Earn Your Stripes – building skills to champion wildlife - Scottish Badgers

Through the Earn Your Stripes project, we believe that we have truly embraced neurodiversity to champion biodiversity. Our inclusive approach has been embedded in every stage of the project, from design through to implementation. We have gone beyond providing specific accommodations to support neurodivergent people and truly embraced each person’s unique skills, strengths and interests. We have successfully achieved this against the backdrop of a global pandemic and in areas of multiple deprivation where issues are compounded for young people with learning disabilities, significantly affecting their ability to thrive.

‘Earn Your Stripes – building skills to champion wildlife’ is a unique skills development project supporting the next generation of wildlife champions. Charities Scottish Badgers and Scottish Wildlife Trust joined forces to provide a structured 4-6 week training programme for 16-24 year olds with learning difficulties. Topics included everything from wildlife tracking to environmental campaigning, with participants choosing from a range of challenges designed with different learning/ intelligence styles and interests in mind. Participants ‘Earned Their Stripes’ at a certificate ceremony around the campfire, where each participant was recognised for their unique contributions to the project.