Bite the Ballot - creating a political generation

About

Mike Sani, founder of Bite the Ballot, was a teacher less than a decade ago. Since taking up an interest in teaching his students about democratic participation, he has since created a movement that has resonated even within the walls of Parliament. 

Bite the Ballot do many things to get our young involved in politics. Firstly, they work with children in schools, through games, to understand that they have values, opinions and a way to relate to right and wrong. For the teenage cohorts, they set up Democracy Cafes, run in partnership with Starbucks, which are a return to 17th century coffee houses, where people would meet and discuss politics. For teenagers, it's a way to engage in a non-threatening debate around current affairs. To help them, Bite the Ballot have developed a tool that help match their thoughts and opinions to political parties, helping them understand that the things they care about are inherently political. The app is being promoted with the help of Facebook and the LAD Bible. 

Of course, around election time, Bite the Ballot are out on the road, getting 18-24 year olds to vote. In the last couple of years, they got millions of additional young votes, a huge feat. 

But Mike Sani didn't stop there. With the help of Ashoka's Globaliser programme, and a strategy for scaling his impact, he has since created a working group within the UK Parliament itself to gather interested parties around a table and together work to achieve policy change and large scale partnerships that will create the next political, change-making generation of the UK.

Work

Scaling Strategy, Brand Strategy, Business Strategy, Storytelling