The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award/ Joint Award Initiative

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The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award/ Joint Award Initiative is supporting organisations who are interested in offering young people the opportunity to take part in the Award through a funding package which aims to give organisations the resources and skills to be able to deliver the Award.

We are the world’s leading youth achievement Award, giving 14-24 year olds the opportunity to take on their own challenges, follow their passions, make a difference in their communities, and discover talents they never knew they had.  Each young person builds their own Award programme – picking their own activities for the 4 sections of the Award: Volunteering, Physical, Skills and Expedition (with an additional Residential section at Gold) – to achieve a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award.

Gaisce – The Irish President’s Award and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award work in partnership through the Joint Award Initiative (JAI) to offer Award participants in Northern Ireland a choice of recognition for their achievements.  On completion of their Award programme, they can choose a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a Gaisce – The President’s Award or a Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award certificate.

Eligible voluntary and community organisations which do not currently offer the Award programme can access up to £10,250 of grant funding combined with support from a dedicated member of staff to help set up, launch, and deliver the Award programme.

Eligibility criteria includes but is not limited to:

  • Organisations must be a not for profit/Voluntary, Community or Social Enterprise (VCS) Organisation.  Types of eligible VCS organisations would include:

    • Charitable Companies, registered with Companies House and the Charity Commission.

    • Community organisations who are Companies Limited by Guarantee (CLG) with no share capital and are registered with Companies House.

    • Community Interest Companies (CICs) which are not conducted for private gain: any surplus or assets are used exclusively for the benefit of the community.

    • Organisations with other governance structures should contact us to discuss their eligibility.

  • Organisations must not have delivered the Award within the last 6 months.

  • Organisations must have been established for at least one year.

  • Organisations must be incorporated and registered with Companies House.

  • Organisations must have appropriate minimum standards in place to adhere to DofE licencing requirements. 

  • The organisation is willing/able to contribute towards the reduced DofE licence fee (Year 1 will be fully covered by the grant, and 50% in year 2).

 

For more information go to Access Without Limits – community. Funding in Northern Ireland - The  Duke of Edinburgh's Award (dofe.org) or email Jim at jim.peacock@dofe.org.

If you are interested but don’t currently meet eligibility criteria, please do get in touch to discuss how we could support young people in your organisation to take part in the Award.