Back in 2001, a UWC Atlantic College alumna and her husband had an idea: why not create a system that will allow students from UWC AC to gain that extra bit of support to get their projects off the ground?

The concept was simple: every year, they would invite UWC AC students to submit innovative and concrete project proposals addressing a global issue and they would award the best ones with £1,000 to support the realisation of the project. This is how Go Make a Difference was born! In 2016, for the first time, the award has been rolled out to all UWC schools and colleges - making every current UWC student eligible to apply - with 20 grants of £1,000 each made available to help these young changemakers go make a difference.

Jill Longson (AC ‘81 and Vice-Chair of UWC International) and her husband Colin Habgood believe in the power of young people making a difference:

With over 500 UWC participants awarded over the years, the Go Make a Difference projects have had a positive impact in 40 countries across the globe making a difference in five regions – Africa, Asia, Europe, North & South America and the Middle East – with thousands of people benefiting around the world. For instance, Improving Yam Production in Nigeria was a Go Make a Difference project carried out by Chizitera Beverly Njoku, a Nigerian student from UWC Atlantic College (2010-2012). She wanted to benefit the farming community in her hometown Ihitta Ogada – and, in 2012, she did. Chizitera worked with professors at the local College of Agriculture to develop an inexpensive method of growing yams.. The result allowed farmers to harvest 30 yam tubers from a single seed and could, thus, save money while harvesting more crops. She said: “The Go Make a Difference funding has been beneficial in making a difference in improving lives across the world, in areas both near and far. The funding has helped in the development of different sectors be it agriculture, education and so forth".

This year’s Go Make a Difference award recipients represent 12 of the 15 UWC schools and colleges and will be delivering their projects across 18 countries. From improving water supplies in two areas of Tajikstan and Sierra Leone, to building and delivering a new tsunami lifeboat in Japan, all the way to encouraging young people in Aragon, Spain, to support the education and settlement of young Syrian refugees into the local community: the projects address a variety of global issues in an original way and, with the extra support of Go Make a Difference, have now a further chance to make them become a reality and have a real impact.

About the initiative and this year’s winners, Colin said: “Jill and I are confident the projects awarded will make a difference to the communities as well as developing the UWC students to help them live the UWC ideals in future life. We hope the Go Make a Difference projects awarded this year will inspire students to start to think about how they could make a difference in 2017”.

To know more about Go Make a Difference and how the awarded projects had an impact, visit the website www.gomad.global

2016 Go Make a Difference winners