Transition
School to work, study, or enterprise.
Focus — Education, Knowledge & Human Capability — Youth pathways
YOUTH PATHWAYS
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve the routes young people have after school for the young people and the adults supporting them.
Why this area
YOUTH PATHWAYS
IN CONTEXT.
The gap between leaving school and finding footing is where potential is lost. Ideas qualify when the route out is as clear as the programme itself.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Mentorship
Adults who open doors and stay in touch.
First work
Placements, internships, and first jobs.
Out-of-school youth
Routes back for those already outside.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A YOUTH PATHWAYS
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where the routes young people have after school fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — placement, retention, earnings, or return to study.
- Explains what the young people and the adults supporting them do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of the routes young people have after school in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier youth employment programmes did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the young people and the adults supporting them, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — young people, cohorts, or placements.
- A stated measure of success — placement, retention, earnings, or return to study.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves opportunity, income, and confidence for the young people and the adults supporting them.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named school, employer, or youth organisation able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of the routes young people have after school in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the young people and the adults supporting them or the school, employer, or youth organisation.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about youth pathways with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
YOUTH PATHWAYS IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about the routes young people have after school that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.