“Otesha” is a Swahili word that means “reason to dream.”
The Otesha Project UK is a youth-led organisation that’s mobilising our generation to create social and environmental change through our everyday lives.
Or read the previous year’s report if you’d rather
I guess you could call us ambitious, or maybe just foolish. In either case, we decided that cycling across the world’s second largest country just wasn’t enough. You see, we were really inspired by the amazing, creative things the Otesha Project has been doing in Canada for the past five years. We wanted to do something here, too. Starting in the beginning of 2007, we gathered together a group of people from around the UK and took the project trans-Atlantic.
Our goals? To tackle big issues like climate change, injustice and poverty in creative ways, starting with our own lives and actions. To build a community of people who are all doing the same thing, to inspire others to take practical environmental actions, and to have a bit of fun at the same time.We want to challenge ‘norms’ we don’t like, speak out against the things we don’t agree with, and do it in an exciting, creative way.
We want to create something big. A movement, even. Did I mention that we have big aspirations?
Here’s how we’re doing this:
1. Organising Otesha cycle tours that bring together teams of young people to travel around the UK in a mobile community, learn to live in a low-impact way and inspire thousands of others in schools, youth clubs & communities to make positive changes in their own lives.
2. Helping groups of young people start up projects about issues they care about, letting them develop leadership skills and make a real impact in their own communities at the same time through our Change Projects programme.
3. Providing ongoing support to our alumni (that’s people who’ve been involved in cycle tours, local groups, or come into contact with us another way). Often once people get involved with Otesha, they want to keep on making positive change. Sometimes they want to start up their own projects, or give presentations at schools in their own communities, get work in the sustainability sector, find wicked volunteering opportunities, or even start up their own local groups. We help them do this.
4. Making great resources for all kinds of people that talk about social and environmental issues in a clear, practical and creative way. Who says living sustainably has to be boring? We’ve made a Handbook, a How to Change Things guidebook, Tools for Campaigners and we’re currently developing resources for educators. We also have a monthly newsletter chock-full of interesting ideas, great local projects, and other thought-provoking nuggets.
From time to time, we also support special projects for new young leaders who want to tackle big social and environmental challenges. In 2010, we ran the Gear Up programme which helped unemployed young people find work experience placements with innovative green organisations, and which led to the creation of the East London Green Jobs Alliance. In 2008, we helped to create, train and coordinate the first ever UK Youth Delegation to a UN Climate Change Conference.