Youth Impact’s mission is to connect youth to proven life-changing information. Our vision is to enable over 1 million youth to thrive through delivery of multiple evidence-based programs. We are at an inflection point in our growth: we have over 300 staff, 3 programs in health and education, a cumulative reach of over 250,000 youth, and have worked in 20+ countries. Our culture is unique: we are always learning, have a dynamic, youthful team, a fierce commitment to measurement and evidence, and work hand-in-hand with the government.
Choices is an effective evidence-based 90-minute intervention encouraging youth to make healthy and informed relationship choices. The program reveals the unknown risks of dating older partners and encourages youth to make healthy relationship choices. When delivered by peer educators, the program has been shown to reduce teenage pregnancy, a proxy for HIV risk, by up to 40%. We partner with the government to implement the program at national scale.
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is an evidence-based, remedial education approach, targeting basic literacy and numeracy skills by assessing and grouping students according to learning needs instead of by age or grade. The program is proven to increase numeracy skills, with up to 89% of participants learning at least one mathematical operation. As a TaRL Innovation Hub, we radiate our lessons learnt and actively support organisations in Namibia, South Africa and The Philippines with the implementation of TaRL.
ConnectEd is a targeted, phone-based tutoring program shown to significantly improve basic numeracy skills. Over a period of 8 weeks, 59% of students learn at least 1 mathematical operation. Rigorously tested in 6 countries, ConnectEd can support students who cannot access in-person school or attend school, but need additional support. Beyond Botswana, we partner with governments and NGOs to bring ConnectEd to learners in disrupted settings around the world.
Managing and organizing image submissions via WhatsApp is a common challenge for NGOs—but automation can change that.
In our latest webinar, Youth Impact shared how they’ve integrated a WhatsApp chatbot with Google Sheets to streamline real-time file submissions, improve facilitator engagement, and enhance learning outcomes in their Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program.
Key Takeaways:
- Automating image collection improves accuracy and reduces manual effort.
- A structured Google Sheets integration allows seamless tracking and analysis.
- WhatsApp chatbots enhance accessibility, making data collection easier for facilitators.
A big thank you to Emilie Berkhout & Konstantin Büchel for sharing their experiences and best practices.
Missed the session? Watch the recording here: https://lnkd.in/gcNnB_BM
Want to explore chatbot automation for your NGO? Let’s connect: https://lnkd.in/gbvdSwXb#TechForGood#WhatsAppAutomation#ChatbotsForChange#NGOImpact#DigitalTransformation#GlificAishwarya ShekarSneha TrivediProject Tech4Dev
🔎 In our 2025 Education Compass report, we found that 9 out of 10 Standard 4 students in Botswana are below grade level in their foundational numeracy skills. These skills are crucial for academic success–failing to build this foundation can cause students to fall further behind in school.
So what can be done to improve learning? Here are 3 recommendations from our study:
1️⃣ Incorporate targeted instruction approaches to strengthen foundational skills. Targeted instruction is an approach that groups children by ability rather than grade or age, and targets teaching to each specific level.
2️⃣ Inform caregivers about children’s skill levels and help them support learning. Caregivers requested 1) more communication about student results and 2) strategies to help support the students at home.
3️⃣ Measure foundational learning periodically. Literacy and numeracy skills are the building blocks of any education system. Assessing these skills representatively over time helps identify the needs of students, caregivers, and educators.
Dive into the full research paper here: https://lnkd.in/dWZ_RVgg#EducationinBotswana#YouthImpactResearch#EducationCompassJacobs FoundationPratham Education FoundationAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)PAL NetworkWhat Works Hub for Global Education
🚀 Harnessing AI for Global Development 🚀
We're thrilled to have participated in the recent AI for Global Development Sprint in Bangalore! Our Head of Partnerships for India, Rohan Katepallewar, presented Youth Impact’s global work, its ‘evidence-first’ approach, and our expertise in A/B testing and iterative program improvement—key pillars that drive our mission. He also shared the incredible progress of the Ganitha Ganaka program in Karnataka and our bold ambitions under the Agency Fund's AI for Global Development Accelerator Program.
With the support of The Agency Fund, we are scaling to millions more children by adding AI features to our proven-effective remote tutoring program. This was the first of many exciting engagements bringing partners together for social innovations using AI. Exciting times ahead. 🚀
#RemoteEducation#EducationForAll#ScalingImpact#AIforGlobalDevelopmentOpenAIAlokitWhat Works Hub for Global EducationAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)Center for Global Development
🧭 Education Compass: The state of student learning in Botswana 📖
We recently conducted our annual survey on the state of student learning in Botswana. We assessed nearly 2000 Standard 4 students across 60 schools and interviewed their caregivers. The Education Compass focuses on foundational numeracy skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) that students are expected to master by Standard 3. Here’s what we found:
1️⃣ 9 out of 10 students are below grade level in numeracy. These foundational skills are critical for academic success, as failing to build a strong foundation causes students to fall further behind as they progress through school.
2️⃣ There is a large disparity in performance among advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Girls outperform boys, wealthier students outperform less wealthy students, and there is regional variation in performance.
3️⃣ Fewer than 1 in 4 caregivers could accurately assess their child’s numeracy level. This might be due to limited connection with homework and limited contact with teachers (70% of caregivers met with their child’s teachers 2 or fewer times across the previous four terms).
4️⃣ There is strong caregiver demand for more learning time and improving educational quality. Parents called for improved teacher training and higher-quality teaching including grouping children in different classes by ability.
Read up on all our findings and more at: https://lnkd.in/dWZ_RVgg#EducationinBotswana#YouthImpactResearch#EducationCompassPratham Education FoundationJacobs FoundationWhat Works Hub for Global EducationAfrica Evidence Network (AEN)Gates FoundationPAL Network
A great experience visiting schools where Ganitha Ganaka, our evidence-driven 1:1 phone-based tutoring program, is transforming learning outcomes.
Teachers’ dedication to tutoring students AFTER school hours was inspiring.
During the visit, we also explored how simple voice-based AI prototypes could complement teachers’ efforts—making the program more efficient and scalable while ensuring impact remains intact.
Exciting conversations with Han Sheng Chia and Elia Gandolfi from The Agency Fund during this visit. Their support in this discovery phase strengthens our vision for AI-driven innovations for achieving learning outcomes.
This is just the beginning—keen to collaborate with funders, researchers, and tech partners as we scale in different parts of the world!
Youth ImpactNoam AngristMoitshepi MatshengClaire CullenKaren Clune Colin
