The sparkly lights, piles of mince pies and vast numbers of coughing children and teachers would suggest it’s nearly the end of the year. And what a year it has been for Social Innovation for All! There are many ups and downs on the rollercoaster of building a new impact-led organisation, but today I’m going to unashamedly share just a few of the highlights of 2024...
Our programmes got better
At the start of the year we achieved Skills Builder accreditation for our Young Green Briton Challenge design workshops and Eco Pioneers , validating that students build essential transferable skills, such as teamwork, communication, creativity and problem solving.
Later in the year we started two very exciting pilots focused on Project Qualifications. Together with Co-op Academy Belle Vue and Pearson EdExcel we are linking the Young Green Briton Challenge to a Higher Project Qualification. This means that by the summer around 30 Year 8 learners will have achieved a Level 2 qualification through documenting and reflecting on their experience of putting their Young Green Briton Challenge ideas into action.
Alongside this we are making our first foray into post 16 education, partnering with Connell Co-op College in Manchester to pilot an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) called UPSHIFT for sustainability. We are using UNICEF’s UPSHIFT curriculum to enable students to research sustainability challenges ranging from medical waste to sustainable transport and then design solutions.
Project qualifications have existed for many years, but the Higher Project Qualification is not widely known, whilst the Extended Project Qualification is often thought to be an extended essay. However, the framework itself is much more flexible and we think it shows real promise as a way to accredit student-led social innovation projects. Initial feedback from students and teachers is enthusiastic so watch this space during 2025…
We are working with a LOT more schools and students
Word is spreading about how green changemaking programmes can educate, skill and inspire students (and teachers!). From an initial pilot of our Eco Pioneers programme in 2023 with 3 schools we expanded to 7 schools in Sussex in 2024 (with thanks to Mid Sussex District Council support) and have extended the programme to a further 5 primary schools in Halton, Liverpool.
And together with all of our amazing partners we have put the rocket boosters under the Young Green Briton Challenge. In the pilot years we worked with 16 and 18 schools respectively. For 2024/25 we have an amazing 45 secondary schools signed up across England. That includes 6 special schools - we love to work in partnership to learn how best to support their students to access the Challenge and ensure we give everyone an opportunity to be a changemaker.
We have amazing new partners who are enabling us to scale our impact
We wouldn’t be able to do any of this without collaboration. We have built the Young Green Briton Challenge with GenEarth and the Ministry of Eco Education. 2024 has seen important new partnerships with EcoVida Routes to build a North-West regional YGBC hub and with Dr Meryl Batchelder of MEE and TerraLigo to build a North-East hub. Meanwhile the founding partners are focusing on London, Sussex and the South-East.
We have also been lucky to bring on board so many amazing new partners alongside our flagship partner - the Green Britain Foundation. These include the Liverpool City Region, the Connolly Foundation, the Adelphi group, the Nineveh Charitable Trust and the Shanly Foundation. But the highlight (for pure surprise factor) has to be answering the phone to the People’s Postcode Lottery who told me there was a Millionaire Street in our area and that they would like to make an unsolicited grant to SI4A. It’s rare to pick up the phone to an unknown number that isn’t a scam call so this really restored my faith in telecommunications!
We have new people
We are growing as an organisation and were thrilled to welcome Caspian Woods and Caroline Allen who are bringing a wealth of skills and experience as non-executive directors.
We are also starting to build our facilitator network for the Young Green Briton Challenge, welcoming Farah Khan and Tanwen Morgan (at opposite ends of the country).
We are energised by the ideas young people are creating
But the biggest and most important thing to celebrate are the ideas and ventures that students are creating. Design workshops can be exhausting, but the creativity and innovation on display from students is always energising and motivating.
It was an absolute privilege to be hosted by the Mayor of London at City Hall for our national Young Green Briton Challenge celebration event. If you couldn’t be with us you can catch up with what happened here.
It was also exciting to be able to place an order for seed cards from Team Evergreen, one of our teams from St Christopher’s School in Accrington who took part in 2022/23. Their micro business is still going strong nearly two years on!
So what does the New Year hold?
There is lots of excitement ahead! January is going to be an incredibly busy month for YGBC with over 20 design workshops booked in and over 30 new volunteers for GenEarth to onboard.
We are already starting to look towards the 2025/26 academic year in terms of funding and delivery partnerships. Along with continuing to grow YGBC in our focus areas, we are hoping to explore partnerships in the South West and to build our Project Qualification pilots with a Changemaker EPQ.
If you think any of this sounds interesting and would like to explore working together in 2025 please get in touch. (But first of all I’m going to switch off for 2 whole weeks and eat, drink and be merry!)
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