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 legal entity
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), evidence of access to a lease for the space you are leveraging, 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.
Yes
First Name
Jennifer
Last Name
McCall
Pronouns
She/Her
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
1
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Lead Organisation Name
BeLifted
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2017
Initiative Title
PowerPod Gym
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://www.webeliftednow.com
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
PowerPod Gym is a modular, energy-generating gym pod installed in schools that boosts young people’s physical activity while converting their movement into clean electricity to power parts of the school and build everyday climate awareness.
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?
Physical inactivity, disengagement from sport, and a growing disconnect between young people and environmental stewardship are critical challenges facing London’s schools today. Many students—especially those in under-resourced communities—lack access to quality physical activity opportunities during the school day. Traditional PE programmes often fail to engage learners who do not identify with conventional sports, contributing to sedentary behaviour, poor fitness outcomes, and diminished wellbeing. At the same time, climate change and sustainability are urgent issues that young people care about, yet many students feel disconnected from climate action because they don’t see how their daily choices and activities relate to energy use and environmental impact. PowerPod Gym directly addresses these intersecting problems. By integrating inclusive, adjustable gym equipment into everyday school spaces and linking physical activity to real, visible energy generation, this initiative makes exercise fun, accessible, and meaningful for all students—including those who are least engaged in traditional sport. It also turns abstract concepts like energy and sustainability into tangible, interactive learning experiences. The communities that will benefit most are students in London’s neighbourhoods where physical activity provision is limited and where schools are seeking innovative ways to promote health and climate literacy. I know this problem deeply: many London schools struggle with space constraints, low engagement in PE, and the challenge of meaningful climate education. PowerPod Gym meets students where they are—outside traditional sports structures, in familiar school environments—while benefitting the whole community by reducing energy costs.
Your approach: How are you/ will you addressing the problem outlined above? How does your solution unlock or reimagine access to spaces for sport and physical activity? What role do landowners, local authorities, or other decision-making stakeholders play in your approach? 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 centres on reimagining where sport happens and who it is for. PowerPod Gym addresses disengagement from physical activity and perceived lack of space by bringing a compact, modular gym into underused, residual, or non-traditional areas within school estates — such as playground edges, courtyards, halls during off-peak times, redundant storage areas, car parks, boundary land, or spaces shared with the wider community. While many schools report “no space”, this often reflects a lack of free traditional sports space, not an absence of physical capacity. The PowerPod works precisely within this constraint by requiring a small footprint and no permanent building works, unlocking existing space and turning it into a high-impact physical activity and learning asset. Rather than competing with classrooms or sports halls, the solution removes key structural barriers: limited space, low engagement with conventional sport, and pressure on school timetables. The pod supports short, flexible rotation sessions (10–15 minutes), allowing use during PE, break times, lunch, after school, or as part of enrichment and climate education. Inclusive, adjustable equipment ensures participation from students of varying abilities, including those often excluded from competitive sports environments. A defining feature of our approach is movement with purpose. By converting physical effort into visible, usable energy, the PowerPod reframes exercise as contribution. Students see their actions power lights, charging points, or digital displays, creating a direct link between personal wellbeing and collective benefit. This builds motivation, climate literacy, and a sense of ownership over shared spaces.
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?
Collaboration with young people and their communities sits at the heart of PowerPod Gym. The initiative is designed with young people, not just for them, ensuring the solution reflects real needs, motivations, and barriers to participation in physical activity. From the outset, young people play a central role in co-design. Through workshops, focus groups, and pilot sessions in partner schools, students help shape the layout of the pod, choice of equipment, accessibility features, session lengths, and the design of live energy displays. Their feedback influences how the space looks, feels, and functions, ensuring it is welcoming to those who may feel disengaged from traditional sport. Students also contribute ideas on how the energy generated should be used, linking physical activity to outcomes that matter to them and their school community. Young people act as PowerPod Ambassadors, supporting peer engagement, helping to timetable use, and explaining the energy-generation concept to other students. This peer-led approach builds ownership, confidence, and leadership skills while increasing uptake among harder-to-reach groups. The wider community plays an active role in delivery. Schools, parents, youth workers, and local organisations help shape safeguarding, access, and after-school or community use. Where appropriate, pods can be opened beyond the school day for family or community sessions, strengthening connections between schools and their neighbourhoods and increasing access to safe spaces for activity. Teachers and staff collaborate to integrate the PowerPod into PE, science, and climate education, reinforcing learning across the curriculum. Local authorities and estates teams support site identification and long-term planning.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in unlocking spaces for and access to physical activity and sport so far? 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?
PowerPod Gym has strong potential to deliver measurable, scalable impact by unlocking underused school spaces and lowering barriers to physical activity for young people least likely to engage in traditional sport. Although currently at concept and pre-pilot stage, the model is grounded in established evidence: short, accessible activity sessions increase participation; visible feedback improves motivation; and co-designed interventions support sustained engagement. Immediate outputs include activating overlooked spaces within school estates, installing modular gym pods, and delivering regular short-format activity sessions during PE, breaks, and after school. Each pod can serve an estimated 300–600 pupils per week through rotation use, without displacing lessons or facilities. Live energy dashboards capture real-time data on participation, minutes of activity, and energy generated, creating a built-in evidence base from day one. Short- to medium-term impact focuses on increased participation among students disengaged from sport, improved activity levels, and stronger links between movement, learning, and climate awareness. Teachers gain a practical tool supporting PE, wellbeing, and sustainability objectives, while schools benefit from small but visible reductions in energy use and costs. Long-term impact centres on systems change. PowerPod Gym reframes school space as flexible infrastructure rather than fixed provision, showing that meaningful physical activity does not require large halls or pitches. With local authority and estates support, the model can scale across boroughs, including shared or mobile pods where space is most constrained. Over five years, a London-wide rollout of 50 pods could reach 15,000–30,000 young people annually.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
PowerPod Gym is innovative because it tackles the root causes of inactivity — lack of space, low engagement, and competing priorities — rather than simply adding another sports programme. Unlike traditional school gyms or PE interventions, PowerPod redefines where and why physical activity happens by turning overlooked, residual spaces into productive infrastructure for both movement and energy. The initiative is original in its dual-function design. Physical activity is not only for fitness, but also generates clean electricity that powers parts of the school. This transforms exercise from an isolated activity into a visible contribution, embedding sustainability into everyday behaviour rather than treating it as a separate lesson. Students immediately see the impact of their movement, strengthening motivation and long-term engagement. PowerPod Gym also challenges norms around school space. Where most solutions require dedicated sports halls or pitches, PowerPod works within tight footprints and without permanent construction. Its modular, container- or trailer-based design allows temporary, shared, or mobile use across schools — a critical innovation for dense urban environments like London. The approach is also innovative in how young people are positioned. Students act as co-designers, ambassadors, and data contributors, shaping the pod’s layout, equipment, and energy use. This shifts them from passive users to active stakeholders, building ownership and peer-led participation. Finally, PowerPod bridges sectors that rarely meet: sport, education estates, and energy. By aligning physical activity with climate action and infrastructure planning, it offers a new model for schools and local authorities.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your initiative 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?
PowerPod Gym is designed for long-term success by combining a modular, low-footprint design with co-created programming and strong stakeholder partnerships. Operational sustainability begins with embedding the pods into existing school infrastructure, using spaces that would otherwise remain underutilised. Schools benefit directly from reduced energy costs and flexible PE provision, creating a clear value proposition that supports adoption and ongoing use. Maintenance is minimised through robust, low-impact equipment and simple energy storage systems, while live dashboards allow schools to monitor both activity and energy output, ensuring the pods remain relevant and motivating for students. Our approach builds sustainability through partnerships with local authorities, estates teams, and youth organisations, which provide site access, permissions, and integration into borough-wide wellbeing, climate, and activity strategies. Co-design with students ensures programming meets real needs, increasing engagement and embedding the pod into school culture. Teachers and staff are trained to facilitate sessions and track impact, creating internal capacity and ownership. For scaling, the initial pilot of 2–3 pods will generate evidence on feasibility, engagement, and impact, which will inform a borough-level rollout. Pods can be shared or mobile, allowing multiple schools to benefit where space is limited. Over five years, a London-wide network of 50 pods could reach 15,000–30,000 students annually. Funding pathways include seed support for prototyping, local authority investment, and partnerships with corporate sponsors or sustainability-focused grants.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
The PowerPod Gym initiative relies on a collaborative structure where responsibilities are clearly shared between our core team, schools, and partner stakeholders. Our team leads project management, design, and delivery. We coordinate co-design workshops with students, oversee pod prototyping and installation, manage energy system integration, and monitor impact through data dashboards. We also handle fundraising, partnership development, and overall programme evaluation. School staff play a central role in embedding the pods into daily routines. PE teachers and wellbeing leads schedule sessions, supervise usage, support inclusive participation, and integrate the pods into learning around physical activity and sustainability. School leadership ensures site access, safeguarding, and alignment with school priorities. Students act as co-designers and ambassadors, shaping pod layout, session formats, and energy use. They lead peer engagement, encouraging participation and reinforcing motivation, while providing feedback to improve design and usability. Local authorities and estates teams support site selection, permissions, and long-term integration, aligning the initiative with borough-wide health, education, and sustainability objectives. External partners — including youth organisations and sustainability-focused groups — contribute expertise in engagement, climate literacy, and evaluation, ensuring the initiative meets wider community goals. This shared model ensures responsibilities are distributed according to expertise and capacity, fostering ownership across all stakeholders while maintaining efficient, coordinated delivery of PowerPod Gym.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
PowerPod Gym – Key Milestones and Timeline Co-Design & Planning (Months 1–3) Conduct workshops and focus groups with students, teachers, and school staff. Finalise pod design, equipment selection, and energy integration plan. Identify pilot schools and secure permissions from school leadership and local authorities. Prototyping & Testing (Months 4–6) Build 1–2 prototype pods. Conduct small-scale testing in controlled settings to refine equipment, layout, and user experience. Gather initial data on usability, student engagement, and energy output. Pilot Installation & Launch (Months 7–12) Install 2–3 pilot pods in selected schools. Train school staff on session facilitation, safety, and monitoring. Launch student-led activities and collect baseline participation and energy generation data. Monitoring & Evaluation (Months 13–15) Track student usage, engagement levels, and energy generated. Gather feedback from students, staff, and local authorities. Refine scheduling, session formats, and engagement strategies. Pilot Review & Impact Reporting (Months 16–18) Analyse data to assess outcomes, including increased activity, motivation, and climate awareness. Produce an evaluation report and share findings with stakeholders. Scale-Up Planning (Months 19–24) Identify additional schools and potential shared or mobile pod deployment. Secure funding and partnerships for broader rollout. Develop replication toolkit, including guidance for co-design, installation, and operation. This phased approach ensures iterative learning, strong stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based scaling, positioning PowerPod Gym for sustainable impact across London schools.
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.
If selected as a finalist, participation in the 8-week capacity-building programme would incur costs that could pose a barrier. The main anticipated expenses include: Staff time and backfill – Releasing team members to attend workshops, mentoring sessions, and programme activities may require temporary cover or overtime, estimated at £4,000. Travel and logistics – Travel to programme sessions, site visits, and meetings across London, including public transport or occasional car hire, estimated at £1,500. Materials and resources – Printing, workshop materials, and digital tools to support participation in exercises and deliverables, estimated at £1,000. Evaluation and reporting support – Allocating staff time or external support to manage data, prepare reports, and document learning from the programme, estimated at £3,500. Total estimated costs: £10,000 Access to this grant funding would ensure our full participation without compromising ongoing delivery of PowerPod Gym activities. It would allow the team to fully engage in capacity-building, gain mentorship, refine the initiative, and prepare robust plans for scaling, while maintaining operational continuity in schools and with partner stakeholders.
