My experience with Dream a Dream started more than 10 years ago, during the Re-Imagine Learning Challenge. Through a global competition that had more than 700 participants from all around the world, Dream a Dream was selected as one of the top 10 winners. Each of the innovations selected had created a particularly brilliant approach to combine learning and play and I remember fondly our meetings, once the challenge was over, to discuss how we could continue multiplying the impact of such a powerful group of social entrepreneurs.
The Re-Imagine Learning Challenge Winners – 2014
As our network efforts evolved, both my attention and that of our funders were captured by Vishal Talreja (Co-founder, Dream a Dream). In the beginning, I couldn’t quite understand why among so many incredible initiatives, Dream a Dream was so special. Maybe it was because of how, very early on, they had decided to put their ideas to the test and invested in evaluating their impact externally, to demonstrate the value of their framework in a non-biased way. Maybe it was because, despite such a busy schedule, they allowed themselves time and mind space to imagine how we could collaborate with others to create something bigger. Maybe it was because of Vishal’s inspiring story about what led him to co-found Dream a Dream and how that story had changed him. Or his genuine, deep concern about what would happen to a generation of young people that were not being prepared to operate in a world that would require so much more of them than what they were being taught.
Probably, though, it was because of how incredibly human both Vishal and Suchetha (CEO, Dream a Dream) are, how they took part in each and every one of our conversations and how that made me feel. When we talked, when we discussed ideas and dreams, when we came up with plans to bring our network together (including improvising a network gathering that would happen in two weeks and we had to work between Christmas and New Year to make it happen!), our conversations were always full of joy and possibility. They made me feel like I mattered, that my ideas mattered, that nothing that I thought or felt was wrong. And because of that I knew that they were able to do that with every young person that ever crossed their way- and that their approach to life skills and changing how young people grow up was exactly what we needed.
I had the privilege of working and learning from Vishal and Suchetha at many other moments – as part of the Weaving Lab; as I heard about their beautiful leadership path, so full of learnings, as they shared with me Dream a Dream’s approach to talent development and provided me with frameworks and stories that until today I share whenever I need to bring a team together.
I am humbled and inspired to have been part of their journey. As Dream a Dream celebrates its 25th anniversary, I can only hope that their work brings more of this amazing feeling of being seen, being heard and feeling powerful to every young person in the world, that they so generously provide for those around them.
About the Author
Daniela Matielo serves as Executive Director of Ashoka Changemakers and co-founder of the Ashoka AI Lab. Driven by her deep commitment to creating a world where all young people can thrive as changemakers regardless of their background or birthplace, a purpose she shares with Dream a Dream, she continuously explores how technology can help transform this aspiration into reality.