Over the last four years, 8,000 young people, aged 11-24, have taken part in the charity’s youth development programme through Young Farmers’ Clubs, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and post- primary Special Schools. Together they have clocked up 500 training courses and carried out over 600 projects benefiting their environment and 500 local communities.

Among the 27 awards presented, a special award was given to Dara McAnulty, age 16, for the publication of his debut award-winning nature book, ‘The Diary of a Young Naturalist’ and for his contribution to the Grassroots Challenge Youth Forum. Dara made his first public speech at the 2017 ceremony and once again, captivated the audience with compelling and uplifting prose as the evening’s guest speaker.

Other award winners included:

Lisnamurrican Young Farmer’s Club who were the first club to achieve the prestigious Green Flag Award in Northern Ireland. Twenty Young Farmers’ Clubs have been supported to take part in the Eco Club Award Scheme to date, in partnership with Keep NI Beautiful.  

Banbridge Youth Club for their work transforming their disused club garden into a space for nature and for everyone to enjoy, as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award.  Over 50 schools and youth groups have now engaged with the programme through the volunteering, skills, expedition, and residential sections of the Award scheme.

Parkview Special School for their enthusiasm and leadership in delivering environmental workshops throughout the pandemic. Throughout the programme, over 20 Special Schools received grants and support to promote and learn about biodiversity in their school grounds.

Adult leaders who work with groups, in schools, youth groups and young farmers to facilitate the Grassroots Challenge and those who were particularly inspiring during the Covid 19 lockdown.

Praising the award-winners and members of the Youth Forum who hosted the event, Alexey Janes, coordinator of Ulster Wildlife’s Grassroots challenge programme, said: 

“A huge well done to everyone that has taken part in the programme, especially this year during such difficult and challenging times.  Every generation has what it takes to create real positive change. It is simply a matter of having the confidence and support to do so and we hope to encourage thousands more young people to take action for nature.”

A highlight of the virtual event was the release of a positive evaluation report of the programme by Dr Karen Kerr from Queen’s University of Belfast. The report indicated that young people felt more connected to nature, rated their leadership competence as higher, as well as their ability to influence environmental policy decisions as result of their engagement in the programme. They also recognised that making a difference for nature makes a difference for them. 

Karen continued, "Young people said they want to make a difference for nature but cited a lack of opportunities and/or the promotion of existing ones as a major issue. They would like to see more projects and activities like this, and propose that “support” should come from Government and local authorities to include funding and education initiatives.”

The Grassroots Challenge is part of Our Bright Future, a programme of 31 projects across the UK co-ordinated by the Wildlife Trusts and funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.   Find out more at www.ulsterwildlife.org/grassroots

EDITOR’s NOTES

1. Kerr, K. (2020) Report for Ulster Wildlife: An evaluation of the Grassroots Challenge Project 2019-20. Belfast: School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast.
2. Grassroots Challenge Award Winners 2020