Drive for Life

Drive for Life is an earlier project supported by Axfoundation. In collaboration with Axfoundation, the Norwegian initiative Drive for Life began operating in Sweden in 2018. Through its successful work on combating exclusion in Norway, Drive for Life has helped children and young people at risk of social exclusion get a new chance in life. Its work is based on a well-proven method where children and young people are given the opportunity to take part in challenging leisure activities and developmental conversations in small groups.

Each group, or ‘club’, consists of five participants and two trained adult supervisors. The club establishes a joint team that combines positive experiences, common team rules and challenging activities that encourage the feeling of empowerment in overcoming difficulties, joy and good team spirit. It is the local team / club that decides what leisure activity the club is going to do and can include motor racing, climbing, soccer or other things that the young people involved are passionate about.

Drive for Life was founded by Norwegian racing driver Knut Ove Borseth, former European Championship rally champion. Borseth became a social entrepreneur in 2009 when he started Drive for Life, which is currently in operation in around 50 municipalities across Norway. Drive for Life has a developed working model with strong focus on individual action plans and followups. All activities are documented carefully. DNV GL (formerly Det Norske Veritas) calculates the social benefit of 1:7, where the investment needed generates a 7 kronor return in terms of saved social costs, equivalent to what life-long exclusion costs.

Results

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Percent of participants attend school for at least one year

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Percent of participants continue their training three years after the project period. Young people that have faced major challenges at school have completely stopped schooling three years after participating in Drive for Life.

When Drive for Life started up in several municipalities in Sweden in 2018, Axfoundation served as an accelerator during the start-up phase and contributed with expertise and part-financing. Drive for Life was Axfoundation’s first social sustainability project aimed at young people at risk of social exclusion.