
id
9223756
date added to LUP
2026-03-16 10:13:21
date last changed
2026-03-16 10:13:21
@misc{9223756,
  abstract     = {{This thesis investigates how the experience of founding a youth-led social-innovation project can enhance young people’s agency for sustainable development, through a qualitative single-case study of Ashoka Belgium’s 2023 Youth for Change (Y4C) programme. Grounded in a social-constructivist, abductive logic, the study uses semi-structured interviews and mobilises three strands of scholarship—Social Innovation Education (SIE), Critical Youth Empowerment (CYE), and Sustainable Development (SD). The research asks how founding a social-innovation project empowers young people as agents of change, how participants define and identify with “changemaking,” what enables or hinders their journeys, and whether Y4C functions as an empowerment mechanism.
Findings show participants frame changemaking as morally motivated action that moves from curiosity and critical reflection to doing, with identification ranging from assertive to aspirational, underscoring empowerment as a process of becoming rather than a fixed state. Analysis of the youth social-entrepreneur ecosystem highlights the interplay of influencers, access to resources, and SI competences that are better treated as learnable than as fixed “mindsets”. A CYE-based assessment points to strengths in safe environments and meaningful participation, while raising questions about equitable power-sharing, depth of critical reflection, and links to sociopolitical change. The thesis offers practice and policy considerations, embed youth co-creation in programme design, widen equitable access to resources, and channel youth voice in policymaking.}},
  author       = {{Bento Bustorff, Catarina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Unlocking Youth Empowerment through Social Innovation: A qualitative case study of the Ashoka Youth for Change programme in Belgium}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}