1. Tell us about the new strategy and its focus

We are thrilled to have launched the DHL UK Foundation’s strategy 2025-2030. Throughout 2024, we have been working hard to understand the drivers of unemployment for underserved young people, often complex and interlinked, and identify the most effective interventions. With limited resources but also with the huge potential of our collaboration with a large employer like DHL, we agreed it made sense for the Foundation to refine its focus further on unemployment. As a result, we will now intervene from secondary school level (from age 11 years old) which is a critical turning point when young people begin to consider their career paths.

Secondary school students can feel pressure to make critical decisions about their futures, often lacking a clear understanding of their options. Although career guidance is mandatory in UK schools, many lack the resources, time and/or expertise to provide adequate support to their students. Furthermore, some young people may not thrive in a traditional school setting and leave unprepared for the workforce.

The Foundation will intervene at three key stages: first, by offering preventative support in secondary schools to help students develop essential skills and access career guidance; second, during their transition from school to ensure they are job-ready; and third, to re-engage school leavers in creating a plan for successful job searches. In this case, we may support young adults up until the age of 25.

2. Why the new strategic approach to split the programmes between grant funding and GoTeach delivery?

We will support a selection of charity partners with either strategic grants (unrestricted funding for aligned programmes) or GoTeach grants (restricted funding which leverages DHL employees’ passion and skills through volunteering).

With this new model, our GoTeach partners will be responsible for delivering activities that focus on developing employability skills needed in the workplace, thereby increasing our capacity to offer more opportunities for young people. We will continue targeting schools and youth centres near DHL locations to facilitate connections with the workforce.

The model also adopts the 3-session framework, as research conducted both internationally and in the UK, shows that a young person’s outcomes significantly improve when they engage in three meaningful sessions, rather than just a single interaction with employers.

3. How will this help volunteering?

DHL employees will receive strong support from our partners to prepare for GoTeach sessions. Additionally, we will expand our reach to more schools and youth centres nationwide, ensuring that activities are accessible to more DHL employees.

4. How will this help us measure our impact?

Until now, we have primarily focused on reporting the number of activities and volunteer hours, which are useful indicators but do not reflect the actual improvement in young people’s outcomes. We are now investing in evaluation expertise and processes. With our GoTeach partners, we will also track attendance to the three-sessions more systematically and the consequent impact on young people. We must confidently demonstrate that our funding and volunteering enhance the job readiness and employment outcomes for underserved young people.