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Annual Review 2025

Canon Collins Trust has awarded over 3,600 postgraduate scholarships across southern Africa, investing R300m+ in education for social justice since 2000. Their 2025 annual review covers 132 scholars supported across law, science, education, arts and media — 55% women. Highlights include a new Generative Research Community backed by the Mastercard Foundation, deepened government partnerships and progress toward a Global Mandela Leadership Centre of Excellence.

Report snapshot
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About

Postgraduate scholarships across southern Africa, scholar conference, generative research community, women in science programme, climate justice work, transformative law, arts and media scholars, Sylvester Stein Award

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 132 scholars supported in 2025; 3,600+ scholarships awarded over 40+ years
Key Metric 2 Over R300 million invested in education for social justice since 2000
Key Metric 3 73 female, 57 male, 2 non-binary scholars; 2 differently abled — 55% female cohort

Key Outcomes

  • 150+ scholars and alumni gathered at Annual Scholar Conference; Mastercard Foundation-backed Generative Research Community established
  • New collaborations with SA Department of Higher Education and Science, Technology and Innovation; engagement with Presidential PhD Programme
  • Global Mandela Leadership Centre of Excellence in development; scholars researching climate justice, legal advocacy, community health and women in science

Geography

International

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
440,000+ young people aged 4-18 active members across 7,000 Groups
Key Metric 2
140,000 volunteers supporting the movement across the UK
Key Metric 3
373 Sections opened or re-energised in England between April 2024 and March 2025
0.3% overall growth in young people (ages 4-18), driven by 31% increase in Squirrel Scouts (5,200 young people)
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
55,000 foster carers and 370 fostering service providers as members across the UK
Key Metric 2
45 new Fostering Friendly Employers recruited, bringing the scheme to over 680,000 employees across the UK
Key Metric 3
95 Fostering Wellbeing Pioneers in Wales offering peer support and mentoring to fellow foster carers
191 children and young people engaged in outdoor adventure weeks through the Fostering Attainment and Achievement programme in Northern Ireland
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
91,000 young people supported across 24 countries in 2024/25, including 67,368 in the UK
Key Metric 2
Over 70% of the 25,500 young people who completed Employment and Enterprise programmes achieved a positive outcome
Key Metric 3
Education programmes engaged 63,000 young people (69% of the total), the largest share of delivery
In the UK, 71% of Employment and Enterprise completers achieved a positive outcome, including 39% into employment or self-employment
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
851 students supported through the In2STEM programme in 2024, from 2,036 applications
Key Metric 2
27,447 hours of in-person STEM placement experience provided to participants
Key Metric 3
94% of participants know what it means to work in STEM after the programme, up from 69% beforehand
97% of alumni who applied to university were successfully offered a place, based on UCAS data from 1,760 alumni