As guests on the Transformative Leadership Conference, Ashoka Fellows Myroslava Keryk (Poland) and Hannah Töpler (Mexico) shared their experiences and insights on changemaking in the context of migration and humanitarian crises. Both leaders are making significant impacts in their respective regions by addressing the challenges faced by migrants and refugees through innovative solutions. Facilitated by Joanna Kucharczyk-Jurgielewicz from Ashoka Poland & Ashoka Hello Accelerator, the session spotlighted how those most affected by migration and crisis are creating solutions—often faster and more effectively than traditional aid systems, the session spotlighted how those most affected by migration and crisis are creating solutions—often faster and more effectively than traditional aid systems.

The conversation centered on a powerful and timely question: What does accountability to affected populations (AAP) truly look like? For Joanna, AAP goes beyond consultation—it means centering the voices, leadership, and decisions of people with lived experience. It means ensuring they have the authority, resources, and power to shape their futures. In this framing, changemaking becomes a practice of empathy and agency—one that complements and strengthens AAP.

People on the Move as First Responders

Across the globe, people with lived experience of displacement are often the first to step up in times of crisis. They mobilize quickly, understand local needs, and act with empathy. Yet their leadership is too often overlooked or under-resourced by the formal humanitarian system.

“We are affected, so we act,” said Myroslava Keryk, describing how Ukrainian women in Poland and Ukraine immediately organized support networks following the full-scale invasion. 

We are affected. It's our parents our families and the war and the shelling who are escaping so this was understandable that we need to be engaged and for many women including our organization, the same day as we learned there was an attack, we organized the system how we can help.

Through her organization, Ukrainian House Foundation, Myroslava has witnessed firsthand how women stepped into leadership—founding nonprofits and launching social enterprises to support their communities. Their leadership, she emphasized, is not temporary—it must be recognized as permanent and transformational.

The report of Ukrainian House proofs the findings. Ukrainian House’s research highlights that these organizations were often the first to mobilize and provide tailored support, leveraging their cultural understanding and trust within the community. This approach underscores the critical role of proximate leaders in effectively addressing the needs of affected populations. This immediate and deeply rooted action speaks to the core of AAP: when affected people lead, responses are faster, more relevant, and grounded in trust.

Changemaking from the Ground Up

Hannah Töpler leads Intrare, a tech-enabled platform in Mexico that connects migrants and other marginalized individuals to employment. Intrare emerged as a response to the exclusion many migrants face—not only from formal labor markets, but from traditional humanitarian aid systems.

Most of the people we work with are living in poverty and informality,” Hannah shared. “They don’t exist in the eyes of the system. But we see them. We listen—and we build with them.

By leveraging tools like WhatsApp, Intrare bypasses bureaucratic bottlenecks and reaches people directly. The platform not only supports migrants in building employability but also helps shift narratives in the private sector—positioning migration as a source of talent, not a risk.

This kind of proximate, data-informed innovation expands the practice of AAP by designing tools that respond directly to the needs, aspirations, and lived realities of people on the move.

Why Local Leaders Must Be Trusted and Funded

Changemaking means that a person at certain point in life spots a problem in their own surroundings and acts towards solving it, using empathy and activating others for joint actions. Across the globe, changemaking is observable, when neighbors, family, community members and many more react as first responders to crises —even when they, too, are vulnerable and directly affected by the situation. The professional humanitarian system seems to overlook this great social entrepreneurial force of locals. How, embracing the fact that the local responders, the proximate leaders, are the first to give aid to people in need, how can we ensure that they have the power, authority, competencies, and capacity to provide this support?

Despite their impact, local changemakers often lack access to resources. Myroslava emphasized that in Ukraine, 99% of humanitarian funding goes to international organizations, with just 1% reaching local civil society. Even that is tied to heavy bureaucratic requirements, creating barriers for the very actors closest to the crisis.

Similarly, Hannah described how her team struggled for years to gain recognition. “We were told we didn’t belong in humanitarian spaces—because we were a startup, not an INGO,” she said. But innovation doesn’t always come from institutions. It comes from need. And from listening.

There are at least a million people in Mexico trying to find a foothold. It is difficult to determine where they are and how exposed they are to violence. Thirty percent of migrant women in northern Mexico have suffered at least one kidnapping attempt. This is extreme violence, and we must react more intelligently.

Hannah found a solution that allows access to the people who are not registered nor documented anyhow, thanks to a tech savvy tool, which was impossible to develop by big international, traditional humanitarian actors. Intrare is a missing piece in effective response to people in need.

Innovation Requires Openness

Both speakers called for a more open, collaborative humanitarian system—one that sees local knowledge, lived experience, and entrepreneurship as assets, not obstacles.

“The humanitarian space is often closed to experimentation,” Hannah noted. “But without openness, we can’t expect meaningful innovation. We need to shift from gatekeeping to partnership.”

Their stories offer a compelling vision: a humanitarian response system that recognizes affected individuals as full partners—not passive recipients.

Changemaking as a Pathway Forward

The leadership of Myroslava and Hannah exemplifies a broader truth: changemakers are everywhere, especially in communities that have historically been excluded. When those closest to the challenges lead the solutions, responses become more relevant, resilient, and rooted in dignity.

Their work embodies the principles of AAP—authentic inclusion, trust, and shared power. It reminds us that accountability isn’t a checkbox—it’s a commitment to co-creating solutions with those most affected, and to recognizing them not only as first responders but as long-term visionaries.

As Hello Accelerator continues to build collaborative solutions in the field of migration, stories like these illuminate the path forward. They remind us that the most powerful responses don’t come from the top—they rise from within communities, fueled by lived experience, courage, and vision.

This is what real systemic change looks like: empathy turned into action, leadership rooted in proximity, and transformation driven by those who have walked the journey themselves. When we trust and invest in local changemakers, we don’t just respond to crisis—we reimagine what’s possible.