The Award Programme was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956 as The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. The aim was to motivate young people to become involved in a balanced programme of voluntary self-development activities to take them through the potentially difficult period between adolescence and adulthood.

 

Today, the Award Programme through the network of The International Award Association,  is operated in more than 120 countries, with 21 in Africa.

 

In South Africa, the Award Programme started out as the Gold Shield Award in 1983 and 11 years later, in 1994, with the dawn of the new democratic South Africa, was relaunched as The President's Award for Youth Empowerment, with then South African President, Nelson Mandela as the Founding Patron-in-Chief.