Feeling competitive? Great, I’ve got just the contest for you. No, it’s not tennis or hoops, not billiards, bowling or a marathon. This is competition for good. And I encourage you to get involved.

Changemakers.net is “an initiative of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public that focuses on the rapidly growing world of social innovation. It provides solutions and resources needed to help everyone become a changemaker and presents compelling stories that explore the fundamental principles of successful social innovation around the world”.

Changemakers innovation is the concept of “open source social solutions”. I’m guessing many of you have heard of open source software development — where software developers around the globe can contribute to the rapid development of public software. Well Changemakers is doing the same thing for solving social problems.

The Changemakers site invites ordinary citizens to enter or participate in a “competition” for the best solutions to really tough problems. From solving the water crisis to helping young men at risk, participants in the Changemakers competition can post their suggested solution and get input from smart, engaged people around the world to help improve the idea. The competition “Sport for a Better World” currently has 382 entries from 69 countries with 1566 comments from people contributing to solutions. Pretty cool if you ask me.

The winner of the competition, voted on by participants, is awarded $5000 to work on their program. But that’s not nearly as cool as the value of all of those ideas coming together in one place. That, I might say, is priceless.

So if you’re looking for a way to engage in the world and you have a desire to help, I suggest visiting Changemakers.net. Who knows, you might end up on a winning team!