GOLD
NextGenLeaders: Empowering the next generation of socially responsible leaders
The Enactus UK NextGenLeaders Programme is a youth leadership initiative aimed at empowering young individuals to become responsible leaders through project-based learning and youth participatory action. The programme focusses on social mobility cold-spots and involves students as young as Year 7; fostering qualities of curiosity, creativity, and empathy as they collaborate to address real-world challenges head-on.
Partnering with schools with significant numbers of pupil premium students, the programme equips these Changemakers with a deep understanding of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through tailored tasks, research, and seminars conducted in collaboration with partner organisations. Guided by mentors, the students design their own community projects. Past initiatives have targeted diverse groups as Changemakers decide who they identify as their ‘community’ and what their community needs, so the ‘communities’ have included ‘young neurodivergent individuals’, ‘youth at risk of knife crime in S2 and S9 postcode areas’, ‘homeless people who have periods’ and ‘young carers’.
Over the last year, over 300 Changemakers have worked on their own projects in NextGenLeader schools. In 2022-23, almost 6000 people benefitted directly from the impact of the NextGenLeader projects, all designed and implemented by Changemakers as young as 11 years old.
SILVER
Stickerbook and CBRE: Making Sustainability Education Child’s Play!
In 2020 CBRE uncovered a startling statistic- 100% of employees intended to learn more about sustainability (gain green skills) and 98% wanted to get more involved with their sustainability strategy.
The question was how to meet this demand. Webinars proved time-intensive and ineffective, and the existing long-form Learning was underused (only 48 people completed a sustainability course in 2020).
The scope was clear – provide colleagues with a platform they would voluntarily use with content that met their demand for on-the-job green skills.
CBRE partnered with Stickerbook to pilot a programme that converted their sustainability strategy and green skills for the real-estate sector into an online sticker book – making it simple, quick and social for colleagues to get involved. As sticker collecting is a concept we understand from school, the idea was to make sustainability education child’s play!
Since 2021, the project has expanded to 28 European and Asia-Pacific countries, with over 6,390 voluntary users and 188,797 stickers collected – equating to over 10,732 hours of voluntary sustainability training and 53,000 sustainability actions taken.
Returning to their goals, 98% of users recommend Stickerbook for sustainability learning (meeting their demand) and 96% now feel more involved with their sustainability strategy.
BRONZE
Sustainable Hive CIC: Re-Fuse
E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Reports suggest by 2040 the production and use of electronics will make up 14% of global carbon emissions. Many of earth’s most valuable minerals aren’t in the ground but are sitting unused in people’s homes or landfill. Phones and tech are integral to Gen-Z living; 40% of 18-24 year-olds replace their smartphone within two years. Less than half (47%) realise that phones thrown in the general waste bin will end up in landfill or incinerated. But e-waste – waste from electronic items – isn’t on the cultural radar in the same way as second-hand fashion is for young people.
Re-Fuse is a hands-on workshop engaging 9-11 year olds in conversations about electrical and tech waste. Challenging upgrade cultures, demonstrating how devices are global products by separating appliances into components and exploring where they come from and how they are mined. Children learn through practical activities; testing and sorting donations for repairs, learning basic repair skills, removing copper from obsolete cables for recycling, and dismantling waste for recycling and repurposing. 1859 pupils from 67 schools attended with 37 opting to continue action back at school reaching a further 10,381 people.