Blog

NCS celebrates upskilling 600,000 young people on Youth Skills Day

15 Jul 2022

One of the many ways that Ingeus enables better lives is through the National Citizen Service (NCS) which provides a unique opportunity for young people to develop skills for work and life, whilst taking on new challenges and making friends.Today, on World Youth Skills Day, a day that recognises the importance of equipping young people with skills for meaningful employment, entrepreneurship, and life in general, we are celebrating that NCS has benefited 600,000 people to-date, of which we are proud to have supported over 130,000 since 2010.

The aims of NCS couldn’t be more important today – young people aged between 16 and 24 have the biggest rise in unemployment compared to other age groups, and according to the United Nations World Youth report, recent estimates suggest that 600 million jobs would have to be created over the next 15 years to meet youth employment needs.

A recent NCS report revealed that 70% of participants felt more confident about getting a job as a result of going on the NCS programme.

NCS helps young people to develop invaluable transferable skills and enhance their CVs as well as give back to their communities – whilst having a great time doing it! After graduating from NCS, participants can strengthen their commitment to social action and skills development by becoming Changemakers. A changemaker forms part of a group of young people that meet regularly to design and deliver meaningful social action projects in their communities.

Hundreds of NCS changemakers across the country volunteered their time and talents to this year’s Action Day – a national benevolent movement organised by NCS, where young people spend the day doing good deeds and learning skills.

The teens sprang into action and shone a light on topical issues such as mental health, homelessness, diversity & inclusion, and the Ukraine crisis. A wide range of activities were developed, organised and carried out by the young people including:

• Fundraising to buy personal care boxes to be donated to Centrepoint, a national charity which supports young people who are homeless;
• Creative initiatives, such as face painting, making scarecrows and creating mental health leaflets as part of a partnership with MIND, the mental health charity;
• Donating football boots to disadvantaged children, as part of Scunthorpe’s local council’s ‘Boot room’ project;
• Renovating a public garden in Eastbourne and a community centre in Oxford;
• Decorating shared spaces at a care home in Glen Parva;
• Many more ‘clean up’ campaigns, fancy dress sponsored walks, raffles and quizzes.

Animal sanctuaries, refugee and homeless charities, hospice services, national and international conservation projects, the Ukraine appeal, and disability and mental health charities all benefitted widely from the Action Day activities.

Rob Houlston, Programme Director at Ingeus, said: “Over the past ten years NCS participants have given over fifteen million hours in social action. Once again, this year, NCS graduates in the Changemaker community took action to showcase the true power of young people.

“With guidance from their Ingeus mentors and our amazing supply chain partners, they put their NCS talents to good use, project managing social action projects close to their hearts. Action Day is an annual celebration of everything NCS achieves; empowering young people, building skills for employment, and promoting cohesion between people of different backgrounds. We’re extremely proud of what they achieved and the positive course they’re setting for their futures. You only have to look at NCS’s period poverty campaign which hit over 1 million views of TikTok earlier this year to see the potential that these activities enable for young people. They’re making a positive difference, for themselves and others.” 

A network of more than 15 specialist partners help deliver NCS across the East Midlands and South East England including sporting foundations, youth charities, skills providers, schools and colleagues.

Find out more at https://wearencs.com/changemakers