Driving Impact for People and Planet: Breadwinners’ 2024/2025 Impact Report
At Breadwinners, we believe that creating opportunity for young refugees and protecting the planet go hand in hand. This year, we produced our 5th Participatory Action Research, and for the first time measured our Environmental Impact! We’re proud to share how we've deepened our commitment to both—growing sustainably while listening, learning, and acting on the voices of our community.
Powered by Young People - Participatory Action Research
This year, 21 young refugees and five volunteer mentors led our fifth Participatory Action Research (PAR) process, contacting 928 members of our community and using AI-powered voice recognition to gather feedback in multiple languages. Together, they co-designed surveys, analysed responses, and surfaced honest, diverse perspectives.
A huge thank you to our brilliant youth researchers and mentors, and to Earlybird for providing the AI voice recognition technology that helped make this multilingual outreach possible. 93% of respondents gave a good to excellent feedback on using the AI tool!
Thanks to last years insights, we implemented 14 new changes, including:
Launching our first creative advocacy project to challenge harmful stereotypes about refugees / Behind the scenes: HEY SALAM HOLA BWAKEYE - An audio-visual exhibition for Refugee Week
Introducing structured mentoring plans and EDI training for mentors and mentees
Expanding our Opportunities Fair to feature a broader range of career pathways
This year, the biggest findings have been:
92% of young people who replied are currently either working, studying or volunteering
43% go on to work, 35% to study, 18% are volunteering
37% said lack of job opportunities is their biggest challenge facing progression
Followed by lack of confidence, legal or right-to-work barriers and uncertainty about career direction
Their solutions?
More direct job links (38%), tailored personal development and employability training (23%), and improved communication and follow-up (11%). These findings are now shaping our future strategy through a series of co-designed workshops with staff, trustees, volunteers, and young people.
We’re incredibly grateful to all the participants who shared their voices, This report would not have been possible wihtouth our impressive PAR Researchers Abobakr, Ahmed, Amen, Dagmawi, Diyana, Elsahadi, Elham, Eyuel, Goitom, Hamza, Kateryna, Mikiyas, Milkyas, Mobarak, Mohammad, Muhammad, Raihana, Salim, Senaye, Sithmi, and Yeabsira, and volunteer mentors Abi, Irem and Laura who created the questions, gather feedback from our community and improve our programmes! And to Impetus for investing in our approach and providing data analysis support —deepening our insights and strengthening our findings. / Participatory Action Research 2025 - What we learned about Breadwinners programmes from their young researchers
Reducing Our Environmental Impact
For the first time, we reviewed our entire supply chain and estimated our carbon footprint across all three scopes. Maria Fletcher from On Purpose helped us by gathering detailed data and collaborating directly with our partners, and she was able to pinpoint areas for meaningful emissions reductions.
All our bread and baked goods are made from organic flour— Our carbon footprint from organic bread & baked goods is 20.5% less than of the conventional bread - 41,8 tons of CO₂e
Organic farmers don’t use chemicals when growing crops, which means cleaner environment, 30% more biodiversity, better soil health and less CO2 emissions.
80% of our flour supplier’s lorries and wholesale vans use Euro 6 engines, and route optimisation software helps us cut unnecessary mileage. We’re also exploring the switch to electric vans for zero-emissions deliveries.
Both our main suppliers Celtic Bakers and Shipton Mill run on 100% renewable energy.
Our partnership with Too Good To Go has helped us operate as a zero-waste organisation, saving 35 metric tons of CO₂ by rescuing surplus food from landfill.
In our office, we share a co-working space at 3Space International House and our team commutes by bike or public transport to minimise emissions.
We avoid single-use packaging wherever possible, using reusable or recyclable materials instead.
Check out Marias Blog with all her findings! / We measured our carbon footprint for the first time – and saw how many things we are already doing right
Growing Sustainably, Staying True
Despite a challenging economic climate, we increased our income by 8.28% and supported 25% more young refugees. We are very happy to see that increase in income leads directly to a bigger and better impact for young people!
We continue to test new models—from bike delivery, to market stalls, e-commerce and wholesale to launching in a new city (Brighton) and our first ever creative project raising the voices of young refugees and challenging negative preconceptions.
To support the wellbeing of our growing core team, we’ve invested in pay increases, personal coaching, wellbeing allowances, extended holidays, and development opportunities like action learning and training with peers from partner organisations.
Behind Every Loaf…
We thank our amazing funders and partners for making this growth possible, including: Chalk Cliff Trust, Choose Love, Clifford Chance, Garfield Weston Foundation, Henry Smith Charity, Impetus, Joanies Fund, New Deal for Young People, Rayne Foundation, Society of the Holy Child Jesus, Souter Charitable Trust, Stewardship, The Lawson Trust, The National Lottery Community Fund, Your Station Your Community Fund
Since launching in 2016, Breadwinners has been led by the belief that meaningful work can transform lives. We’re proud of our progress this year—deepening our impact, listening to those we serve, and growing in a way that respects both people and the planet. Thank you to every single one of our loyal customers, partners, funders and volunteers for enabling us to deliver our life-changing work and a special thank you to all our programme participants who inspire us every day!
This report would not have been possible wihtouth our impressive PAR Researchers Abobakr, Ahmed, Amen, Dagmawi, Diyana, Elsahadi, Elham, Eyuel, Goitom, Hamza, Kateryna, Mikiyas, Milkyas, Mobarak, Mohammad, Muhammad, Raihana, Salim, Senaye, Sithmi, and Yeabsira, and volunteer mentors Abi, Irem and Laura who created the questions, gather feedback from our community and improve our programmes!
This report has the wonderful artwork by Mentor Lydia Ratto.
Finally, our trustees and core team past and present are really the reason why so many young people can now have Breadwinners as their first ever work experience in the UK. Thank you!
Have a look at our 2024/2025 Participatory Action Research Report and help us share it! — stay tuned, and thank you for being part of this journey.
Martin Cosarinsky Campos
Managing Director