Our mission is to connect young Africans to proven life-saving information. We do this by massively scaling sexual health information campaigns shown in randomized trials to have major impact. We don't invent new ideas. We figure out how to scale ones that have already worked. We want to reach 1 million youth in Southern Africa by 2020.
We believe proven health and education needs to be taught by youth for youth. You can't send old officials to teach kids about sex and stigmatized topics. It doesn't work. It's not relatable. It's boring. It doesn't have impact. We make sure the messages we pick up - the ones research has shown work -- also get delivered in a way our target audience deserves: by youth for youth.
We've reached 35,000 youngsters in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa with "sugar daddy" awareness classes - our first program. This class was shown in randomized trials to reduce pregnancy -- a proxy for unprotected sex and HIV transmission -- by 28% in a year in Kenya. We've re-tested it in Botswana to see what works best across contexts.
