The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award is a non-competitive program in which participants set and achieve personal goals for community service, skills, fitness, and adventure. To date, over 500,000 youth from Canada and over 8 million youth in 140 countries have been motivated to undertake various voluntary and challenging activities. It is open to all young Canadians age 14 yrs to 24 yrs old and has three levels:
Bronze (for ages 14 yrs and up)
Silver (for ages 15 yrs and up)
Gold (for ages 16 yrs and up)
Today, The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Canada, can be found right across the country, engaging over 20,000 young people and over 2,600 Award Leaders annually. Our program is run in cities, rural and remote areas, through government and independent schools, universities and colleges, and a wide range of organizations such as Cadets, Scouts, Girl Guides, indigenous youth groups, new immigrant support programs, sports clubs, employers, youth detention centers and community youth organizations.
Ravi introduced in 2005, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program to his community and registered an award group under Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Coquitlam with just five participants. With sheer hard work, persistence, community service activities by the group and its leaders, the group inspired many other parents to enroll their youth with this newly created group. As the number of participants grew with the popularity of the program among the community, two more groups were registered under the aegis of Sri Yoga Hanuman Temple, and Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Vancouver and finally a YLSBC award group was registered on its incorporation in 2015, and existed until 2019.
Over the past 15 years, over 140 youth participated in this program and many earning Gold level award, besides completing Silver and Bronze levels. This is a phenomenal international program YLSBC highly recommends youth to enroll in and contact directly B.C. Award office for registration. YLSBC's public speaking, leadership, and community service programs may qualify for the Duke of Edinburgh program's skill and service section.
Our memories from past expeditions:
Please visit the Program Videos page to watch videos from this program as well as others.
Testimonials
“The program has helped me greatly improve upon my social and organizational skills, and through the program’s well rounded expectations, I have managed to grow more as a person in every aspect. Moreover, the team of volunteers … make everyone feel welcome and do their best to help and ensure that all of the participants feel comfortable in their surroundings. The Duke of Edinburgh program is highly beneficial in every aspect and ...will create memories and bonds that last a lifetime.”
“The Duke of Edinburgh Award Program enabled me to rethink what motivation, challenge, and determination mean. It taught me that when you put your fears behind you and take a step out of your comfort zone, you may fall, but you’ll get back up and accomplish something bigger. My Duke of Ed experience inspired me to meet new people and take risks...I’ve learned many important skills and met a variety of people, leading me to believe that my memories formed in Duke will last a lifetime.”
“The Duke of Ed program has benefited me both, as a physical and a mental character. It has taught me many life skills, and established life-long memories for me. The Duke of Ed program shows you how to be a leader, and gives you real-life situations where without leadership, you would not be able to survive.”
“Initially we did have some hesitations regarding the Duke Program. Once we came to know about the program we felt that it is the best thing that could have ever happened to our daughter. She gained a lot of experiences a participant, a mentor and a leader. Her organizational skills have improved, she is becoming a people’s person and is able handle any situation with a lot of maturity.
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“We are very happy and proud to be a part of this program as it has brought out the best in our kids. It has taught them how to challenge themselves and be successful in many situations by being self-motivated, learning the leadership qualities and responsibilities, and give back to the community. Thanks to the leaders and volunteers for guiding our kids to achieve great heights.”