Project Summary: Describe your contribution in one sentence

Empowering a generation of changemakers in STEM by building the ecosystem of opportunities, support and platforms that enable youth globally to tackle the world's biggest sustainability challenges.

What are the additional countries or territories of impact?

We are registered in Scotland, but our work is truly global - we have empowered youth in 80+ countries through our programmes.

Challenge Focus: What topic does your project most directly relate to?

Website URL(s) or social media handles

Website - www.youthstem2030.org Twitter - @YouthSTEM2030 Instagram - @YouthSTEM2030 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/youth-stem-2030

The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve?

To effectively tackle the significant global sustainability challenges we currently face, we need diverse solutions from people from all walks of life, but too often, young people are unheard.

This is particularly an issue in STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths), a sector which offers many solutions to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet faces a shortage of skilled STEM workers, estimated in the UK to be a shortfall of 173,000 at a cost of £1.5bn per year to the economy. And within the STEM sector, significant inequalities persist.

We need a STEM workforce of the future to power our planet with renewable energy, restore biodiversity and more, but young people also represent an untapped potential to be the STEM changemakers, leaders, researchers, innovators, and social entrepreneurs not just of the future, but of today.

However, those with the least access to STEM, are often the same people who are most impacted by climate change, and many youth (especially marginalised youth) lack the opportunities, tools or networks to use STEM to make a difference.

Therefore, by creating an ecosystem of the opportunities, support and platforms youth need to become changemakers in STEM, Youth STEM 2030 is empowering a generation of changemakers, creating a more diverse & socially-aware STEM sector, and tackling global challenges to create a more sustainable future.

Your connection and commitment: How close are you to the problem and/or the community impacted?

As a young changemaker myself, I know how challenging it can be to get an idea off the ground, keep it going, try to make it sustainable...But before I started making change, I just didn't realised that, as a young person, I could.  Our programmes therefore both catalyse young people as STEM changemakers, researchers & innovators and equip them with the resources to create a more sustainable world.

I've experienced first-hand the power of co-creation and having the opportunity to use your voice to make change, so a 'for youth, by youth' approach is embedded in everything we do at Youth STEM 2030.  I've found that often, decision-making spaces are inaccessible to youth, especially marginalised youth, so we work proactively to embed accessibility, elevate marginalised voices and create safe spaces for diverse youth.

Being close to the problem goes beyond our organisation as a whole - we believe it is critical that the people most impacted by the issues should be at the core of creating the solutions.  Therefore, in the selection of participants across our programmes, whether that's an article submitted to be published in our journal, a speaker for an event, or a solution a young person wants to develop, their proximity to the issue is part of our evaluation criteria.

Since we launched in March 2020, 1,600+ young people from 80+ countries have submitted applications to our programmes which require an application (all programmes except event attendance), with some programmes receiving applications totalling as many as 26 times the number of spaces available.  This evidence of demand demonstrates significant unmet needs, which our programmes are fulfilling - I believe much of this is ultimately as a result of our proximity to the community we're empowering.

Your approach: How are you enabling other people to identify as green changemakers? How are you influencing them to get involved in your initiative or care about the issue you are addressing?

We’re building an ecosystem of opportunities, support and platforms that will empower and equip youth globally to create a more sustainable world as changemakers in STEM.  We recognise that becoming a changemaker is a journey, so we enable youth to increase their impact no matter whether they haven't yet realised they can make change, are just starting out, or have reached the stage where they are activiating others as green changemakers.

Our approach is 3-fold:

• We build platforms that give youth the chance to influence change and speak up about the issues they care about
• We create opportunities for young people to take action through getting involved in projects
• We provide support for young people to develop the skills they need to make a difference to the world’s biggest challenges.

Currently, we deliver this across 3 programmes:

• The Youth STEM Summit brings together young people to be inspired, gain skills and take action for a better world.  70+% of speakers are themselves young people, and our blend of talks and workshops equip attendees both with the inspiration and practical tools & resources they need to make a difference, catalysing their journey as a changemaker.
• Youth STEM Changemakers (launching 2023) provides youth - especially marginalised youth - with a programme of learning about the world’s most pressing issues, skills & personal development, and STEM-based solution creation.  This is where young people who want to make a difference become young people who have built a solution to make change.
• Youth STEM Matters, our youth-led scientific journal, gives young people a platform to share their research, ideas and innovations which tackle global challenges. This both advances scientific understanding and provides sustainability education for youth around the world.

Community involvement: How is your approach involving community participation, especially the historically marginalized groups?

At Youth STEM 2030, the diverse young people in our community are not recipients, but creators of everything we do: all of our programmes are designed entirely for youth by youth using highly participatory co-creation methods, and young people are leaders and decision-makers at every level of our organisation.  We approach community participation (and all of our programme selection) through the lens of 'potential over past experience' - everyone's voice is important, no matter whether or not you've done something like this before.

For example, our annual Youth STEM Summit was designed entirely by a diverse group of 9 young people, who formed the Design Team – their views shaped the entire content, format and delivery of the Summit.  This included a new structure of the event, selecting speakers (of whom, over 70% were young people), ensuring the event was inclusive & accessible, and evaluating the event’s success.  In our experience, this co-design based approach towards authentic youth leadership is powerful in showing other young people that they too can make a difference.

By highlighting the work of their peers, and proactively giving a platform to seldom heard voices who are using diverse approaches towards making change across our programmes, young people consistently tell us that this enables them to see themselves as changemakers, and realise they can make a difference.

Your Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions already out there? How is your approach original and innovative? We are particularly interested in solutions that use regenerative approaches.

Our work uniquely focuses on providing young people with the resources to use STEM to tackle the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to create a more sustainable world.  While there are other organisations who focus on supporting youth changemakers, young people making change through STEM research and innovation is still comparatively unheard of, making this a unique approach. 

We believe that to tackle climate change, halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and create a thriving planet for people and nature, we need everyone.  For this to be achieved, we need people from all walks of life to be using their unique skills, lived experiences and passions to drive change.  But, there's not just one way of making change.  By focussing on making change through STEM, we empower a different group of young people who may not consider themselves activists or campaigners but do want to create a more sustainable future.

All of our programmes are co-created with young people, and run for youth by youth.  This sets us apart from most other youth-focussed programmes, which often 'engage' young people as recipients of sustainability/STEM education, rather than active contributors to creating a better world.  Our 'for youth, by youth' based approach ensures that our programmes are relevant and address young people’s main needs - when it comes to youth empowerment, we walk the walk.

Finally, we place significant focus and proactive efforts into ensuring that our programmes are accessible to and inclusive of all young people.  This includes embedding accessibility in our selection processes, digital content and programme design.  This is reflected in the diversity of our participants from around the world, a majority of whom are part of communities who are typically underrepresented in STEM.

Founding Story: Share a story about the "Aha!" moment that led the founder(s) to get started or the story of how you saw the potential for this to succeed.

Growing up, I didn’t realise that I could make a difference - I used to think you had to wait until you finished school and got a job.  But, that all changed for me when I was 17 and I had the opportunity to do my own scientific research project, investigating the impact of pesticides on marine invertebrates.  Although it was my first time doing a research project, it went on to win several national awards; it was at those STEM competitions that I realised just how critical scientific research and innovation is to creating a more sustainable future.

But for me, this wasn’t the biggest impact.  While the research project gave me new scientific skills and some amazing experiences, its true impact comes down to one word: possibility.  It fundamentally changed what I thought was possible as a young person.

It gave me the confidence to start making change, and along the way, I realised that the solutions to our biggest challenges can come from anyone, anywhere.  Yet, the structures within our society mean many young people do not yet realise their possibility, and their potential as changemakers remains untapped.

That’s why I’m so passionate about empowering youth as STEM changemakers and created Youth STEM 2030 - I want to give other young people that same possibility, because I've experienced first hand that when you give someone possibility, that's when they go and change the world.

Impact: How has your project made a difference so far? How is it contributing to a zero-carbon world- where every person thrives, and nobody gets left behind?

Since March 2020, the impact created by Youth STEM 2030 includes:

• 160 youth volunteers from 30+ countries have accessed 1150+ hours of skills development, a diverse network of changemakers, and gained valuable experience in STEM & sustainability
• 335 young people raised awareness of sustainability issues as Youth STEM Matters authors and speakers at our events, creating environmental education resources for other youth
• 1,350+ young people accessed the inspiration, tools and skills they need to make impact towards the SDGs through Youth STEM 2030 events
• The first Youth STEM Matters Print Edition created a platform for 37 youth, with 1,000 copies on their way to empower youth globally
• 700 hours of employment created for youth with barriers to employment

“Organizing the Youth STEM Summit has shaped my identity as a global citizen and leader” — Kavya Venkatesan, Youth STEM Summit Design Team

Katie's Story: Katie, 16, had never previously heard of scientific research when she joined one of our programmes. Through taking part in our skills development workshops, she gained the resources to write a scientific review paper on more environmentally friendly alternatives to concrete, got it peer-reviewed and published in our scientific journal. Katie's research has since been cited multiple times by scientists around the world, advancing science and contributing to a more sustainable future.

What’s Next: What are your ideas for taking your project to the next level?

Launching Youth STEM Changemakers is the logical next step to building our ecosystem, to bridge the gap between wanting to make a difference and building a solution (whether a research project, non-profit, project, innovation, etc.) to tackle sustainability challenges.  Designed to activate and empower young people  - especially marginalised youth - with the skills, tools and resources to tackle local and global issues, Youth STEM Changemakers therefore creates a multiplier effect for Youth STEM 2030’s impact, as impact will be created not only through our own programmes, but also through young people implementing their own projects in their local communities which tackle the SDGs.

We've gained significant experience in meaningfully including young people's voices in decision making, and want to see young people become key stakeholders and active contributers in STEM for a more sustainable world.  We are utilising our expertise in this area to start to provide services to sustainability focussed and/or STEM-based companies and non-profits, enabling them to embed young people's voices in their work too.

Lastly, after 3 years delivering programmes virtually, we're also experimenting by holding an in-person programme in late 2023/early 2024, to explore the potential impact we can create in a geographically defined and local context-based environment.

Your team: What is the current composition of your team (types of roles, qualifications, full-time vs. part-time, board members, etc.), and how do you plan to evolve the team’s composition as the project grows?

Founder & CEO - Mhairi McCann: Mhairi is a collaborative and impact-driven leader.  Her expertise lies in driving meaningful youth inclusion & empowerment through co-creation, which is fundamental to our work.

Partnerships & Programmes Officer - Ayomide Oshinjo: Ayomide's strength is in operations, with a track record of building processes and aligning diverse stakeholders towards real impact.

Youth STEM Matters Programme Officer - Alana Scott: Alana is skilled in project management, science communication and public engagement; experience gained as a Director & Editor-in-Chief.

Youth STEM Summit Programme Officer - Sophiyat Sadiq: Sophiyat brings an array of experience delivering impactful events, and driving change through strategy & policy development.

Youth STEM Changemakers Programme Officer - Jeremiah Thoronka: Jeremiah is an innovator, entrepreneur & changemaker with a background in sustainability.

We now have 2.4 FTE staff, and will increase roles from part to full time as we grow.

Operational Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure operational sustainability.

We're currently scaling deep through developing Youth STEM Changemakers, which will be the most transformational in enabling young people to become changemakers.  This programme in particular has substantial potential for replicability, achievable through the creation of different streams (research, innovation, social action etc.), and geographic-specific cohorts.

Having been successfully piloted, our other programmes are scaling out through increased attendees at virtual events, localised in-person events and journal submission cohorts.

We are actively growing our trading income to ensure long-term financial sustainability.  This includes through:

• Corporate Partnerships: collaborating with values-aligned businesses to achieve their ESG goals through investment in our programmes
• Meaningful Youth Inclusion Consultancy: utilising our expertise to enable companies/non-profits to embed young people's voices in their work
• Youth STEM Matters Affiliation Programme: providing prize packages for science fairs and STEM competitions of programmes of learning and submissions to Youth STEM Matters
• Experimenting with Paid-For Programmes: crucially, with prices set on a sliding scale, and need-based scholarships to ensure equality of opportunity for all youth

All of the above methods of increasing financial sustainability do so in a way that also directly enables us to scale our impact.

VIDEO: Please share the link to a 1-minute YouTube video that answers the following “I identify as a Green Changemaker because...”. Ensure that your video does not exceed 60 seconds

https://youtu.be/kQkv1HE0m20

Impact Model: While reviewing applications, we identified a need to better understand the impact models for the innovations that applied. How would you describe the activities you engage in and what outcomes and long-term impact do they lead to?

Activities

We have a range of activities across our programmes (outlined in Your Approach) where we:

• Build platforms for youth to speak up about global challenges & influence change
• Create opportunities for youth to take action directly on sustainability issues and empower others as green changemakers
• Provide support for youth to develop the skills, networks, tools & resources to multiply their impact
• Consultancy services to embed youth voice in sustainability

Stakeholders

• Young People: co-creators of everything we do; participants in our programmes
• Partners: provide resources to enable our programmes and scale youth’s solutions; embrace young people’s voices within their organisation
• Changemakers: share their expertise to support our programme delivery

Outputs

• Youth empowered through activity/resource
• Youth who subsequently make change
• Secondary impact of the above changemaking activities

Outcomes

In the short-medium term, young people will:

• Have increased awareness of using STEM to tackle sustainability issues
• Grow their impact through access to resources, skills & networks
• Identify as changemakers and activate other youth as STEM changemakers
• Believe STEM is for people ‘like them’, with increased motivation, skills & experience to pursue green STEM careers

• Collaborate as part of a global community of youth driving change for our planet

Long-Term Impact

• Scale Youth Impact in Tackling Global Challenges: Young people’s STEM-based solutions, initiatives, innovations & research accelerate progress for the SDGs
• Youth Voice in STEM & Sustainability: Youth are key stakeholders and active contributors in STEM for a more sustainable world
• A More Equitable & Inclusive World: Every young person can be part of making change through STEM, and a more diverse STEM sector creates better solutions

Audience: Who are you most directly impacting through your work? Who is the target beneficiary? Please specify if the population you are reaching is underserved due to any of the following characteristics?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

Young people are most impacted by our work, and the young people we work with come from very diverse backgrounds, with a large majority being part of one or more marginalised groups. We consistently see high numbers of our programme participants who are girls & young women (75%), and/or young people of colour (71%). We have a wide geographic spread, having empowered youth in 82+ countries globally, and the online nature of our work increases accessibility for disabled youth and youth in remote areas.

How are you activating green changemakers?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

Multiplying impact: enabling other changemakers to scale their impact through providing them with accessible resources, tools, and platforms to grow their impact.

Organization Type: Which organization type best describes how your work or initiative has been organized or registered?

Nonprofit/NGO

Tell us briefly about how you have and/ or would like to engage partners or other changemakers to enhance your approach:

Developing and maintaining meaningful partnerships with values-aligned organisations is key to growing our impact and realising our mission. This includes:

Corporate Partnerships: unlock access to resources (funding, networks & expertise) both for Youth STEM 2030 and the youth changemakers we work with, while allowing businesses to meet their ESG goals and future workforce needs.  Youth STEM Changemakers in particular will be most impactful when developed & delivered in partnership; combining their technical/scientific expertise with our expertise in working with young people to create STEM solutions to environmental problems.

Partnerships for Meaningful Youth Inclusion: we work with sustainability-focussed organisations (e.g. Scottish Environment LINK) to meaningfully embed young people’s voices in their work, enabling youth to drive change on sustainability issues.

Youth STEM Matters Affiliation Programme: partner with STEM competitions/science fairs to increase submissions to Youth STEM Matters, creating sustainability education resources and driving a better future through research.

Changemakers: diverse changemakers are integral in developing & delivering our programmes; this has sparked further collaborations between green changemakers.

Leveraging such partnerships in a way which creates mutual benefit will scale our impact, creating a stronger ecosystem for STEM changemakers.

Annual budget: Hint: What is the cost for your current operations every year (or most recent year)? This is expenditure for your project or organization. The reference currency is the U.S. dollar.

$50k - $100k

Winning Impact Potential: How would winning the Green Changemakers Challenge impact and leverage your work?

With demand (and our ambitions!) far exceeding our current staff capacity, winning the Green Changemakers Challenge would enable us to expand some of our current part-time roles, specifically those which grow our trading income.  We’d also create a new Storytelling Officer (part-time) role to capture and communicate our impact.  Investing the prize money in our long-term partnerships and trading income means we can, in turn, sustainably scale our programmes and impact.

Our goals for the learning programme are to:

• Forge Meaningful Partnerships to Grow Impact: this is key in growing our impact, and Ashoka & HSBC both have significant expertise in this
• Marketing & Storytelling for Increased Trading Income: we're effective in marketing to youth, but your support will enable us to better reach/communicate with other businesses/organisations to grow our trading income
• Strengthen our Impact Monitoring: this was our main area of feedback in this challenge, and an identified skills gap within our team, so this programme will enable us to strengthen the existing evidence we have of the impact we know we create In March-May 2023, Youth STEM 2030 grew from 1.0 to 2.4 FTE, so the constructive challenge from mentorship will be especially beneficial at this time.  Overall, the support and funding will enable us to maintain this momentum, create long-term sustainability and maximise our impact.

Skills Matching: If you win, you may have the opportunity to be matched with HSBC employees for skill-based mentorship. If matched, which of the following skills would you be most interested in receiving?

Monitoring Impact