Our work

The Active Citizens programme recently celebrated it’s ten-year anniversary across almost 80 countries!  In order to recognise the achievements of the programme and the incredible work of over 285,000 change-makers, a series of celebrations and commemorations were hosted across the globe.

The Cultural Protection Fund is a fund that supports efforts to protect cultural heritage at risk. The fund aims to help to create sustainable opportunities for economic and social development through building capacity to foster, safeguard and promote cultural heritage. The CPF is now supporting a rich tapestry of projects protecting cultural heritage across 12 target countries.

The British Council has been the commissioner of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 1937, presenting work by groundbreaking artists and pioneering architects. With up to 500,000 international visitors each year, the Venice Biennale is one of the longest-running cultural festivals in the world.

Partnership between the British Council and the Premier League, which uses football (soccer) as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people giving them tools for a brighter future. The programme has expanded to 29 countries and trained 28,808 coaches, trainers and referees since 2007, allowing the program to reach over 1.7 million youth.

Since 2013 the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX) Initiative has awarded over £13m to more than 20 research projects, bringing together scientists in Britain and Israel to tackle some of the world’s most challenging health problems.

A cultural programme developed between the UK and South Africa. The programme has supported cultural connections between young people aged 18-35 in the UK and South Africa with a range of arts projects and use of digital platforms to build creative networks through art forms including, fashion, music, film, design and more.

The Selector is an award-winning radio show that covers all styles of music from indie, dubstep, folk, soul, electro and everything in between. The show features interviews, mixes and exclusive live sessions from some of the most exciting British artists and is broadcast in over 40 countries.

Libraries Unlimited (LU) is a five year initiative with the Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Department of Public Libraries to transform the public library sector to improve public access to information and knowledge.

Pudumi Palli Project: Development of Innovative Schools in Chennai, India. We aim to improve the prospects of students, particularly girls, in socio-economically marginalized urban communities of Chennai by enhancing their English, 21st century, and leadership skills. This programme was funded by the MacArthur Foundation and ran from 2015-2018.

The Bridging Voices program is a series of policy and academic dialogues, research partnerships, resources and events developed collaboratively by UK and US universities, think tanks, and NGOs focused on exploring different aspects of the interconnectedness and relationship between religion, politics and international affairs. This programme is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.

The Blavatnik Fellows program enables Israeli scientists of outstanding ability to pursue their postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge while fostering a scholarly exchange and greater understanding between researchers in Britain and Israel.

The Fast Forward Project, which ended in 2018, operated in Rivers, Lagos and Cross Rivers states in Nigeria and enabled co-creation between schools and employers of work-based learning opportunities for young people. The pilot investigated how this approach will, or be adapted to, develop employability skills among young Nigerians and was funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

The PRODIGY program has trained 801 youth leaders to be Active Citizens across Bangladesh. Youth leaders were trained to engage the wider community through the planning and delivery of more than 75 social action projects and volunteer activities, including youth clubs, theater programs, and public dialogues. As a result 15 youth leaders secured 3 month internships with local governments.

Based in several universities in the Punjab State of Pakistan, the 2016 Youth Enterprise Competition challenged faculty members in universities to be trained and then run courses on social invocation and enterprise.

Try Rugby takes British rugby coaches from the Premiership Rugby network to deliver sports for social development activities in schools and communities in Brazil. Premiership Rugby is the top professional rugby union competition in the UK. This programme ended in 2020.

Throughout 2016, the British Council and the GREAT Britain Campaign partnered with a range of government and cultural institutions to invite the world to take part in a programme of events and activities celebrating the world's most famous playwright, William Shakespeare, as a writer for all people and nations.

Through training and mentorship programs, Youth Action will help 1,000 unemployed and economically disadvantages youth to gain digital roles in the workplace.

The Active Citizens worked with four bands of the Te-Moak tribe and four additional tribes of Western Shoshone Native Americans in Nevada.