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Educate!

Educate! prepares youth in Africa with the skills to succeed in today’s economy.

Educate! tackles youth unemployment by partnering with youth, schools, and governments to support young people working towards their social and economic visions for the future. We've meaningfully impacted 200,000 youth through a core experience that delivers the most essential skills youth need to transition to work, combining training, mentorship, and practical experience starting a business.

Hall of Fame

Overview

Web presence

2009

Established

200K

Children

3

Countries
Target group
Students upper
Updated
January 2023
Because of Educate!, I started speaking confidently in public gatherings, I took up leadership positions at school, and I started facing my fears. Most of all, I started believing in myself.

About the innovation

What does Educate! do?

Africa will be 40% of the world by 2100—its population is expected to grow from 1.2 to 4 billion and the continent could have more youth at that time than the total population of the United States. As many as 90% of African youth are projected to work in the informal sector. These demographics, along with a scarcity of jobs, have led to dramatic rates of youth unemployment. Education systems in Africa already face challenges meeting young people’s needs–current curricula and teaching methods don’t consistently prepare students for what’s to come following graduation. Despite an eagerness and commitment to learn, even students who finish secondary school often find themselves lacking the skills needed for the few available jobs, leading to unemployment and underemployment. 

Educate! believes that by transforming post-primary education we can equip youth with the skills to disrupt this systemic problem of youth unemployment. Educate! works in three ways: (1) directly delivering skills-based education in secondary schools in East Africa, (2) integrating skills-based education into national education systems, and (3) building a new educational solution to impact out-of-school youth. 

Educate!’s flagship model in Uganda teaches transferable/soft skills demanded most by both employers and students themselves, such as teamwork, public speaking, networking, critical thinking, self-confidence, and creativity. On top of those foundational soft skills, we layer the hard skills of business including planning, budgeting, savings, and market research. 

Two rigorous external evaluations, including a randomized controlled trial (RCT), found that towards the end of secondary school, participants of our flagship model earn nearly DOUBLE the income of their peers and are 44% more likely to launch a business. A follow-up RCT found that four years later, our graduates demonstrate large and durable shifts in skills, coupled with significant improvements in education and gender equity-related outcomes. Girls achieve even greater results.

At the start of 2020, Educate! was working with a total of 46,000+ youth across over 1,000 schools across East Africa.  In 2020, we also built upon the lessons learned from our 10+ years of work in order to design and implement remote education solutions. We’ve created a product to deliver key components of our proven in-school model — skills lessons, practical experience and mentorship, and assessments — directly to youth through low-tech, accessible mediums, like radio, SMS, and phone calls. 

Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

The importance of leadership and entrepreneurship cannot be understated. Educate! is doing a phenomenal job by providing practical and relevant education to ensure that the next generation of adults flourish in the future workplace. Educate! also provides online curriculum to increase their ability to scale.

HundrED Academy Reviews
The innovation has impacted the lives of thousands of youth who learn entrepreneurship skills by developing their talents in a creative way. It has a potential to scale as it can be implemented in any context.
This is a great innovation as it offers a compelling reason as to why education should be more practical-application focused. The results from the studies, including an RCT, show that this is a program that works and can be implemented elsewhere.
- Academy member
Academy review results
High Impact
Low Scalability
High Impact
High Scalability
Low Impact
Low Scalability
Low Impact
High Scalability
Read more about our selection process

Media

The Gendered Impacts of COVID-19
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2020/6/21/the-gendered-impacts-of-covid-19
Educate!'s Coronavirus Response
https://www.experienceeducate.org/covid-19-response 
IPA Webcast: The Skills We Really Need: The Impacts of The Educate! Experience, a Skills-Based Education Program for Secondary School Students in Uganda
https://www.poverty-action.org/event/ipa-webcast-skills-we-really-need-impacts-educate-experience-skills-based-education-program
How skills shape the trajectory of life after school in Uganda
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/03/02/how-skills-shape-the-trajectory-of-life-after-school-in-uganda/
Does Educate! improve life outcomes for youth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=gCFp0sKSrac
Adeline Creates the Future She Envisions
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2019/11/25/adeline-creates-the-future-she-envisions
New RCT Finds Educate! Graduates Are Better Off Than Their Peers
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2019/11/25/new-rct-finds-educate-graduates-are-better-off-than-their-peers
Educate! Program Director Joins Largest Gathering of Skills and Education Ministers at the Education World Forum
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2020/3/4/educate-program-director-joins-largest-gathering-of-skills-and-education-ministers-at-the-education-world-forum
Educate!’s Approach Helping to “Leapfrog” Inequality by Accelerating Progress in Education
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2018/12/10/educates-approach-helping-to-leapfrog-inequality-by-accelerating-progress-in-education
Educate! Wins 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Award
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax62qs4VAI0&feature=youtu.be
Innovating for Gender Equity
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2019/6/3/innovating-for-gender-equity
Rwandan Students Build Confidence and Resilience Through Business Ownership
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2018/11/29/rwandan-secondary-students-build-self-confidence-and-resilience-through-business-ownership
Sarah's Path to Independence
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2019/6/3/sarahs-path-to-independence
Educate! Graduate Daniel Creates Impact in His Community
https://www.experienceeducate.org/all-blog/2019/4/4/educate-graduate-daniel-creates-impact-in-his-community
Uganda's School for Life: Educating out of Poverty - Rebel Education
Uganda's School for Life: Educating out of Poverty - Rebel Education

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