Citizens is a youth development and recognition platform that helps students and schools showcase skills, character, and social impact through digital portfolios mapped to globally recognized benchmarks. The platform automatically maps student activities to expert frameworks, including the Citizens Skills 360 and UN Sustainable Development Goals, providing credible recognition beyond traditional grades. It is designed for schools that value a whole-child approach to education and want to celebrate students' diverse talents and contributions.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Exams dominate education, failing to recognize the diverse talents and full potential of all students. Digital portfolios alone are not enough—there is a need for credible benchmarks that give students real-world impact and recognition for their skills, character, and service.
Solution
Citizens provides a youth development and recognition platform that enables students and schools to showcase personal development, extracurricular achievements, and social contribution in visually stunning digital portfolios. The platform automatically maps all student activity to globally recognized benchmarks, including the Citizens Skills 360 for skills and character attributes and the UN Impact 360 for social impact aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Students can track and display a wide range of activities—from listening to leadership podcasts to volunteering and internships—while schools gain tools to demonstrate their commitment to character development and holistic education. The platform is research-backed, founded from studies at UCL's Institute of Education, and codesigned with students and schools globally as part of a grant funded by Innovate UK.
Target Audience
Primary customers are schools that go beyond exams and celebrate a whole-child approach, as well as students who want to take control of their own development and showcase their skills, character, and service to higher education institutions and employers.
Features
- Automatic mapping of all student activities to the Citizens Skills 360 benchmark, which is research-backed and aligned with Future Skills frameworks from the World Economic Forum, McKinsey, and Microsoft
- UN Impact 360 integration that maps activities to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, enabling students to demonstrate their contribution to global challenges
- Visually rich digital portfolios that can be embedded directly into LinkedIn profiles via the Featured section for prospective employers
- Advanced privacy controls allowing students to choose visibility settings for their profiles and actions, including school-only, specific teacher, or public options
- LMS Action Export & Recognition feature that imports existing student activity data from school learning management systems under GDPR-compliant data processing agreements
- School accreditation program for "Character-Developing Schools" that provides access to resources, recognition, and a platform to showcase institutional impact