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
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
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
Go Cycle London: Youth-Led Climate Action Through Active Travel
Lead Organization Name
Hammersmith & Fulham Council (Sports Development Team)
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
1976
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
www.lbhf.gov.uk/sports
Initiative Stage
Idea (You have a solid concept and are hoping to get started in the future)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
Go Cycle London is a youth-led climate action pilot in Hammersmith & Fulham that equips young people with bikes, skills, and agency—transforming everyday school journeys into measurable environmental impact and embedding active travel into community culture.
Challenge Focus: What topic does your initiative most directly relate to?
Climate action through awareness and engagement
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?
behaviour change has not kept pace with infrastructure investment. In Hammersmith & Fulham, short school-run car journeys significantly contribute to congestion and poor air quality, directly affecting children’s health and wellbeing. Young people are disproportionately impacted by air pollution, yet are rarely positioned as active contributors to transport solutions. Through engagement with our youth council, local schools and the local authority’s, Active Transport Department, we identified clear barriers: lack of access to bikes, limited cycling confidence, lack of suitable spaces for cycling activity and minimal structured education connecting active travel with climate action. Without early intervention, car dependency becomes normalised across generations. If the climate strategy is to succeed, it must move from policy into daily routine. The school journey is one of the earliest and most influential routines we can reshape. This initiative reframes young people not as future climate leaders, but as present-day climate actors.
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?
Go Cycle London treats cycling not simply as physical activity, but as a lever for local systems change. This £10,000 pilot will: • Provide bike access for a core cohort of 20–30 young people • Deliver two structured holiday cycling camps (Easter and Summer) • Offer instructor-led cycling confidence and road safety training • Integrate climate literacy into every session • Support participants to replace short car journeys with active travel Our “aha” moment came following meetings with the Active Transport Officer in which discussions around establishing a local partnership for a cycling programme which will engage young people in activity that promotes the health benefits of cycling and teaches them skills in cycling proficiency. This led to the Sports Development Team reaching out to a newly developed Youth Club in the borough (West Youth Zone, White City) about being the host venue for the Cycling camps. They were overwhelmingly positive and on board with hosting and promoting the project to their young people and their families. As part of the process we also had consultations with the youth council where climate discussions repeatedly ended with the same question: “What can we actually do?” The answer was practical and immediate—ride. By linking cycling skills with climate awareness and behaviour tracking, we move from abstract concern to tangible action. Participants will track car journeys replaced, reflect on air quality in their borough, and understand how daily transport choices influence emissions. This is not simply a cycling programme. It is an early intervention in transport habit formation—designed to test how youth-led visible action can shift household behaviour and community norms.
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 co-designers of this initiative. Our youth council informed the pilot structure and identified access and safety as primary barriers. Participants will: • Provide feedback on programme design • Track and reflect on behaviour change • Act as peer advocates within their schools • Support at least one community cycling event We will collaborate with: • Active Transport officers to ensure alignment with borough strategy • Local schools for recruitment and parent engagement • Community volunteers to support delivery and safeguarding The model is intentionally intergenerational. When a child cycles to school, the household transport pattern shifts. When multiple households shift, community expectations begin to change.
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?
Pilot Outputs: • 20–30 young people completing structured cycling and climate sessions • 2 holiday camps delivered • 20+ families engaged • Climate awareness embedded throughout Behaviour Change Targets: • At least 20% of participants regularly cycling to school by programme end • Minimum 200 short car journeys replaced during the pilot period Short-Term Outcomes: • Increased cycling competence and confidence • Improved understanding of transport-related emissions • Increased physical activity and wellbeing Systems-Level Contribution: • Early disruption of car-dependent school routines • Youth voice integrated into local active travel conversations • Evidence base to inform borough-wide scaling This positions the pilot as a test case for youth-driven active travel embedded within local government strategy. We will measure impact through pre/post travel habit surveys, attendance data, journey tracking, and participant reflection sessions. This pilot is intentionally structured to generate learning and measurable evidence before scaling.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
Many cycling initiatives focus on safety training or sport participation. Our innovation lies in repositioning cycling as youth-led civic climate infrastructure. We integrate: • Behaviour change tracking and emissions awareness • Youth co-design as a structural principle • Family-level engagement • Alignment with the borough transport strategy Rather than delivering isolated sessions, we situate cycling within a wider ecosystem of policy, daily habit, and youth agency. Small routine shifts—when normalised across peer groups and households—become structural change.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Lead Organisation: • Overall project management • Safeguarding and compliance • Monitoring and evaluation • Financial oversight and reporting • Partnership coordination Cycling Instructor: • Skills training and road safety education • Mentorship and confidence building Active Transport Officer: • Route safety guidance • Strategic alignment with borough transport plans Youth Council: • Co-design input • Ongoing feedback • Peer advocacy role
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?
The pilot is deliberately focused: test, learn, refine. It enables us to: • Validate demand • Measure behaviour change • Strengthen school partnerships • Develop a replicable delivery framework • Following evaluation of the pilot’s behaviour-change data, we will: • Seek expanded borough-level funding • Develop school cycling clubs • Train youth ambassadors as peer leaders • Explore sponsorship for equipment provision Participation in the capacity-building programme will strengthen governance, partnership development, and long-term sustainability planning. As someone working within local government, I see daily how policy ambition and lived experience do not always meet. This initiative is a practical bridge between the two—starting with something as ordinary, and powerful, as the journey to school.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/ to grow.
March–April: • Planning and instructor engagement • Equipment procurement • Participant recruitment Easter: • First cycling camp delivered May–June: • School engagement and travel tracking Summer: • Second cycling camp • Community ride event September: • Impact evaluation and refinement • Scaling strategy development
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 selected as a finalist, participation in the 8-week capacity-building programme will require dedicated staff time and operational cover to ensure continued delivery of core services. The following costs would require support: Project Lead time to participate in workshops, mentoring sessions and programme activities (8 weeks, part-time allocation) – £3,000 Purchase of Bicycles (Bikeworks) - £3000 Operational backfill to maintain service delivery during participation period – £2,000 Travel and participation costs (in-person sessions, meetings, related expenses) – £1,000 Administrative support and reporting requirements linked to programme participation – £1,000 Total requested support: £10,000
If you selected “Other”, please specify below.
