Restless Development is a global charity that is all about youth-led change. We work with young people in their communities to ensure they have the support, tools and opportunities to change their futures. Be that setting up their own local business, helping girls stay in school or taking action on climate change.
Restless Development started in 1985 (when it was known as SPW), it was the brainchild of Jim Cogan, a teacher at Westminster School. He believed that when you gave young people the chance to lead development they could have incredible lasting results. We no longer organise gap years, but we still work with phenomenal young people all around the world.
Today we’re a network of locally run youth organisations in 9 countries and a network of more than 5000 youth led organisations sign-up to the Youth Collective. And we’ve reached 10 million young people to date.
Restless Development provides training, mentorship, and resources, to young people to lead and take action. Whether it’s starting a business, leading climate solutions, or ensuring girls stay in school, Restless Development believes in a simple but powerful idea: young people aren't just the future - they're the leaders of today.
To give you some examples of what we do:
Sierra Leone: A third of girls drop out of school by the age of 12 and a third of all girls will be married and have a child before then turn 18. We work with young leaders in Sierra Leone to help keep these girls in school by running girls clubs and talking to parents in the local community.
Uganda: In Uganda, the percentage of young people who are not in education, training or employment is as high as 50%. We support young people who have left school and set up a local business by providing funding, training and on-going support for them to create an income. We have an upcoming campaign titled Youth Sparks which supports this work for those who want to find out more.
UK: We support an array of children and young people, particularly those who face limited opportunities outside of school. We help them to lead a variety of projects — from conserving their local environment to creating positive change in their communities.
Where We Work:
We are independently registered and governed in nine countries: India, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
We are a global team of more than 200 people based in 13 countries, bound together by our vision for youth power.
We host a growing youth collective of almost 4,000 youth organisations in 185 countries.
Where Does Your Money Go?
Thanks to the Schools Triathlon series, in 2025 alone, we have been able to support 1000 young leaders to lead initiatives around the world. Each young leader has in turn worked with 40 young people - so as a result we have reached 40,000 young people:
- Providing training, opportunities and support to lead;
- Working in partnership with their community;
- Connecting with other young leaders to create positive change.
A massive THANK YOU to all of our triathletes to date!