Momentum is a not-for-profit social enterprise, founded in 2008 and registered in England as a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee.
Our vision is that education should enable everyone to develop to their full potential, contribute to a more inclusive society, and build a sustainable future. Our mission is to enhance the career prospects of young people. We achieve this through a wide range of personal development and leadership programmes, and international projects. We aim to complement formal education provision and we work in partnership with schools and other educational organisations in the UK and many other countries. We place particular emphasis on enterprise, inclusion and the use of film and media as a tool for education.
Our aims are:
- To inspire young people to expand their horizons and aspirations, deal successfully
- with transitions, and become ready for the world of work.
- To increase young people’s understanding of global issues.
- To encourage participation in social enterprise and community action projects (local, national and international).
- To cultivate an international network of motivated young people.
- To recognise, value and celebrate young people’s positive contributions to society.
- To add value to formal (school / university) education provision.
- To promote intercultural understanding.
Momentum offers:
- Film and media training for young people
- Film based documentary and heritage projects for schools.
- Staff training for teachers on creative use of video to support learning.
- Long term extracurricular social enterprise / community action projects for secondary schools.
- Student leadership development courses.
- Organisation of international projects, visits, exchanges and volunteering opportunities.
- International training courses for school / youth group project leaders.
- Professionalism and career skills workshops for sixth form and university students.
- International leadership courses for young adults.
- International consultancy (specialist strategic, project and events expertise for the education and youth sectors).
Momentum’s philosophy and approach
Momentum prides itself on developing programmes which are relevant and appropriate to the requirements of our clients and stakeholders, so this proposal is intended as a starting point: as already mentioned, it can be developed and evolved further if Youth United consider that additional inputs or different approaches would improve the programme.
In all our work, engaging young people, and the staff supporting them, is they key to developing a successful project. Our approach is based on:
- Four cornerstones – education, empowerment, equal opportunity and participation.
- Partnerships focused on supporting, developing and rewarding young people.
- Longer term engagement, not one-off activities – building in follow-on opportunities to every project.
- A mixture of challenge and fun; effort rewarded with further opportunity.
- Use of technology, creativity and innovation as tools for learning
- Encouraging innovation by our staff, particularly in use of film and media.
- Inclusion, intercultural learning and intergenerational dialogue.
We work across both the formal and non-formal education sectors. In all cases, we promote a youth and community work approach in empowering the young people and staff we work with. We believe that non-formal learning is an essential part of youth development, alongside school or university education. We especially believe that young people should be given opportunities for international experiences (including international events in their own country) whenever possible, because these can dramatically accelerate the personal development process.
We try to ensure that there are tangible outcomes for any client or beneficiary organisation, in terms of pilot projects or new, concrete examples of young people participating in a meaningful way. Every project or training programme should have something to showcase as a result.
We expect participants to take their learning seriously, and to maximise the experiences they go through, e.g. by getting opportunities to present their learning or practical work to each other, to their families, teachers and peers, or to project sponsors: it is important that they gain recognition for the role they have played in the project.
We promote mutual benefit: we believe that every individual has something to offer as well as something to learn. Sharing and developing expertise is not a one-way process – everyone involved in a project should learn from each other.
Further information
For more information about Momentum, including past experience and current projects, please visit www.momentumworld.org
Twitter: @momentumlive
