Investing in our young people

Photo provided by The Prince’s Trust, taken from their Enterprise programme in Scotland.

Wildland’s 200 year vision of landscape-scale conservation in the Scottish Highlands is, after more than a decade of concerted efforts, seeing real and remarkable results. We’re proud of that but we know that our investment in Scotland’s wild land won’t just help nature heal itself – sustainable and thriving local communities lie at the heart of our vision.

Yet we know that Covid-19 has taken a severe toll in our communities, particularly among young people whose educations have been disrupted and who have faced – and are still facing – very significant barriers to finding employment. Even as we look forward to reopening businesses and coming together again following lockdown we must not forget that many young people will need extra help if they are to feel part of Scotland’s recovery.

That’s why this year Wildland has chosen to support the work of two nationally-recognised leaders in education support for children and young people, The Prince’s Trust and Young Enterprise Scotland. By funding both organisations to set up new programmes in schools and communities across the north of Scotland, our goal is to increase the range of opportunities for young people to build resilience and reach their full potential.

We have committed forty thousand pounds to The Trust’s Achieve programme to expand its reach across the North East, Highlands and Islands in the academic year ahead. Achieve provides a vocational curriculum for pupils at risk of disengaging with their education at secondary level. Its emphasis on practical skills and experience of work offers young people a valuable supplement to the mainstream syllabus, giving them a tangible asset that they can use in their next steps, be that in education or employment.

We are also providing a further thirty thousand pounds to invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs in the North East, Highlands and Islands through The Trust’s Enterprise programme. The scheme works with young aspiring business founders, aged 18-30, providing two years’ training and mentorship alongside access to resources to launch their business. We are particularly excited by the potential for aspiring entrepreneurs from remote, fragile communities in the Highlands and Islands to receive this support because a significant portion of delivery can be accessed remotely through online learning.

At the same time we’re partnering with enterprise education charity Young Enterprise Scotland, providing thirty thousand pounds to help it deliver a Circular Community Challenge project in primary schools in the Highlands. This fun, interactive challenge is designed to provide pupils with vital enterprise skills from team working to communication, as well as the confidence in their own creativity.

Through it, primary school pupils will be supported to work together to design and develop their own ‘circular’ business — either a product or service — which also meets a need in their local community. With national and international attentions focussed squarely on the COP26 global climate change summit in Glasgow later this year, there has never been a better time to help young people learn about the principles and benefits of a circular economy, where everything has value and nothing is wasted.

Through each of these collaborations Wildland hopes to develop partnerships that support community resilience, particularly among young people in rural areas who face unique barriers to reaching their full potential in education and employment. We are excited to see how they unfold in the months ahead and wish every young person involved in these programmes all the success in the world.

Tim Kirkwood

Chief Executive, Wildland Limited

April 2021

Young children learning the art of beekeeping. Photo provided by Young Enterprise Scotland.