{"id":7998,"date":"2021-06-24T10:41:46","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T10:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=7998"},"modified":"2022-01-26T12:00:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T12:00:43","slug":"empowering-young-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/06\/24\/empowering-young-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Young People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reading graduate, Jack Abrey, speaks to CONNECTED about the global climate campaign he led for the Scouts, the importance of empowering young people, and being awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to young people and to charity during COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Jack was a member of the Scouts from age six to 18 and, after studying Human and Physical Geography<\/a> at the University of Reading, embarked on a full-time career with the charity.<\/p>\n

Jack explains why choosing a career that would have a positive impact on others was important to him: \u201cScouts has always played a large part in my life and I wanted to give something back. The values of the Scouts \u2013 integrity, respect, care, belief and cooperation \u2013 align with my own, making the Scouts a great fit for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do this job because it genuinely makes a difference and I get to support causes that are close to my heart. As Scouts, helping others is in our DNA, and we\u2019ve been helping to leave the world a little better than we found it for over 100 years.”<\/p>\n

A crucial way in which the Scouts have made a difference is through their global climate campaign, #PromiseToThePlanet<\/a>, which Jack led on as Programme Delivery Executive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Promise to the planet<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Jack explains that looking after the environment, young people\u2019s passion to make a difference, and the drive to leave the world in a better place, have all been constants throughout the history of the Scouts \u2013 and these passions combined created the campaign which launched on 1 June 2021.<\/p>\n

Jack said: \u201cNaturally the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties [COP] was a big focus last year.<\/p>\n

\n

“But we know that the climate crisis is very much at the forefront of young people\u2019s minds every year. They\u2019re constantly telling us that it\u2019s one of their biggest concerns; young people aren\u2019t na\u00efve and they want to take action.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWith COP shining the spotlight on the climate crisis, we were keen to use that to build some momentum behind our campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack worked with young people and volunteers from over 20 countries, Scout\u2019s international offices, the World Wide Fund<\/a> (WWF) and the government to discuss and co-create what they could do on a global scale to empower young people to take action and help tackle climate change.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe campaign was designed by young people, from all over the world, at every stage. It was based on what was important to them, and what policy asks they wanted to present to world leaders.<\/p>\n

\n

“I simply facilitated the campaign on behalf of our Scouts to give them greater, collective impact \u2013 to show how a small action such as a Scout in Uganda planting a tree becomes something that will genuinely help to solve the climate crisis if 57 million Scouts undertake the same action.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There were four strands to the campaign \u2013 recover, reduce, recycle and rethink \u2013 with the aim of getting people to carry out social actions, such as planting a tree, following a more planet-friendly diet, or recycling \u2013 whether in groups or individually depending on local COVID-19 restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This programme of social actions was linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>, and WWF partnered with the Scouts to verify the actions that were undertaken during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Jack and the Scouts designed this campaign to have impact for years to come and connected it to two of the Scout\u2019s longer-term campaigns \u2013 Earth Tribe<\/a>, the global youth movement for environmental action from World Scouting, and A Million Hands<\/a>, the Scouts\u2019 flagship community impact campaign which covers six themes, one of which is protecting the environment.<\/p>\n

Jack said: \u201cWe wanted to make sure that this short-term campaign was rooted in our core offering and long-term partnerships, so we can have a real impact on tackling climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The inspiration behind the campaign came from listening to the 57 million young people who make up the Scouts, and the campaign itself generated over 2,000 projects in 55 countries \u2013 totalling 100 million hours of action \u2013 and culminated in a Royal visit from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking action<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Jack explained: \u201cThe Scouts have never shied away from advocating and lobbying for changes. Our mission is to empower young people to have their voices heard and enable them to have conversations with decision makers.<\/p>\n

\n

“Young people need to believe that they can effect change and be listened to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for everyone to take action on the climate, but ultimately it\u2019s young people who will inherit the planet as it is \u2013 they are the ones bearing the brunt of the last 100 years of industrialisation.<\/p>\n

\n

“It\u2019s up to us to ensure that young people know what to do and how to do it in the face of the climate crisis \u2013 we need to equip them with the skills to deal with these challenges, as well as working alongside them to do what we can now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Climate Education Summit<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Jack\u2019s belief \u2013 that it\u2019s important to equip young people with the knowledge to help fight climate change \u2013 goes hand-in-hand with the University of Reading\u2019s ambition to work with others in tackling the defining crisis of our generation through climate education.<\/p>\n

Jack joined the University of Reading\u2019s Climate Education Summit<\/a> which took place on 15 September 2021.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cClimate education is vital to solving this problem and the Scouts firmly believe in learning by doing, but the world needs to move away from the assumption that young people don\u2019t know what climate change is.<\/p>\n

\n

“They do know and they are extremely worried about it, so climate education needs to focus on saying to young people, \u2018we know you\u2019re aware of the problem and you\u2019ve got the knowledge, now here\u2019s what you can do next.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

New Year Honours Award 2022<\/h4>\n

Jack was recognised for his inspirational work in this year\u2019s New Year Honours List and was awarded a BEM for his services to young people and to charity during COVID-19.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019d like to thank the thousands of young people and adults who took part in the campaigns I led on and co-developed with young people and volunteers. You all stepped up at a time when it was needed most and helped to leave the world a little better than you found it.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThrough social action we can connect communities, break down barriers and transform society to be a more tolerant, sustainable and resilient place for us all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis award means so much to me, not because of what it is, but because of the journey it represents for me personally. However, this isn\u2019t the end and I pledge to continue striving to make a difference locally, nationally and internationally – to build a world that works for everyone and everything on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find out about what happened at Reading\u2019s Climate Education Summit<\/a>, or discover more about the Scout\u2019s #PromiseToThePlanet campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading graduate, Jack Abrey, speaks to CONNECTED about the global climate campaign he led for the Scouts, the importance of empowering young people, and being awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to young people and to charity during COVID-19. Jack was a member of the Scouts from age six to 18 and, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":5947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[128,54,98,123,19,130,64,129,23,25,105,34,44],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEmpowering Young People - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Graduate, Jack Abrey, tells CONNECTED about the Scouts' climate campaign he is leading and his involvement in the University\u2019s Climate Education Summit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2021\/06\/24\/empowering-young-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empowering Young People - 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