What Youth-Impact does

Youth-Impact is a Botswana-headquartered nonprofit organization founded in 2014 (with some sources citing 2012) that delivers evidence-based health and education programs to young people across six or more countries, primarily in Southern Africa and South and Southeast Asia. It serves approximately 700,000 youth cumulatively through formal government partnerships — typically structured as memoranda of understanding with national ministries — and operates with a team of 101–250 staff, including an in-house research group of 15 of whom roughly half hold PhDs.

Its core program portfolio includes Choices (HIV prevention and teenage pregnancy prevention), TaRL/Teaching at the Right Level (remedial literacy and numeracy), ConnectEd (phone-based tutoring), and the more recent Ganitha Ganaka, an AI-augmented math program deployed in India. Programs are delivered inside public school systems and through government-aligned channels, with embedded staff and ministry-level integration rather than standalone service delivery. The organization's defining methodological feature is a decade-long commitment to rigorous evaluation: more than 60 randomized controlled trials and 75+ A/B tests underpin its interventions, and it has begun packaging its A/B testing approach as a public-good toolkit for partner organizations.

Youth-Impact is funded primarily by institutional philanthropic donors — including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation, the Agency Fund, and SALEX — supplemented by individual giving. As a nonprofit it does not sell product; its "revenue" is grant funding committed to multi-year programmatic expansion, with recent growth concentrated in India (notably the May 2025 Karnataka partnership scaling to ~1.35 million students), South Africa (entered 2023), and the Philippines (entered 2022).

Name

Youth-Impact

Legal name

Young 1ove

Website

https://youth-impact.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Youth-Impact is a Botswana-based nonprofit delivering evidence-based health (Choices) and education (TaRL, ConnectEd, Ganitha Ganaka) programs to roughly 700,000 young people across six or more countries, delivered via government ministry partnerships and grounded in 60+ RCTs and 75+ A/B tests.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Education and Health Programs

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (624110), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Behavioral Health for Children & Adolescents (Youth Services) (HLAFACAL)

Keywords

• Education programs
• Health education
• Nonprofit foundation
• Foundational literacy numeracy
• HIV prevention education

Headquarters

HQ city

Gaborone

HQ country

Botswana

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Individual donors can make donations through the website. Suggested donation amounts include $34 for TaRL, $30 for Choices, and $20 for ConnectEd programs.
2. Organizational/Institutional Funding: Partnerships with organizations and funders who support the work. Youth Impact works with The Agency Fund, Jacobs Foundation, SALEX network, Gates Foundation, and others.
3. Government Partnerships: Scale is achieved through government partnerships where governments fund and integrate programs into their education systems.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Youth Impact delivers evidence-based health and education programs to young people, including Choices (HIV prevention and teenage pregnancy reduction in junior secondary schools), Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL, foundational numeracy and literacy), and ConnectEd (phone-based tutoring for low-connectivity settings). Programs are continuously optimized through iterative A/B testing and scaled through government partnerships across multiple countries.

Product overview

Youth Impact is a nonprofit organization offering three evidence-based programs in health and education: Choices (a 90-minute HIV prevention and teenage pregnancy reduction program for junior secondary schools), Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL, an in-school foundational numeracy and literacy program that groups students by learning level), and ConnectEd (a phone-based remote tutoring program for maths and literacy in low-connectivity settings). The organization operates an iterative A/B testing methodology as an in-house learning muscle to continuously optimize all programs for cost-effectiveness and scalability, running approximately 10 trials per year across countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Choices: A 90-minute evidence-based program delivered in junior secondary schools that empowers young people to make informed healthy relationship choices and reduces HIV risk and teenage pregnancy.
• Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)
• ConnectEd

Products and services

• Choices A 90-minute evidence-based health education program delivered in junior secondary schools through interactive activities and peer-led discussions. It empowers young people to make informed, healthy relationship choices and reduces HIV risk and teenage pregnancy; evaluated at scale with RCTs showing 40% reduction in teenage pregnancy (Botswana, 42,000 students) and 28% reduction (Kenya).
• Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) An in-school foundational numeracy and literacy program for primary school children that groups students by their current learning level rather than age or grade, using fun techniques to deliver appropriate instruction. Delivers 1.85 years of learning gains in 30 hours, with 60% of students gaining new literacy and numeracy skills in 30 days.
• ConnectEd A phone-based tutoring program that delivers targeted instruction and foundational maths and literacy lessons through basic mobile phones without requiring internet or apps. Designed for low-connectivity settings; delivers 0.89 standard deviations of learning per US$100 (Nature Human Behaviour RCT) and 0.30-0.35 standard deviations of learning gains across five countries (NBER evidence).
• Iterative A/B Testing Toolkit A public-good practical guide for NGOs, governments, funders, and organizations to design, randomize, analyze, and document A/B tests. Contains tools and templates developed through years of field-based testing and 75+ A/B tests conducted over nearly a decade.

Quantifiable outcome

• 40% reduction in teenage pregnancy from Choices program (Botswana RCT with 42,000 students)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and strategic.

• Government of Karnataka, IndiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2025Formal partnership to expand Ganitha Ganaka to 1.35 million students across 38,000 primary schools. Youth Impact provides technical assistance to improve learning outcomes systems and foundational literacy and numeracy.
• TaRL AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Joint collaboration to explore how classroom-based tools (Checkpoint and Check for Understanding) can support teachers in adapting instruction responsively. Piloted in Botswana and Nigeria. Tools aim to strengthen targeted instruction through data-informed decision-making.
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) PhilippinescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Strong collaboration implementing mEducation (ConnectEd) and TaRL in the Philippines. IPA led local replication as part of a 5-country randomized trial. Organizations formalized collaboration through tripartite MoU with Department of Education. IPA continues to implement and optimize mEducation across School Division Offices.
• The Agency FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted The Agency Summit: Expanding Opportunities to Act, Choose, and Thrive with NYU. Collaboration focused on scaling agency-focused youth programs and sharing lessons on iteration, adaptation, and partnership.
• New York University (NYU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted The Agency Summit with The Agency Fund focused on youth agency and evidence-based programming.
• What Works Hub for Global EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on iterative A/B testing webinars and the Iterative A/B Testing Toolkit. Shared platform for advancing evidence-based practices across the sector.
• Presidential Youth Employment Scheme (South Africa)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMobilizing education assistants to support classroom delivery of TaRL in South Africa. National service program participants serve as facilitators.
• AI for Global Development Accelerator (OpenAI, Center for Global Development, Agency Fund)strategicTechnology or IntegrationYouth Impact selected for AI for Global Development Accelerator to enhance Ganitha Ganaka program with cutting-edge AI solutions aimed at making the program more scalable, user-friendly, and impactful while reducing manual efforts and improving data accuracy.
• Government of BotswanacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMoU with Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education to deliver TaRL. Strong partnerships with regional offices including embedded sub-regional coordinators integrated into government systems. Partnership since 2018.
• Government of NamibiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntegration of TaRL nationwide through affiliate Meerkat Learning. Formal approval from Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (2020), regional expansion approvals (2022), and official letter of endorsement (2024) marking major step toward national integration.
• North West Provincial Government (South Africa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAgreement to scale TaRL approaches following successful pilot. Provincial government partnership for expansion.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Evidence Action: Evidence-driven international NGO scaling cost-effective interventions (e.g., Deworm the World, Safe Water) using rigorous impact evaluation. Highly comparable model of pairing large-scale delivery with continuous testing and external evaluation.
• IDinsight: Data-driven social sector advisory and research organization that partners with governments and NGOs on rapid, rigorous testing of programs. Closely comparable A/B testing methodology and government-embedded operating approach.
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): Research and policy nonprofit that runs randomized evaluations of social programs and co-implements mEducation/ConnectEd with Youth Impact in the Philippines. Closely comparable evidence-based, RCT-driven operating model.
• Pratham: Large India-based education nonprofit running foundational literacy and numeracy programs at national scale, including the original 'Teaching at the Right Level' approach. Directly comparable mission, methodology, and target population to Youth Impact's TaRL and Ganitha Ganaka programs.
• TaRL Africa: Africa-focused organization advancing Teaching at the Right Level across multiple countries. Direct strategic partner of Youth Impact on classroom-based targeted instruction tools, operating in the same evidence-based foundational learning space.
• Room to Read: International nonprofit focused on literacy and gender equality in education across LMICs. Directly comparable in mission (foundational literacy), target population (school-age children in low-income countries), and government partnership model.
• BRAC: One of the world's largest development NGOs, running education, health, and youth programs across multiple developing countries. Directly comparable in multi-program, multi-country youth education and wellbeing portfolio at significant scale.

Broad incumbents

• Save the Children: Large international NGO delivering education and health programs for children across dozens of countries. Comparable on youth education/health mission and government partnership delivery model, though at far greater scale and with broader program scope.
• J-PAL (Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab): Global research network running hundreds of randomized evaluations on poverty alleviation, including in education and health. Operates at much larger scale than Youth Impact and is a sector anchor that overlaps heavily in evidence-based program evaluation.
• Population Council: Global research nonprofit focused on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, HIV, and wellbeing. Closely comparable on the Choices program's HIV/teenage-pregnancy outcomes research and on youth health program evaluation in LMICs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/youthimpactorg
• Facebookweb.facebook.com/youthimpact.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/youthimpact
• Instagraminstagram.com/youthimpactorg/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Youth-Impact