Make The Change is inspired by the Buddhist ideal of “Alaia“ a never-perishing consciousness, which recognizes the importance of understanding and taking responsibility for our impacts in the present and for future generations.
We empower students with a holistic understanding of the themes they learn about.
With Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as our goal, we equip learners with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate a changing world.
Our vision goes beyond theory, providing real-world learning experiences directly from local examples, facilitated by teachers who bring successful researched pedagogical thinking frameworks to support learning.
Make The Change was founded with a clear mission: to revolutionize education and empower the next generation as empathetic problem solvers and changemakers. Recognizing the limitations of traditional education models, our founder, Diya Kanoria, a dedicated international high-school science teacher in Switzerland, embarked on a journey to create a new paradigm.
As she taught the International Baccalaureate (IB) Environmental Systems and Societies course, which emphasized systems thinking and interdisciplinary learning, it became evident that this kind of education, based on real-world applications and transcending subject boundaries, was essential for all students. Education should be holistic, values-driven, and equip students with the skills to thrive in an uncertain world.
However, she noticed that students became overwhelmed by the environmental challenges they learned about, resulting in despair and eco-anxiety. Existing curricula focused too heavily on content, lacking practical skills for real-world problem-solving. Inspired by the Green Educator’s Course at Green School Bali and realizing the urgency for change, our founder left the classroom after a decade of teaching, driven by a dream to develop a comprehensive curriculum that meets the needs of today’s students.
Make The Change represents a vision of quality education for all, empowering students to become leaders capable of addressing unpredictable problems.
At Make The Change, we aim to bring systems thinking into mainstream education, fostering empathy and empowering students to become the changemakers our world needs.
“I feel personally fulfilled when I’m living life driven by my values, and that means doing something that helps the world. I also want to do something for my daughter, so that I don't have to explain to her in the future why I didn't try to change anything.”
Diya is a global citizen having lived in India, Hong Kong, UK, USA and Switzerland. An experienced international school educator, with a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Duke University and BSc in Pharmacology from University College London, she understands the transformative power of education and is a life-long learner.
She has a diverse professional background. Most recently, teaching and as a Curriculum Area Leader at Zurich International School. She has also worked as a neuroscientist, in the financial sector and in corporate and venture development, giving her a unique understanding of the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge, systems thinking, and a blend of eclectic skills to work on a variety of projects.
Myrto grew up in Ticino, Switzerland. Her journey led her to pursue studies in Environmental Science in Freiburg, Germany. Currently enrolled in a sustainability-focused master's program in Lausanne, she delves deeper into the social dimensions of interconnected challenges. Her dedication to the power and significance of education has been steady throughout her life. Particularly, she nurtures a strong desire to empower the younger generation, supporting them while navigating the complexity of the current world.
Diana’s journey as a teacher started nearly 20 years ago in Brazil in early childhood education. Since then she has navigated through a diverse range of experiences, including teacher’s training, parental education and the development of learning communities in diversified cultural settings. Since 2015 she has dedicated her work to researching, designing and facilitating learning experiences and projects inspired by Nature.
Diana integrates Permaculture, Systems Thinking and Participatory Leadership into her pedagogical approach in order to cultivate Care and Collaboration in Education and help learning communities develop the necessary skills, knowledge and mindset that will bring us all to a sustainable and regenerative way of living, in harmony with all existence.
Austina is founder of STEAMED Playground, which she created when she realized that what she watched, read, and experienced at an early age, shaped the ways she currently learns, plans, works, and makes decisions.
Before STEAMED Playground, she worked at different technology companies (Children’s Creativity Museum, Autodesk, Adobe, FrontRow … etc.) in Silicon Valley. As a designer and marketer, her focus was education, believing that proper education is the most important asset we can pass on to our children to ensure a better future. She has been heavily practising “Design Thinking” throughout her career and participated in multiple projects implementing Design Thinking in the education market in various ways.
She is also a co-author of the book 교육을 가로막는 벽 (The wall that prevents real education), published in her home country of South Korea.
Natascha is the the power behind "Believe", one of our partner organisations, driven to create a sustainable future through corporate education. With our missions and visions very much aligned, Natascha is the perfect fit to help us build community partnerships with corporations who are ready to make a change, and to bring an impactful business mindset into our curriculums.
Natascha has over 20 years of business experience in financial services, sustainable- and impact- Investing, communications / marketing. She was at UBS for 12 years in Wealth Management, a Board Advisor and Board Member.
