by Jodie Velarde, Schools Programme Assistant, Dirt is Good

The Dirt Is Good Project is on a mission to empower a generation of young changemakers to take action on social and environmental issues they care about.

The robust scientific research conducted by Global Action Plan (GAP) in partnership with Persil, behind the project, proves that there is a clear reason why young people are not taking action as much as they may want to, which is known as the values perception gap.

Young people care. They care about other people, they care about the planet, but somehow there is a huge perception gap whereby they think that others around them do not care.

This gets wider and wider as they get older, and research has shown that this is what stops them from taking action. The Dirt is Good Project has been designed to close this gap and break down the barriers that are in the changemakers’ way, to take action on causes they care about.

The Dirt Is Good (DIG) Project has two main elements to it. One is the DIG Academy, an interactive site where young people can create avatars to navigate through and learn about various global issues such as energy and social justice.

The other is the DIG Schools Programme. This is coordinated by GAP and is currently launched in the UK and Chile, and set to launch in Thailand, Brazil and India in the coming months.

Morgan Phillips, Head of Insight at GAP has helped design many parts of the dynamic resources for the Dirt Is Good Schools Programme.

He said, “It is really exciting to see the Dirt is Good project coming to life now. The young people involved are starting to appreciate that they are not alone in their desire to make the world a better place."

“This is one of the main aims of the project and key to unlocking action. For GAP, Dirt is Good is giving us a fantastic opportunity to connect with thousands, hopefully millions, of young people and help them appreciate that we are united in compassion.”

The DIG Schools Programme nurtures compassionate values in young changemakers and encourages young people to take action through the four key DIG principles;

1 - that we are all united in compassion and we all care

2- that we get stuck in and act now

3 - that everyone has a role to play

and 4- that we are on a journey.

Schools across the globe really have been embodying the getting stuck in principle, with a DIG Coach in Chile saying “They (the young people) identified a problem: in front of the school there is a park that was dirty and the following week they went to clean the place."

It is clear that meaningful and collective action is going on through the DIG Project in and outside of the classroom all around the world, and we look forward to hearing and seeing more and the project continues to grow!

Dirt is Good is a Global Action Plan programme run in partnership with Persil UK.