page_title: The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: The Duke of Edinburgh's Award / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: Group of young people undertaking the expedition part of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
context_page_description: The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young adults for completing a series of self-improvement exercises modelled on Kurt Hahn's solutions to his "Six Declines of Modern Youth".
  In the United Kingdom, the programme is run by The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a royal charter corporation. A separate entity, The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation, promotes the award abroad and acts as a coordinating body for award sponsors in other nations, which are organised into 62 National Award Authorities and a number of Independent Operators. Award sponsors in countries outside the United Kingdom may title their awards Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, though the recognition also operates under a variety of other names in countries without a historic link to the British monarchy, or that have severed such links.
context_section_description: The first Duke of Edinburgh's Award ceremony was held in the United Kingdom in 1956.
  Participation in DofE programmes and the number of awards achieved has grown every year since 1956. As of 2017, roughly 420,000 young people were taking part in Duke of Edinburgh's Award programmes run in nearly 11,000 designated DofE centres – including schools, youth clubs and businesses – throughout the UK. Over 6 million young people in the UK have taken part in the DofE in the UK since 1956 (8 million worldwide). The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a member of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS).
  In 2009, the old system of keeping track of progress through paper Record Books was replaced by the introduction of a major new  online system – eDofE. Participants use this system to track their progress, while Leaders use it to oversee participants' progress.
caption: A Duke of Edinburgh group on their expedition in 2008
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