What is Social Value?
The social value of the Award, simply put, is the positive impact created by the Award for and through its stakeholders, valued in monetary terms.
Since 2017, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation’s award-winning research team has been working with PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PwC) to understand the societal level impact of the Award. Together we have developed a robust methodology to measure this. Our pioneering research estimates that in 2023, The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award had an impact of $1,408 million USD (£940m) of global social value across more than 120 countries and territories.
And with a projected future global social value of $3,712 million USD (£2,447m) to be generated through the continued habits of those Award Holders, it demonstrates the significant impact that the Award can have long after a participant has completed their Award.
256,167
$1,408m
through young people completing their
Award in 2023 and those who supported
their Award journey
$3,712m
generated through the continued habits of
Award holders
Social Value by Impact Area
Young people experience social value through their participation in each Award section; these activities have been shown to increase regular skills practice, regular physical activity, and regular volunteering, as well as increased confidence, agency, social inclusion, and provide relief from anxiety, for example.
Adult mentors experience value through volunteering, increased physical activity from joining participants on their Adventurous Journeys, and learning new skills by completing Award training, which sometimes translates to increased earnings.
Society benefits come through the hours young people spend volunteering for local charitable and community causes during their Voluntary Service section and Gold Residential Projects.
To explore these findings, you can read the full 2024 Global Social Value Report HERE.
Social Value in our National Award Operators
Whilst the Award’s framework is the same across the world, there are differences in the way it is delivered, how the adults are involved, the magnitude of change young people experience in their lives, and so on. All these contextual factors affect the valuation and makes each country’s social value analysis unique to that country. Therefore, the results should always be interpreted within its national context
Lear more about the Social Value in our National Award Operators here.
Additional Resources
- While we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it presented significant challenges for the Award; despite this, the findings in our 2020 Building the Future report demonstrates how the Award network continued to deliver significant global impact.
- The Changing Lives in the Changing World report illustrates the Award’s social value model and its methodology, which continues to develop, and represents an important step in The Foundation’s ambition to strengthen the measurement and reporting of the Award’s impact.
- In 2024, as part of a new partnership with the World Bank, and as incoming members of the World Bank’s S4YE Coalition Impact Portfolio, and S4YE Comms working group, our research department teamed up with S4YE on a Knowledge Brief: ‘Measuring Social Value: a new approach to measuring impact of youth employment programmes’. The Knowledge Brief highlights our method and shares useful insights for other youth organisations interested in measuring and enhancing their social value.
For more information, contact: [email protected]
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