Scaling Our Model

 

Educate!’s vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.

 
 

Educate!’s Ultimate Goal: To create a grassroots movement of young people driving sustainable development 

 
 

Educate! spent over a decade building the most replicable and cost-effective solution possible that can reach massive scale.

We are now the largest youth skills provider in East Africa.

 
 

Educate!’s model was launched in 24 schools in four districts in 2009, and since then we have worked to build the most innovative, sustainable, scalable and cost-effective solution possible. In 2016, we launched in our second country, Rwanda, and scaled to over 350 schools in Uganda to reach 14,000 youth directly and 240,000 youth more broadly. In 2016, we also continued to quality test our model at scale through rigorous monitoring and evaluation, confirming that we can drive costs down and make adjustments where necessary to ensure that beneficiaries continue to receive the most impactful, cost-effective intervention possible.  In 2019, we partnered with the government to pilot in 60+ schools in Kenya, worked in 275+ secondary schools in Rwanda, and 800+ schools in Uganda (25% of the country) reaching over 46,000 in- and out-of-school youth intensively and 470,000 more broadly.

By impacting youth directly, building capacity in schools, and continuing to advocate for system-wide adoption of our approach, we aim to fully integrate this skills-based approach into secondary education systems across Africa.

 



Exponential Empowerment

 

Each part of our model has been designed with exponential empowerment in mind. Our model was built to provide the most impact for graduates, students, teachers, and administrators at partner schools.

 
 
 

Educate! Targets Sustainable, Cost-Efficient Scale

Educate! ran an intensive research and design process to build a model that is replicable and designed for scale. Our research included: 

  • Reviewing existing research and problem theory design to better understand our target population

  • Connecting with 10 global organizations to gather other approaches to youth entrepreneurship and leadership development

  • Visiting and learning from 19 leading organizations in India to understand successes in scaling for long-term impact

  • Launching four (3-6 month) experiments with various ideas for re-design

The result? A massively repeatable and cost-effective solution for African youth, designed to measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.

Read Brookings' Millions Learning in-depth case study on our scale and expansion for more.