About

Who we are

Routes to Resilience™ was established as an initiative of the Impact Trust to respond to the significant gap in education for sustainable development.

Our programmes and real-world learning encounters were designed to connect young people to the literacies, skills and competencies needed to steer a different course, one that would drive change towards a more sustainable, resilient future.

Our vision is of a different future

We believe that there are alternative routes to being, becoming and belonging in the world: routes that can better lead us to a greater sense of wellbeing and collective resilience to face the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Our commitment is to connect youth on the cusp of change and the organisations that serve them to the knowledge, tools and skills they need to make sustainable life and career choices.

Our Model

We support young people, and the organisations that serve them, by collaboratively developing and sharing programmes that connect students to the principles of sustainability through real world lived experiences.

We have worked across the spectrum of advantage and vulnerability and seen stunning transformations in insight, opportunity and practice amongst our students. But we need to reach hundreds of thousands.

Since 2021 the Trust has been working to share its R2R content and resources with committed partners who want to be connected to a community of practice.

In this way we believe we can bridge the gap between knowing and doing, between learning and life, equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to make more informed and inspired life and career choices.

Developed by leading sustainability experts

Routes to Resilience programmes have been developed in a unique collaboration between the Impact Trust, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in South Africa (CISL-SA) and a wide network of contributions from leading sustainability experts around the world.

These continue to enrich and enhance the learning experience and exposure to crucial areas of sustainability thinking.

Current providers of our programmes

We have already gifted our programme content and related resources to some stellar youth development and education organisations who are delivering Routes to Resilience programme to the youth and young adults they serve. And we’re working to expand these further globally in 2022 and beyond.

What students say about our programmes

This programme is life-changing. It helped rekindle my inner fire. I feel like I am aware of myself more than before. I know my purpose in life, it's only a matter of time before I apply myself to it. The programme has given me a new perspective of life at work. It taught me good things about the workplace and about being my own boss.

Resilient Futures Participant

By taking this course it made me realise that it’s not someone else’s problem because we are the someone else to someone else. There is no “them”, there is only us.

Cedar House Learner

The social action taught me about working together. It taught me that if an impactful leader believes in something, it is almost certain that their followers will believe it too. Leadership is critical for impact.

Programme Participant

One of the most valuable things this course taught me was that there are solutions. I got to see them.

Cedar House Learner

I am more aware of my surroundings. My knowledge regarding nature and insects has immensely increased and this programme has changed my perspective on a load of things. It was really worth it and awesome.

Go4Gold Student, Grootbos Immersion

The session of the body mapping enabled to think back from where I come from and the goal I set to achieve for myself. I could measure how far I still need to go.

Go4Gold Student, Grootbos Immersion

Become a trained provider of R2R curricula at your school

Find out how you can become an accredited Routes to Resilience provider to make use of our materials in your work and join us in building a more resilient future.