My World My Home is a prestigious leadership development programme for young people between the ages of 16 and 24 delivered in association with Friends of the Earth.
Over the course of a year, students taking part innovate, organise and build their skills to lead a local community campaign to effect real, positive, change for the environment, whilst working towards an accredited qualification in community campaigning. Each student is supported by a coach who offers package of face-to-face training sessions, 1:1s, and a bespoke coursebook as they build connections with others to design, deliver and evaluate a local environmental justice campaign. Participation in the programme can lead to an Award in Community Campaigning (level 3), accredited by OCN London. The qualification awards students 8 UCAS points, and the equivalent financial value for each student completing the course is �6,000.
My World My Home has been running since 2016 and is one of 31 projects funded through the National Lottery Community Fund�s Our Bright Future programme. Each project funded by the programme is designed to support young people (aged 11-24) to act as catalysts for delivering change for their communities and the environment. To date, My World My Home has involved over 9000 students in total, working with over 300 in more depth in 20 colleges and schools in three regions across the UK: London, Bristol and South East Wales and East Midlands.
As we head into the final year of Our Bright Future funding, we've summarised the impacts and benefits we've seen across four themes:
For individuals
Students are at the heart of My World My Home, with the personalised approach to supporting them to contribute and lead on issues that are important to them, both individually and collectively, providing the following benefits:
- Providing a space for their voices to be heard
- Building knowledge of fundamental issues facing society today, such as the climate crisis
- Improving self-confidence and a belief in their ability to achieve change
- Opportunities to make connections within and beyond their peer groups
- Developing vital skills, such as communication and team work
- Understanding their potential
- Contributing to an overall improvement in college life
"We, the students, are all very different, where we come from and our interests (culturally and the way we speak) but we connected over the little things - like wanting to make a difference."
For places
The colleges and communities in which My World My Home is taking place have also experienced benefits. These include the environmental improvements, stemming from actions achieved by students involved in the project including cleaner air, greener surroundings, less traffic, less waste/litter and more sustainable food.
Students have also gone on to drive changes in other settings beyond their college, for example as they continue into higher education, or within their workplace.
For institutions
As well as proving beneficial at a range of levels for individual students taking part in My World My Home, the colleges and organisations involved have also experienced value in the following ways:
- Developing stronger networks and relationships both within and beyond the college
- Improving the diversity of voices within environmental organisations
- Supporting the development of a new generation of environmental activism
- Making steps towards whole-institution change, for example zero-carbon campuses
Across systems
The project can also be described as contributing to systemic change, in relation to the environment, but also in relation to the education system the participating colleges and students are part of:
- By providing a space for young people to engage with and transform their environments
- Through revealing the injustices they face in realtion to the environment, whilst also providing a means of addressing these experiences
- By providing a transformational learning experience in furhter education, beyond traditional classroom approaches
Read more detail in our summary report available here.
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