The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award
The Award is a global framework for non-formal education and learning, which challenges young people to dream big, celebrate their achievements and make a difference in their world. Through developing transferable skills, increasing their fitness levels, cultivating a sense of adventure and volunteering in their community, the Award helps young people to find their purpose, passion and place in the world.
It operates in more than 130 countries and territories, helping to inspire millions of young people. And although the Award’s framework remains the same wherever it is delivered, no two Awards are the same. Instead, each young person designs and creates their own bespoke programme, unique to them. There are currently more than a million young people doing their Award around the world, via hundreds of thousands of youth-focused partners and operators, including schools, youth organisations, examination boards and youth offender institutions.
Award participants can log into their ORB
Connect with other like minded individuals
Find the Award in your country
Find other adults in the Award
We at The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation are the engine that drives and supports the Award’s growth, access and impact across the globe.
We are not limited by boundaries and are committed to making the Award available to 1% of the youth population by 2023, which is 7.9m young people. This represents a 600% growth on current participation numbers.
It is our long term ambition that every eligible young person aged 14 – 24 will have the opportunity to participate in the Award. Our vision is that 20% of them are from at risk and marginalised communities for whom the Award can be truly life-changing.
What does the Award mean to you? Tell us about your story and upload a photo which shows your Award in action and be in to win one of three cash prizes of £250!
Whether it was your first night camping under the stars, that special memory of helping someone, or the moment you mastered a new skill or topped your personal best in physical activity, everyone has #WorldReady Award moments. And we’d like to hear more about yours!
Our impact
For more than 60 years, the Award has been helping young people transform their lives and their communities. We empower young people to develop ‘soft’ – or universal – skills such as resilience, adaptability, creativity, problem solving, decision-making and communication. Developing these skills supports the achievement of long-term positive life outcomes, including educational attainment, employment and mental health and wellbeing. In other words, we help young people to achieve personal change in their lives, which itself can lead to positional change in their environments.
The Award framework can be a blueprint for investing in human capital; specifically strengthening resilience, improving employability and entrepreneurship, promoting prosperity and helping the most vulnerable. It has direct positive financial and non-financial impacts on the people and communities it touches, and in 2020 alone, it had an impact of more than £400m globally.
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