Kehkashan Basu, an advocate for people and planet, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about how empathy for people and the planet felt normal to her from childhood. She shares how she began her advocacy at seven, founded an organization at 12 and now works across 26 countries. What emerged is her conviction that someone has to take the first step, and that change works best when it is local, holistic and led by the people closest to it.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Kehkashan Basu, Advocate for people and planet who founded a youth-led organization at age 12
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released April 8, 2022
- Format: conversation, 52 minutes
- Topics: Empathy for people and planet, Taking the first step, Intergenerational solidarity, Intersectional, holistic change, Local leaders as the source of change, Rejecting one-size-fits-all solutions
What Kehkashan brought to the conversation
Kehkashan Basu started her work for people and planet at seven, with neighborhood recycling campaigns and visits to schools, and was invited to speak at her first international conference at 11. At 12 she invited five friends to join her and founded an organization that creates a platform of learning that turns into ground level action, and it is coming up on its tenth year. The organization now works in 26 countries through a decentralized, non-hierarchical network in which local chapter heads lead the work and the organization acts as a catalyst. Her approach addresses issues across the sustainability spectrum together, from equality and education to biodiversity, nuclear disarmament and decent work.
What emerged
The central idea is the first step. Kehkashan Basu weighed her passion against the resistance she faced, and her passion won out each time, because she believes someone has to take the first step and she wanted that person to be her, so she could inspire others to do the same. Niiamah Ashong reflected this back as response ability, the space to choose how to respond rather than react. A second shift came from her reframe of generations: it is good versus bad, not generation versus generation, which Niiamah Ashong said opened up new possibilities in his own thinking about youth and adults working together.
Questions this episode answers
Why do young leaders and older generations need to work together on climate and social change?
Kehkashan Basu says there is good and bad in every generation, and today's young people are moving ahead on the shoulders of older generations who dedicated their lives to change. Her organization works with people of all ages, including retired activists, because it sees intergenerational solidarity as essential.
Why should a leader take the first step instead of waiting for someone else?
Kehkashan Basu says many people think someone else will take the first step, but it was important to her to take it, and she takes that step every day. By taking it herself, she aims to inspire others to take it too.
Why do one-size-fits-all solutions fail in sustainability work?
Kehkashan Basu says every person, community and country is unique, so her organization's solutions are localized even when they look the same on paper. She sees the promotion of a one-size-fits-all solution as very harmful.
What does an intersectional approach to climate change look like?
Kehkashan Basu connects climate change with poverty, noting that it has affected more vulnerable communities for years, and within them women, girls and people of color. Her organization addresses these issues together rather than in silos.
How can a decentralized organization lead change across many countries?
Kehkashan Basu describes a network rather than a hierarchy, in which the people living in each community are best suited to lead change. Her organization acts as a catalyst that inspires, educates and supports, while local chapter heads take the work forward.
In their words
For me it was really important that I took that first step and I take that step every single day.
Kehkashan Basu
Really good versus bad in this scenario, not generation versus generation.
Kehkashan Basu
Every single community, every single country is unique and we can't use a one-size-fits-all solution.
Kehkashan Basu
Key moments
02:05 – Empathy for people and planet
03:38 – Starting her advocacy at seven
08:54 – Counting small changes as success
14:36 – Intergenerational solidarity
20:47 – Founding an organization at 12
28:01 – Taking the first step
31:44 – Responsibility as response ability
33:17 – Addressing issues holistically, not in silos
40:03 – Local leaders, organization as catalyst
45:14 – What makes the organization different
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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