BLOG: How will Groundwork help more young people be a Force of Nature?
Force of Nature is an exciting campaign that asks environmental organisations to think differently about how we diversify our workforce and boost the environment sector.
In this blog series, we are asking why it’s important that more young people are supported be a Force of Nature.
Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, talks about his career in the green sector and the mission to find the talent to save the world.
April 2024
Having first woken up to environmental issues at school (thanks to a single, passionate teacher), I set my sights, as many idealistic teenagers do, on having a ‘job with purpose’. Sadly this wasn’t really a feature of the careers guidance I received back then (from memory ‘fashion photographer’ came out top when I plugged in my preferences), and the university ‘milk round’ process left me equally cold and clueless.
Once properly unemployed following graduation, and required to participate in regular job search activities, I could at least focus on what I wanted – a career making a practical difference to the things I saw around me: nature in decline; waste piling up; run-down environments; young people with no prospects. It was then I realised that knowing what you want is one thing, knowing how to get it is something completely different.
I knew of a few environmental organisations and began banging out letters. Most of them were based in faraway places running campaigns about faraway things, but it was good to keep the benefit office off my back. I held out most hope for an organisation based in my area doing things in places I knew – Groundwork – and at least got a reply, albeit one with a familiar refrain, ‘we’re looking for people with experience, have you tried volunteering?’
So I did. Not for Groundwork but for The Conservation Volunteers, quickly making myself useful in the local office with some graphic design skills I was picking up (thanks to a course I was sent on by my job search adviser). From there it was a hop into temporary positions in local authorities, a comms job in the charity sector and then back round to Groundwork, finding my way into the national team, initially as a junior press officer.
Mine isn’t an exceptional story by any means – and I was in the privileged position of being able to live on benefits while doing some volunteering – but I’ve come to appreciate that what was typical was my lack of knowledge about the sector and the lack of entry-level routes into a career I could be properly committed to.
Having come full-circle I’m determined to change that, and make sure Groundwork does everything in its power to give young people the opportunity I was looking for. This means participating in funded programmes when they’re available – in my time here we’ve been at the forefront of the Environment Task Force, the Future Jobs Fund, Kickstart, and now New to Nature, all of which are using the same model of waged placements to escape the ‘no-experience, no-job, no experience’ trap.
But it also means going beyond that and committing to placements and entry-level pathways whether or not someone else is willing to pay for it. We’re pleased to be working with EY Foundation and others to explore how we overcome the barriers we put up as a sector to young people looking for experience and what other models and entry points might be needed. If you’re an employer reading this, please complete this survey – Social Mobility in the Charity Sector: entry level pathways for young talent (office.com)
I still believe, as I did as a young jobseeker, that protecting and improving the natural world in a way that improves our lives and communities, is the most important mission we have. If we’re going to be successful in achieving it we need to be harnessing all the talent available to us.
Notes to Editors
For more information please contact: media@groundwork.org.uk
About New to Nature
New to Nature will offer new, full-time, temporary work placements in nature and landscape organisations across the UK, aiming to increase diversity and enrich the environmental sector.
Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the celebrations to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the King’s Coronation, the programme will run until September 2024 and will provide paid work placements for at least 95 people, targeting young people from diverse backgrounds to undertake a range of environmental roles.
New to Nature is delivered through a partnership of Groundwork, The Prince’s Trust, Disability Rights UK, and Mission Diverse. We are working closely with the Youth Environmental Service to ensure the programme acts as a stepping stone for a longer-term journey of change in the sector: www.groundwork.org.uk/projects/new-to-nature/
