Unilever : 1,000 London schools sign up to social action scheme

08/06/2015

To celebrate the programme's achievement, pupils and teachers visited City Hall today, Monday 8 June, to meet Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Team London Young Ambassadors is Boris Johnson's youth volunteering programme which aims to inspire young Londoners to engage in social action, both in their school and the local community. One in three London schools is now participating, with the programme on target to reach 2,500 schools by 2017.

Supported by Unilever and Spirit of 2012, and delivered in partnership with Free The Children, over 190,000 Londoners aged 5-18 have participated since the programme launched in 2013. Young people from every borough have taken part in events and projects focusing on a variety of issues including food waste and poverty, the environment, homelessness, gardening, community spirit, bullying and friendship.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "This is a hugely exciting milestone for Team London. The Young Ambassadors programme is a fantastic way for young Londoners to get involved and lead on issues they care about. With 1,000 schools signed up in just two years, almost 200,000 young people from across the capital are taking social action and being active citizens in their local community and in their schools. It is a great achievement and I look forward to the programme being rolled out to 2,500 schools by 2017."

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Notes to editors

For more information:

Adam Fisher

UK & Ireland Media Relations Manager

T: 01372 945925 / M: 07785 450287

E: Adam.Fisher@unilever.com

About Team London

Team London is the Mayor of London's ambitious programme to mobilise an army of volunteers across the capital. The aim is to improve life in London through programmes that will reduce crime, increase opportunities for youth and improve quality of life by cleaning and greening London and building stronger neighbourhoods. Team London has 89,000 registered volunteers and promotes volunteering opportunities for almost 1,250 organisations. For information about volunteering opportunities in London, please go to http://volunteerteam.london.gov.uk/#s(Link opens in a new window) @teamLDN

About Unilever:

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries. We work with 174,000 colleagues around the world and generated annual sales of €49.8 billion in 2013. Over half of our company's footprint is in the faster growing developing and emerging markets (57% in 2013). Working to create a better future every day, we help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our portfolio includes some of the world's best known brands, 14 of which - Knorr, Persil / Omo, Dove, Sunsilk, Hellmann's, Surf, Lipton, Rexona / Sure, Wall's ice cream, Lux, Flora / Becel, Rama / Blue Band, Magnum and Axe / Lynx - now generate a turnover of €1 billion or more.

Our ambition is to double the size of our business, whilst reducing our overall environmental footprint (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal) and increasing our positive social impact. We are committed to helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020, and decoupling our growth from our environmental impact. Supporting our three big goals, we have defined nine commitments, underpinned by targets encompassing social, environmental and economic areas. See more on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan at www.unilever.com/sustainable-living(Link opens in a new window) .

Unilever has been recognised in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for 14 consecutive years. We are included in the FTSE4Good Index Series and attained a top environmental score of 5, leading to inclusion in the FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index. Unilever has been named sector leader of the CDP's Forests programme for three consecutive years, and in 2014 led the list of Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders in the GlobeScan/SustainAbility annual survey - for the fourth year running. Unilever was named LinkedIn's third most sought-after employer worldwide in 2013.

For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit www.unilever.co.uk(Link opens in a new window) .

Unilever brightFuture:

Unilever is proud to support the Team London Young Ambassadors programme as part of the Unilever brightFuture platform. Unilever brightFuture aims to unite and amplify the efforts of a growing community of people who believe it is possible to build a world where everyone lives well and lives sustainably. See more on the Unilever brightFuture platform at www.brightfuture.unilever.co.uk(Link opens in a new window) .