Ready for launch in December 2025
Changemaker concept
Interactive self-development and engagement tool – fun to play and with serious outcomes.
Changemaker Game is a unique, active way to engage young people in a series of concrete challenges rooted in social, developmental, individual, community or global issues.
They work in teams, using their mobile phones to navigate and be electronically and visually introduced to a range of dilemmas on a city map – either a fictional city or a real one.
Working together, players come up with a solution to each challenge, then submit it electronically via their mobile phone and move on together to the next task.
Changemaker Game can be played simultaneously in multiple locations – even across different regions or countries. The game can include real locations or projects, for example those connected to local businesses, projects or sponsors supporting the game’s implementation.
After the young participants have played and submitted their input on the selected challenges, the data can be used to dig deeper in local partnerships and take action to co-create community projects and work together with supporting businesses as co-creative members of the local community.
Sponsors have the opportunity to be branded within the game and in the related activities. The involved companies and other stakeholders have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with some of the young people, involve them, and co-create.
In doing so, they also help create young ambassadors and generate goodwill – which is valuable when it comes to attracting and retaining employees, especially from the younger generation.
If, after completing the game, you’re interested in more, you can also choose to explore our youth novels CRAZY LONELY along with the accompanying teaching and training materials. Developed in collaboration with young people, these materials delve into various youth dilemmas and challenges in search of answers
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Youth novel CRAZY LONELY
Teaching and training materials
Changemaker Game
Our mission:
The mission is to strengthen the young people's self-esteem and to strengthen and support them in becoming Changemakers.
Give young people a new opportunity to make a difference - because everyone can make a difference regardless of their background, past and current situation.
Engaging in co-creation with young people = creating the feeling of co-ownership and co-responsibility and creating smaller/larger activities and projects that make a difference.
The target group:
Young people between 15-25 years of age and those who work with young people. School classes, youth clubs, after-schools, and local youth projects initiated by the decision makers in towns & cities together with young people.
The starting point is that ALL young people have challenges, have to deal with dilemmas in life, have joys and sorrows, and have dreams and wishes in life, but we also know that this approach works very well with young people from more vulnerable & socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
What can companies gain from sponsoring?
1. Real CSR with Real Impact
The Changemaker Project addresses key youth challenges – from loneliness, peer pressure, substance abuse, to self-esteem and mental health. By supporting this initiative, your company shows a genuine commitment to social responsibility, sustainability, and making a difference – aligning with your CSR and ESG strategies in a meaningful way.
2. Strong Branding and Public Visibility
Get associated with a powerful, youth-driven, and change-making movement. Your brand will be featured in an environment filled with energy, hope, and positive transformation – through the game, the novel Crazy Lonely, and public youth-created actions. This offers authentic brand exposure to the next generation and enhances your company’s public image.
3. Access to Youth Talent & Innovation
Changemaker is not just about participation – it’s about co-creation. The young people involved are actively working on ideas and solutions for real-world dilemmas. Supporting the project gives your company early access to creative, socially engaged, and solution-oriented young minds – exactly the kind of talent that shapes future Innovation.
4. Local and Global Engagement
The project can be customized to local cities and communities, which means your company can support visible, local change. At the same time, the project has international connections and contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11: Sustainable Cities & SDG 16: Peace & Justice), offering opportunities for global impact and partnerships.
5. Be a Partner in Real Change
This is more than a sponsorship – it’s a partnership in shaping a better future. Your company will be part of a dynamic ecosystem that empowers young people to take action in their lives, their communities, and beyond.
Your support doesn’t just fund a project – it fuels transformation.
10 years of co-creation with young people has created CRAZY LONELY.
It is a fictional story based on real-life episodes shared by those involved in the co-creation process. However, it is also a dialogue, coaching and involvement tool. The suggested development for the readers happens when they are invited to make creative mini-products based on the story and take the dilemmas and/or the characters further to create further expressions of change in their own lives and their society.
In Crazy Lonely, dilemmas are introduced around:
Dreams in life - Alcohol and drugs - Group pressure - Loneliness and isolation - Bullying. Body image and sexuality - Expectations and stress - Negative self-images - The pursuit of success and recognition - Money for better or for worse
Those involved in its co-design and co-production tell us that working with these issues:
- Strengthened their confidence and self-esteem to take action on change and development.
- Helped them create a positive and innovative mindset (I can change my situation / I can make a difference).
- Helped them defeat loneliness, boredom and isolation
- Allowed them to work with others to build a Community spirit, to take social responsibility and make a difference.
- Supported them to articulate their dreams and aspirations and taking action to bring them to fruition.
- Helped develop their creative power and interest.
- Helped them feel hopeful for the future.
We have created methods and media that make it safe and legitimate for young people, classes and groups to talk about these challenges. Both to help the individual (increased self-understanding), but also to understand and support others - in their peer group, their community, their society. Co-ownership and co-responsibility locally, as globally, does not come by itself.
We see, through the various projects we have carried out, that when the individual young person stands stronger in themselves, they become more active and proactive, and participate in problem solving. Qualities that also prepare young people well with the skills for adult leadership and changemaking in the world of work and business.
Changemaker Game – Game That Matters
Our Research Evidence and International Synergy
Rachel Rouncefield works as a senior lecturer in Education, Social Work and Youth & Community Work at De Montfort University, Leicester, England. She comes from practice both in education and the community and she has experience of leading and managing too. In every professional role held, she promotes holding young people in unconditional positive regard, and seeks to recognise young people’s talents and position as very important community members.
With support from the institution, Rachel was principal investigator in a nationwide and international research project into the efficacy of working in this co-creative way to empower young people. With Morten as a co-investigator and action research with groups across the UK and internationally, a new model of co-creative youth work has been developed. Alongside this, an International Co-Creation & Empowerment Support network has been built with university support and research at its hub.
The research project continues to develop - looking more closely at implementing the co-creative approach in specific locations and community clusters and exploring how these local, yet strategic, partnerships might utilise the co-creative approach most effectively.
Read more. Backed by International Research:
In a fictional city where young people face real and universal dilemmas, an engaging story unfolds—filled with challenges, choices, and solutions. Changemaker Game is not just a game; it is an interactive experience that brings today’s most pressing issues into play.
- Authentic Stories & Real-World Dilemmas
The game is based on realistic scenarios that young people worldwide can relate to—covering social, environmental, economic, and ethical issues.
- Players as Changemakers
Participants are not just navigating challenges; they are actively working together to find solutions. Through their choices, they develop critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to take action.
- Adapted to Real Cities
Changemaker Game can be customized for a specific city, incorporating local challenges to make the experience even more relevant and impactful for participants.
- A Game That Creates Change
The goal is to inspire young people to think in terms of solutions and take action in their own reality—whether it involves climate change, social inequality, discrimination, or the ethical dilemmas of technology.
DMU is also the UN global hub for SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, and has recently been selected as the global academic hub chair for SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities.
To work with us on THE CHANGEMAKERS concept:
Step 1: Play the CHANGEMAKER GAME.Begin the journey.
Step 2: Work with us through CRAZY LONELY NOVEL NO. 1.Begin educational journey.
Step 3: YOUNG PEOPLE CREATE THEIR OWN MINI PRODUCTS- use their creative power and discovering, among other things, that they also have their own story to tell.
Step 4: MAKE A DIFFERENCE.Involve young people in their local communities, cities and towns towards social action and CO-CRE8 Partnerships with appropriate institutions and adult decision makers.
Contact information:
My WHY is rooted in the fact that I faced challenges during my teenage years. In school, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, which often made me feel stupid and not good enough. But even without a long academic education, I’ve managed to break patterns and barriers in many areas of life.
I’ve had great success in the business world, working with well-known companies across Scandinavia and internationally. I’ve written five books – including my first one from 1996, "Fitting Together the Puzzle of Your Life", where I share my experiences and focus on knowledge sharing. Because I haven’t just experienced success – I’ve also faced many challenges and "failures" that have taught me just as much.
Alongside my consulting work, I’ve been involved in numerous youth projects in different countries –including The Butterfly Project in England from 2001 to 2008.
In 2022, I was diagnosed with cancer – but thankfully, I’m healthy today. That experience made my WHY even clearer: what I want to dedicate the rest of my life to, and the legacy I want to leave behind when I’m no longer here: To INSPIRE, MOTIVATE, and SUPPORT YOUNG PEOPLE – and to help them see how they can make a difference and become CHANGEMAKERS!
