It's easy to say the world needs to be changed, not so easy to do it. But you can make a difference, writes Louise Holden.

'Be the change you want to see in the world." Gandhi's words can seem too much of a challenge to put into practice when children, jobs and homes drain our resources. The ideals we grew up with can fade into the background. We didn't have the power then and we don't have the time now, right?

The Young Social Innovators competition, launched for transition-year students in 2001, is giving the power to people who are prepared to use it. As project co-ordinator Rachel Collier tells transition-year students considering the challenge: "This programme is not like any you will have done before. It's an opportunity to take on the world and change it."

Until now the project has been run on a pilot basis, with 50 schools taking part last year. This time round the scheme is going national, and 100 schools - that's up to 4,000 students - have already signed up.

It's a thrilling prospect when you consider what each school will be doing for the year. Young social innovators are required to seek out injustice and set about tackling it. It can be anything from racism to road accidents to teenage crime.

The programme sets out a series of steps that students must take in order to effect change. It starts with research and information and finishes with action - although to say that it finishes is misleading. Many students continue the work they started long after the competition is over.

The girls of Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, who won last year's Young Social Innovators competition, are all set to finish what they started, despite the fact that transition year is over for them. Their winning project began last September, when six students sat around and talked about social issues.

What really bothered them about the society they lived in? The team agreed that they were fed up of hearing scare stories about asylum seekers and refugees when they had little or no information about who these people were or how they lived their lives. They decided to find out more.

Anne Kenna, Loreto Balbriggan's Young Social Innovators co-ordinator, describes how the six set about tackling prejudice in their own school. "The students began by examining the real attitudes of their schoolmates when it came to asylum seekers and refugees. They also wanted to find out how much students knew about these groups. They carried out a school-wide survey of attitudes and impressions. They were surprised by what they found. Students were not racist as such, but they expressed hostility and suspicion. The vast majority had no idea what the terms 'asylum seeker' and 'refugee' really meant."

Armed with this information, the team invited Bobby Gilmore of the Irish Refugee Trust to come to the school to talk about the issues. This was a good start, but the girls knew they needed to get out into the community to find out for themselves.

"The team contacted Jane Spearman at the centre in Mosney, Co Meath, where asylum seekers are housed while waiting for their applications to be processed," says Kenna. "Staff at the centre were happy to let the students meet with residents and discuss their experiences of living in Ireland. They had to some very open and frank talks with residents, as well as being shown around the centre."

Over a series of visits the students learned many positive lessons about the lives and cultures of Mosney residents. It also became clear, however, just how isolated the centre and its residents had become. That isolation was exemplified, they felt, by the fact that no train stops anywhere near Mosney. They resolved to tackle that issue in the long term. In the short term they felt it was time to penetrate the social barriers that stood between Mosney and the rest of the country.

"We organised a cultural evening at the centre and invited students from Loreto to attend," says Moira Lawrence, one of the students. "Two Irish teachers from the school arranged a céilí. Some of the African residents demonstrated dance styles from their homelands, and poems and songs were recited. The younger residents mixed with first years from our school, and the adults, teachers and older students got to know each other better."

Everyone had such a good time that they plan to make the cultural evening an annual event. They have produced a CD-ROM with photographs and testimonials profiling life at Mosney. They also bagged the award for Young Social Innovators of 2004.

"It was brilliant to win the competition, but the real bonus was what we all took from the experience on a personal level," says Moira. "We got to know the facts about refugees and asylum seekers, so we will never be shaken by scaremongering again. We spread this information around our school so that others could benefit. We formed new relationships at Mosney with people we would never have met otherwise. Personally, I learned loads about teamwork, public speaking and social issues. It has definitely given me a new perspective on what I'm capable of and the type of career I might pursue."

The real issue for Moira and her classmates is that they don't lose sight of what they set out to do. They have approached Iarnród Éireann about a poster campaign on the Dublin-Meath line and are hoping to persuade it to establish a stop at Mosney.

"Trying to change attitudes in society is exasperating: you come up against so many closed doors," Moira sighs. "The challenge is pushing them open. We took that on and enjoyed every minute of it. We won't stop now."

• If you are interested in applying for this year's competition you had better get moving: the closing date is this Friday. Apply online at www.young socialinnovators.ie or contact Rachael Collier at 01-6458030