Elsa Da Costa: Making Civic Engagement Everyone’s Business

In a conversation moderated by Marieke Huysentruyt, Professor at HEC Paris and Academic Director of the S&O Center and the Impact Lab, Elsa Da Costa shared a firm conviction: with climate, social, economic, and geopolitical crises deeply interconnected, transforming society must become a collective responsibility.

As head of Ashoka France, she supports social entrepreneurs who tackle the root causes of problems and develop new solutions. Some of their initiatives have profoundly changed society, including the Nutri-Score food labeling system and France’s civic service program. These examples show that innovation comes from businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations, which also serve as testing grounds for public policy.

In her book À nos cœurs vaillants, manifeste pour une culture de l’engagement, Elsa Da Costa makes a simple case: civic engagement should move beyond the image of a handful of heroes willing to sacrifice everything for a cause.

Achieving this means enabling everyone to contribute in their own way and giving greater recognition to the contributions people already make. Elsa Da Costa proposes, in particular, that France’s grandes écoles create pathways allowing recent graduates to dedicate the first years of their careers to the common good without being financially disadvantaged.

This recognition must also extend to the economy. According to figures cited during the discussion, France’s 20 million volunteers contribute an estimated €24 billion in value. Yet this wealth remains largely invisible because it comes from donated time rather than financial transactions.

In her closing remarks, Elsa Da Costa reminded students of the responsibility that will come with their future roles. Whatever path they choose, their decisions will affect society:

“You are going to transform society, whether you want to or not.”