Sculpt Youth

Sculpt is an international NGO that’s been working to empower young people to forge a fairer society for over 20 years. Our work is guided and evaluated by young people themselves. (Until 2021, we were known as IARS).

Making change possible

Research, training and work-experience opportunities that empower young people to shape their futures and those of their communities.

Founded on three principles

In October 2001, IARS was informally established as an international, charitable organisation. It was set up with no funding or powerful contacts. Our founder didn’t have a business plan or a clear idea about how he was going to fundraise or sustain the organisation.

What he did have was the support of other volunteers and the guiding light of three principles which IARS was founded to further:

User and civic participation

Restorative justice and dialogue, and

Individual empowerment and responsibility.

IARS’ main purpose was, and still is, to give those who are most affected by policy decisions the power to influence and contribute to those decisions.

Guided by the young people we serve

Because we exist to empower young people, the role of young people in the organisation was crucial. To this end, we created an independent Youth Advisory Board (YAB) that evaluates and steers our work. The YAB consists of young people from different backgrounds and with different experiences. They are aware of the problems facing young people today and want to do something positive about these issues.

Two decades of doing

Over the last 20 years, we’ve delivered more than 70 successful projects that have addressed real problems that young people face, in areas such as:

Gender discrimination

Violence against women and girls

Supporting young people to find work

Creating green and sustainable business

Promoting collaboration among young people across the world and much more.

In 2021, with the world changing rapidly and opportunities for our work shifting, we decided to refresh our purpose and identity, and made the decision to rebrand as Sculpt