Celebrating an incredible year of Inspire 2022 events and youth-led social action!

Dozens of social action events delivered across all four UK nations; hundreds of young people inspired to lead on events; and thousands of other people engaged, involved and attending – what a year it’s been for Inspire 2022!

Marking the tenth anniversary of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Inspire 2022 was launched with the aim of using events as a springboard for young people to design positive activities for their own communities, bridging community divides and giving young people a voice. 

Inspire is delivered by UK Youth in partnership with British Red Cross, Youth Action Northern Ireland, Youth Cymru, Youth Scotland and regional youth organisations who support young people in their local communities. 

Young people have been at the forefront from the start co-designing the programme. At its core the programme’s youth led nature sees young people planning and delivering events; alongside leading on their own journey of social engagement, social learning, social action, and youth leadership, whilst also bringing positive change to their communities. 

Events have been taking place across the UK, focusing on a range of themes including mental health, the environment, equalities awareness, community cohesion, physical activity and healthy living. 

As a consequence of those events, we know that: 

• Young people’s personal wellbeing increases through events-based youth-led social action​ 
• Young people and youth organisations feel empowered to organise and lead on event-based social action activities for their communities
• Youth organisations leave a lasting legacy of community cohesion, embedded through youth-led social action 

Rachel Collins, a youth worker in Scotland, said: “For each individual group, putting their own Inspire event on for the community is a big thing. The idea of bringing everyone together and making sure everyone is included is such a big focus for the young people. Our groups are making sure everyone in the community is included in these activities – especially if people aren’t usually able to take part in community events due to costs barriers.”  
 
“I’ve watched groups of young people coming in to sessions feeling very unsure at the beginning of the programme, to seeing them flourish throughout the programme. Seeing them take part in the first activity to the last, I can see how much they have developed over this time. 

“For young people, seeing their ideas come alive and then be fully developed into an actual event, has helped them to realise that their ideas can happen and that they can make a change in their community. I’d encourage youth organisations to get involved in youth social action, it’s done a lot for our young people’s confidence and I’m excited to see the wider impact that will come from this.”

Louise Malone, a youth worker in Northern Ireland, added: “Inspire helps encourage and motivate young people to take part in something they have never experienced before. It helps them realise injustices and inequalities in communities, and helps them address it. 

“It also teaches them that coming together and doing something in your community actually enhances citizenship skills. It really is an important opportunity to develop people’s life skills, budgeting, decision making, and problem solving. 

“I’m so impressed with the variety of different themes young people have thought of – everything from homelessness to taking part in a football tournament, being involved in International Women’s Day, to developing LGBTQ+ community groups. Well done to everyone involved!” 
 

Edie is an Inspire participant in England. She said: “Our event idea was a ‘Trashion’ show to spread awareness about issues. We wanted to make a difference to climate change and raise awareness on how this will affect people’s mental health. We will be donating profits from the Trashion show to ‘The Hope’, a local foodbank which many people use. 

“Following the event, we want to see people have more understanding of mental health and how to support one another in the community. I’ve really enjoyed being a part of this, I’ve loved how nice everyone has been and it feels really nice to be making a difference.” 

Inspire 2022 is funded by £1.2m from Spirit of 2012 and £500,000 from the #iwill Fund (a joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport). 

Click here to view our interactive map of events across the UK – and see how your community can get involved with upcoming local Inspire events and youth-led social action