Northern Ireland’s children are not moving for the recommended hour a day, and for many the problem begins with having too few chances to get active.

Only 17% of pupils in Northern Ireland report taking part in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. Among post-primary girls, the figure is 10%, according to the latest comprehensive all-island study.

Poor physical health is one consequence of inactivity, but children lose so much more when movement and play disappear from their lives. Physical activity supports mental wellbeing, confidence, social connection, resilience and communication. Those gains matter particularly for children who feel that conventional sport has little place for them.

UnLtd is helping Active Youth NI turn that societal problem into practical local change. Through the Millennium Awards Trust, it has provided £37,950 in funding alongside expert one-to-one support and business mentoring, fuelling the social enterprise's growth from a young venture into an award-winning organisation with a larger coaching team and the systems to reach more schools and communities, while increasing employability skills in the community.

Founder Joni Rock believes that lack of focused funding and opportunity is part of the explanation for Northern Ireland's low activity levels. She has represented Ireland in sailing, Ulster in rugby and Northern Ireland in netball, and appeared in the BBC series Last Woman Standing. Her own gains from sport extend well beyond fitness.

“I feel I have gained so much from taking part in sport and even just fun physical activity,” she said. “Young people these days opt out of sport very quickly, whether it be they don't feel good enough or they have competing priorities.”

Joni co-founded Active Youth NI with Lisa Tomalin late 2022. Its after-school sessions, holiday camps, school coaching and funded programmes develop movement without asking children to commit immediately to a particular sport.

Their sessions are deliberately non-sport-specific: kicking games, passing games, invasion-style play, bat-and-ball skills, so children build the same coordination and movement literacy they would through football or hockey, without the pressure of an actual match or the risk of being picked last. A behavioural policy means no child sits out when their team loses; there is no “firsts play, thirds watch.”

Children with widely differing backgrounds, abilities and needs can take part. Around 15% of those attending Active Youth NI's mainstream paid-for programmes have additional needs.

“We are incredibly grateful for the inclusive, supportive environment,” explained a parent, whose child attended Active & Able Camp, Active Youth NI’s fully funded programme for disabled children, this year.

“It’s an amazing camp for children of all abilities. It gave my child opportunities that children with special needs so rarely have during the school holidays.”

Another Active & Able parent added:

“I find it hard to trust others and leave my son as he has special needs, but the staff are so good with him, he loves going each day”

Joni regards integration as one of the organisation's most important achievements.

A young person on Active for All, another funded programme in disadvantaged areas, described a similar effect:

“Doing the activities has made me feel more comfortable working in groups of people I'm not so friendly with and also helped me use problem-solving skills.”

Active Youth NI estimates that children and young people have taken part in its programmes around 15,000 times, including repeat attendance, in its three years. Its workforce has grown from four employees and 27 freelance coaches in 2025-26 to five employees and 58 freelance coaches this year, supported by six volunteers.

“The UnLtd grants have been really fundamental for our growth,” Joni said. “It is really difficult to take the risk of recruiting more people, buying more equipment or investing in processes and systems when you don't know for sure whether each month's income is going to look the same.

The support came through UnLtd’s £7,950 Millennium Awards Trust Start Up Award, a £17,950 Millennium Awards Trust Scaling Up Award and a £12,000 Continuous Support Award. Across the three stages, funding covered business development, marketing and IT, AYNI Academy, salary costs and the introduction of a new programme co-ordinator role.

“Very few grants cover salaries like that. I just don’t understand why more grant makers don’t make that possible, because ultimately, if you don’t have money to be able to do the business growth side, and you don’t have the capacity to do it, I just don’t understand how companies are going to grow effectively,” said Joni. “Because you can keep going out and doing your sessions, but you can’t be strategic, and you can’t grow in an efficient way with the money that you receive towards programmes and very product-specific work if you don’t have that time.

“UnLtd really gave us the potential to recruit experienced and skilled people so that we then actually build from the top down.”

It allowed Joni and Lisa to spend less time delivering sessions and more time building the organisation. Joni used the independent support from UnLtd's award manager Nuala Smyth and business mentoring to test ideas and discuss difficult decisions after Lisa stepped back from delivery, from financial forecasting and delegation to maintaining Active Youth NI's values as the coaching team grew.

Paid-for and commissioned work generate income, with any surplus reinvested in the community.

Its AYNI Academy also brings practical coaching qualifications to Northern Ireland where learners might otherwise have to travel to England or train entirely online. It is important to Joni that young people use coaching to develop leadership, presentation, planning and self-reflection skills that can lead into volunteering and employment in Northern Ireland.

Mark Norbury, chief executive of UnLtd, said:

"Joni Rock saw what her community needed before anyone else did and she made change happen. Our job is to find leaders like Joni early and give them the backing they need to thrive. When social entrepreneurs are able to build strong foundations locally, the impact they create ripples far beyond the communities where it began.”

Bosco Santimano, business mentor, said:

“Collaborating with UnLtd has been a great way for me to share my experience and expertise with people who have strong ideas about how to improve their communities, allowing them to build their capacity and reach more people.

“Active Youth NI shows how funding and tailored business support can turn an effective programme into lasting change for children and communities”

And the support paid off. Active Youth NI won Best New Start-Up at the Northern Ireland Social Enterprise Awards in 2023 and the Social Impact Award in 2025.

Active Youth NI’s impact reaches far beyond individual sessions: through the coaches it trains, the skills young people take into volunteering and employment, and the relationships built between children and communities who might otherwise have remained apart.

That wider change still starts with the experience of each child.

“There are lots of huge benefits we get from sport that many don't, because they opt out,” she said. “I want families to walk away and say, ‘Actually, that was a brilliant part of my child's life.’”