FAQs

1. What is the the Award programme?

A life-changing experience. A fun time with friends. An opportunity to discover new interests and talents. A tool to develop essential skills for life and work. A recognised mark of achievement; respected by employers. The Award is many things to many people, supporting generations to successfully navigate adult life.

14-24 year-olds can do the programme at one of three progressive levels which, when successfully completed, leads to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

There are four sections to complete at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold. They involve helping the community/environment, becoming fitter, developing new skills, planning, training for and completing an expedition and, for Gold only, working with a team on a residential activity.

Any young person can do their Award – regardless of ability, gender, background or location. Achieving an Award isn’t a competition or about being first. It’s all about setting personal challenges and pushing personal boundaries.

Through a DofE programme young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs and uni and job applications.

The Award Units that work with young people to run Award programme, such as schools, colleges, youth groups and clubs. Through the Licensed Organisation (LO) young people (or their parents / carers) pay for a Participation fee and are supported by Leaders who support them through their programmes, helping them to choose their activities, set their objectives and achieve their Award.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a registered charity, funded by donations, Participation fees and licences. The charity works with Award Units across Romania to increase opportunities for young people to gain the benefits of doing their Award.

2. Benefits of running the DofE

When an organisation runs the Award, it’s not only young people that benefit with life-changing experiences.
Schools, colleges, youth groups, clubs, young offender institutions, fostering agencies, hospitals and more, find that the benefits are far-reaching; supporting staff with their professional development and enhancing the reputation of the organisation.

Participants

– Young people develop a whole range of skills and attributes such as resilience, confidence, commitment, drive, self-awareness, empathy, team working and problem solving, which support them in navigating adult life.
– Achieving a respected Award that’s recognised throughout the world, improves young people’s prospects and opens doors to jobs.
– If doing their Award in school, students can develop positive relationships with teachers outside of the classroom, benefiting their wider school life.
– When doing their Award, young people interact with peers on a level playing field; any young person, of any ability, can start their Award programme.

Licensed Organisations/Award Units

– Holding an Award licence is a marketing accolade that attracts new students and members.
– Young people volunteering in the community reflect positively on the organisation.
– If running the Award in schools or colleges, it helps fulfill personal development requirements. It can also be used as an enrichment activity for students receiving pupil premium funding and for those involved in alternative curriculum programmes.

Adults running the DofE

– Teachers, volunteers and other staff can develop themselves and their CVs through running the Award; building and demonstrating skills such as organisation, teamwork, leadership and financial management.
– Working together on the Award activities creates a less formal environment for staff and young people to build positive relationships.
– The Award can create cohesion across the whole organisation, building stronger working relationships between colleagues from different departments that may not have otherwise worked together.

3. How to participate in the program

For young people to participate in the program, they need to register on the Online Record Book: www.onlinerecordbook.org.

More details here:

4. How does it work to do the Award through the Virtual Award Center?

If there is no high school, university or work place that does deliver the Award yet and there are young people under 25 years old interested, they can do the Award independently through the National Office and we will be assigned a Virtual Award Leader.
Completing the Award this way does require the participant to be self-motivated and to seek out opportunities themselves.
More information about the Virtual Award center here.

5. When can the Award start for a young person?

It starts when the young person registers on the online record book and has a mentor.It can be anytime, there is no specific period of registrations.

6. Is there information on the Award programme in Ukrainian language?

For young people: we do have presentations and the Online Record Book is in Ukrainian
For the Award Leaders there is available the Award handbook, methodology, presentation of the Stand by Me project and several other materials.
link to the Stand by me presentation

7. How to become an Award Leader/ a mentor and is the work of the Award Leader paid?

A mentor is a volunteer position; usually mentors are teachers from schools that are running the programme or from organisations that we are licensing to provide the programme. The mentor is trained by us to become an Award Leader.

8. Types of Licensed Organisations/ Award Units

Licensed Organisations fall into separate categories:

• Organisations that cover a specific geographic area and support a range of DofE centres, such as local authorities.
• Organisations that offer the Award to young people they work with across one or more Romanian nations, such as the Scout Association.
• Organisations that offer the Award to young people they work with on their premises, such as schools.
• Businesses that offer the Award to their employees or are getting their employees involved as Award Leaders for Award Units in the country such as Deloitte.