26th January 21
26/01/21
Global Action Plan’s vision is of an education system that empowers young people to create a compassionate and sustainable society.
We launched the Dirt Is Good Schools Programme in partnership with Unilever Global in 2021, working with international partners, communities, schools and local organisations in Chile, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Global Action Plan worked with Unilever at each stage of the Dirt Is Good Project – from research to delivery -helping young people to see that taking action on social and environmental issues is not the niche, but the norm.
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We have been delivering the Dirt Is Good Project as part of a new curriculum. Students are starting to see a bigger picture of the world around them.
Folkestone School for Girls, Kent
48,825
young people supported to take action on the issues they care about
332,865
young people took part in Dirt Is Good activities and events
9.6m
people reached across Chile, Thailand and the UK
2,600
teachers provided with free resources, session plans and framework, bringing social action into the classroom
The students who have struggled in other academic areas have really, really flourished.
St Gerard’s School Trust, Bangor
The change we want to see
There's a "values perception gap" in young people: believing that others do not care about social and environmental issues when actually they do.
Global Action Plan led on conducting research in the UK and Turkey to explore young people’s values, how they perceive the values of others, how this affects their wellbeing and the action they take on causes they care about. This research was conducted with children and young people aged 7-18 and informed the development of the Dirt Is Good schools programme, which was written and designed by education specialists at Global Action Plan.
Our United in Compassion study found that almost all the young people surveyed said that caring for nature and other people is important to them but that they don’t think others share their compassionate values. Fears about not fitting in and being labelled with unhelpful stereotypes prevent them from expressing their true values to their peers.
Only 14% of young people surveyed prioritised self-interest values over compassionate values. BUT by age 16-18, almost half (48%) of them thought that other young people would prioritise self-interest values. The misperception that most others don’t care when they actually do is known as the values-perception gap. This study is the first to show that it exists in children and young people.
Because of the values-perception-gap, young people have lower emotional well-being, feel more worried about the future, and are less likely to act on the issues they care about. This limits them from reaching their potential as changemakers and responsible citizens.
The global delivery of the Dirt Is Good Schools programme involved:
- Working with partners to design the programme to meet the needs of young people
- Translating programme materials into six languages
- Coordinating and overseeing the work and quality of global delivery
- Designing and running workshops for National Delivery partners
- Collating and analysing the impact of Dirt Is Good on a global scale
- Designing and delivering an international celebration and learning event, coordinating input from National Delivery partners and Unilever
In 2023, the Dirt Is Good Project won two awards: the gold medal for Educational Excellence at the Global Good Awards and Corporate Partnership of the year at the Third Sector Awards, in recognition of its commitment to making a positive and sustainable difference in the world.
In Chile, students suffered isolation from peers due to the COVID pandemic. Once students were able to return to school, the Dirt Is Good programme was rolled out to help young people reconnect with each other and nature.
The 13 and 14-year-old students detected the need to come back together as a group, after two years of virtual classes due to the pandemic. This situation led to behaviour problems and lack of empathy towards others, which is why the 8th grade wanted to close the distance between the students and the lack of communication. They devised a way to involve the entire establishment in this call for empathy towards others, through a communication campaign for the smaller classes that consisted of installing posters about compassion, empathy, tolerance, no to bullying and no to racism, at various points in the establishment; In addition, they created a play for the younger students and thus leave a mark on them.
"We had a difficult time when the posters came unstuck," says 13-year-old José. But in the end it worked out for them and they were even able to develop some new skills: "mostly patience because before I was very bossy, but after this programme I felt freer because I was able to delegate some tasks, I wanted to do everything, but when I had to quarantine and I left my responsibilities to a colleague, I realized that she did very well too, as I would have done," says 13-year-old Medjulie.
Persil challenged us to propose how their Dirt is Good programme could move from an outdoor play focus to inspiring a generation of global change-makers having real impact on the world.
Together we conducted action-research that uncovered a major barrier to youth environmental action – a values-perception-gap. Put simply, the majority of young people care deeply about creating a better world - but they think others do not. This research led to white papers, academic publications, an award-winning brand film (Do we live in a Selfish World?) and underpinned the development of a values-led schools programmes which reached 8.7 million people across the UK, Thailand and Chile.
The programme won the Global Good Award for Educational Excellence, and our partnership won the Third Sector Business Award Corporate Partnership of the Year – Medium
The film achieved the highest customer-trust rating that the brand had seen which just shows how powerful partnerships can be in creating messages that resonate. But it’s not just about the shiny films - our work together inspired thousands of youth projects across the world and also underpinned new academic research”
Sonja Graham, CEO Global Action Plan
Our experience of working with Global Action Plan has been really fantastic. Not only are the people who work at Global Action Plan extremely knowledgeable in their respective fields, but they are also really nice people to work with who get the job done. They have a deep understanding of how to engage young people in authentic programmes that promote empowerment and instil compassionate values.
Andrew Veacock, Dirt Is Good Marketing Manager at Unilever
With thanks to Persil (Unilever)
for supporting the Dirt is Good project
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