My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions
1
First Name
Last Name
Pronouns
Email address
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Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Initiative Title
Beyond the Game: Youth-Led Climate Action in Sport & Community Spaces
Lead Organization Name
Tower Hamlets Youth League United
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2005
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://www.tiktok.com/@eastendunitedsportsclub2
Initiative Stage
Pilot-Stage (The first activities have happened, and you have proof of concept)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
Beyond the Game is a youth-led initiative using football, badminton, and community youth spaces to turn everyday sport into climate action for young people in Tower Hamlets.
Challenge Focus: What topic does your initiative most directly relate to?
Enabling climate-resilient participation
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Young people in Tower Hamlets are already feeling climate change through disrupted access to sport and safe community spaces. It affects whether football and badminton sessions go ahead, whether pitches are safe in extreme heat or heavy rain, and whether young people can rely on indoor spaces like our youth club and community youth café after school. Outdoor provision is increasingly hit by heat, flooding, and poor air quality. Artificial pitches can become dangerously hot, grass pitches can flood, and sessions are cancelled at short notice. This affects low-income families most, as they have fewer alternatives, less flexible transport, and many young people live in overcrowded housing with limited green space. For them, our sessions and youth spaces are essential for wellbeing, routine, and belonging. Tower Hamlets Youth League United runs football, badminton, a youth club, and a community youth café, so we experience these barriers weekly alongside young people and families. Beyond the Game embeds climate-resilient delivery across all our spaces and empowers young people aged 7–19, including those up to 25 with SEND or care experience, to lead practical, local changes that keep participation safe, inclusive, and consistent as climate pressures increase. This matters to us because we see these barriers every week and are committed to protecting access for local young people.
Your approach: How are you addressing the problem outlined above? How are you using the power of sport and physical activity to build awareness, shift behavior, and enable sustainable participation for all in response to the climate crisis? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
Our approach focuses on embedding climate resilience into the spaces young people already trust football and badminton sessions, our youth club, and our community youth café. Rather than creating separate climate workshops, we integrate climate awareness, practical action, and adapted delivery into everyday sport and youth activities, so participation remains safe, inclusive, and consistent. We use the power of sport because it is one of the few settings where young people from different backgrounds regularly come together, feel confident, and are open to conversation. Climate discussions are built naturally into sessions through short reflections, peer-led activities, and practical actions such as adapting sessions in extreme heat, reducing waste, reusing equipment, and encouraging sustainable travel. These small, visible changes help shift behaviour without placing extra pressure on young people or families. Our programmes are adapted to be climate-resilient by using indoor youth spaces during extreme weather, adjusting session timings, and planning delivery with safety and access in mind. This ensures climate change does not become another reason young people disengage from sport or community spaces. Young people are supported to take leadership roles, helping shape how sessions, events, and spaces are run, which builds ownership and long-term behaviour change. The idea for Beyond the Game came directly from our lived experience in Tower Hamlets. This idea came during repeated session cancellations due to heat and flooding, while young people still turned up asking where they could go instead. At the same time, conversations in the youth club and café showed that young people understood climate change was affecting their lives, but felt it was something happen
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
Young people are at the centre of Beyond the Game because they are closest to the problem and best placed to shape solutions that work in their everyday lives. Our initiative is built around young people who already attend our football and badminton sessions, youth club, and community youth café, ensuring the project grows from existing relationships, trust, and lived experience within Tower Hamlets. Young people are involved from the design stage through regular conversations on the pitch, in the youth club, and in the café, where they share how extreme heat, flooding, and limited safe spaces affect their ability to take part. These insights directly inform how sessions are adapted, when indoor spaces are prioritised, and which climate actions matter most to them. This ensures solutions respond to real needs rather than assumptions. Young participants also play active roles in delivery. Older young people support session planning, help lead activities and discussions, and model climate-positive behaviours such as reusing equipment, reducing waste, and encouraging sustainable travel. In the youth club and café, young people co-create messages, lead peer conversations, and help shape how spaces are used, giving them clear ownership. The wider community is involved through families who rely on our provision. Parents and carers are engaged through ongoing communication about safety, access, and session changes, ensuring delivery reflects community needs. By embedding youth voice across sport and youth spaces, Beyond the Game ensures young people are not just participants, but co-creators of a solution rooted in their community.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in raising climate awareness, shifting behaviors, or reducing environmental impact or harm? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had¡, and/or what impact do you envision having in the future?
Beyond the Game is designed to create both immediate and long-term impact within our community. In the short term, the initiative raises climate awareness by embedding climate conversations and practical actions into football and badminton sessions, the youth club, and the community youth café. Young people learn how climate change affects their ability to access sport and safe spaces, making the issue relevant to their daily lives. The initiative supports behaviour change through visible, youth-led actions such as adapting sessions during extreme heat, using indoor spaces during poor weather, reducing single-use plastics, and reusing equipment. These actions reduce environmental harm while showing young people that small changes in familiar spaces can make a real difference. This approach is rooted in lived experience. During a heatwave, one young person told us that cancelled sessions meant “just staying inside all day,” highlighting the importance of adapting provision rather than stopping it altogether. As a pilot, Beyond the Game will engage around 150-200 young people each year, with 10-15 older young people taking on leadership roles that influence peers and shape delivery. Over time, the initiative aims to normalise climate-resilient practice within grassroots sport and youth spaces in Tower Hamlets. Impact will be evidenced through attendance and retention data, youth leadership participation, and feedback from young people and families, providing a credible pathway to sustained and scalable change.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
Beyond the Game is innovative because it embeds climate resilience into everyday grassroots sport and youth provision, rather than treating climate action as a separate or one-off activity. While many climate initiatives focus on awareness campaigns or classroom-based education, our approach tackles the root problem by changing how sport and youth spaces are delivered in response to climate realities. What is different about our initiative is that climate action is integrated into football and badminton sessions, the youth club, and the community youth café that young people already attend. This means behaviour change happens through routine, repetition, and peer influence, rather than external messaging. Young people experience climate-resilient practices as a normal part of participation, not an additional responsibility. The initiative is also youth-led by design. Young people are not just consulted; they actively shape session delivery, adapt spaces, and model behaviours such as reusing equipment, reducing waste, and responding to extreme weather. This shifts norms within our community by positioning young people as leaders of climate action rather than passive recipients of information. Beyond the Game applies existing approaches in a new context by using grassroots sport and informal youth spaces as platforms for climate resilience. By adapting schedules, using indoor spaces during extreme weather, and embedding sustainability into everyday decisions, the project changes structures and behaviours that directly affect access and inclusion. This approach is original because it focuses on protecting participation while building long-term cultural change, creating a practical and scalable model for climate-resilient sport and youth work in Tower Hamlets and beyond.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Beyond the Game is delivered by Tower Hamlets Youth League United through a shared team approach that brings together coaches, youth workers, and young people. Responsibilities are clearly defined to ensure effective delivery while keeping young people at the centre of the initiative. Project coordination is led by the senior management team, who are responsible for overall planning, safeguarding, partnerships, and monitoring progress against objectives. They ensure climate-resilient principles are embedded across sport sessions, the youth club, and the community youth café, and that delivery remains inclusive and safe. Football and badminton coaches are responsible for integrating climate-aware practices into weekly sessions. This includes adapting activities during extreme weather, promoting sustainable behaviours such as equipment reuse, and supporting young people to lead discussions and actions during sessions. Youth workers based in the youth club and community youth café are responsible for facilitating youth-led conversations, supporting leadership development, and providing safe indoor alternatives when outdoor provision is disrupted. They also gather feedback from young people to inform ongoing improvements. Young people play an active role as peer leaders. Older participants support session delivery, model positive behaviours, and help shape how spaces and activities respond to climate challenges. This shared responsibility ensures the initiative is youth-led, community-rooted, and sustainable.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your organization up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
Beyond the Game is viable because it is embedded within Tower Hamlets Youth League United’s existing delivery rather than operating as a standalone project. The initiative builds on established football and badminton programmes, alongside our youth club and community youth café, meaning staff, safeguarding structures, venues, and community trust are already in place. This allows delivery to continue beyond initial funding with minimal additional cost. Operational sustainability is achieved by integrating climate-resilient practices into everyday delivery, such as adapting sessions during extreme weather, using indoor spaces when needed, and embedding youth leadership into routine roles. These approaches rely on existing staff and volunteers and do not require specialist equipment or infrastructure. Impact is monitored through attendance, retention, youth leadership involvement, and feedback, helping demonstrate value and secure future support. To scale the initiative, we plan to expand the model across more sessions and age groups within Tower Hamlets. Trained young leaders and staff will support replication, and simple guidance will be developed to share learning with other community sport and youth organisations. Future growth will be supported through additional funding and local partnerships, allowing Beyond the Game to grow sustainably while remaining community-led.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/ to grow.
The initiative will be delivered through a clear set of phased milestones that support effective implementation, learning, and growth. In the first 1-2 months, the focus will be on set-up and co-design. This includes briefing staff and volunteers, engaging young people through existing football, badminton, youth club, and community youth café sessions, and identifying young people to take on leadership roles. During this phase, young people will help shape how climate-resilient practices are embedded into sessions and spaces, ensuring the approach reflects real local needs. Between months 3-6, delivery will be fully embedded into regular provision. Climate-resilient practices will be introduced across sport and youth spaces, including adapting sessions during extreme weather, using indoor spaces when required, and supporting youth-led climate actions. Young leaders will actively support delivery, model behaviours, and influence peers across sessions. From months 6-9, the focus will shift to strengthening and refining delivery. Feedback from young people, families, and staff will be gathered, youth leaders will take on increased responsibility, and climate-resilient approaches will become routine within everyday practice. In months 9-12, the initiative will move into review and growth. Impact will be assessed using attendance, retention, leadership participation, and feedback. Learning will be documented to support future funding, partnerships, and expansion across additional sessions, age groups, or venues. These milestones provide a clear and realistic pathway from implementation to sustained and scalable impact.
Capacity-Building Participation and Support Funding: If you were to make it as a finalist, you will be required to participate in an 8-week capacity building programme. If funding/ cost is a barrier to your participation, we may be able to offer up to 10,000 GBP of grant money available to support you. Please break down below, if it is the case, what costs you would incur and you would need covered. (Please note that there are restrictions on how the grant money may be used; please refer to the T&Cs for further details (LINK).
If awarded, the funding would be used to strengthen the development and long-term sustainability of Beyond the Game through direct project development costs and capacity-building participation. This would include the creation of practical project resources and toolkits, such as climate-resilient session planning guidance, youth leadership materials, and delivery frameworks that can be embedded across our football and badminton sessions, youth club, and community youth café. Funding would also support costs directly linked to participation in the 8-week capacity-building programme, including learning resources, documentation of learning, and travel where required. This investment would ensure that learning is translated into tangible tools and systems that improve consistency, resilience, and scalability across our provision.
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