HOW DO WE WORK

We strive to increase the capacity, the agency, and the opportunities of adolescents and young people. We do this through supporting them with tools, mentorship and social networks. This empowers them to develop and enhance the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to make smart and informed choices that improve their lives and wellbeing, and those of their friends and peers. We focus on five key result areas:

SAT’S 5 AREAS OF FOCUS

1. Confidence, Agency & Leadership – through mentorship and in spaces – YouthHubs – young people can connect, share experiences, collaborate, and motivate one another to be more proactive in their own lives, and active in their communities.

2. Building Good Health – which we do through life skills education, enhancing their agency to make better decisions about their health, especially their sexual and reproductive and mental health, and supporting key service providers including governments to improve supply side services.

3. Work Preparedness & Economic Engagement – by providing structured volunteer opportunities – currently in health systems – that simultaneously give them life/work skills such as computer use, public speaking and presentations, report writing, as well as team work, punctuality, financial literacy, and leadership (see more below on leadership). SAT plans in 2025 to formalize these skills and competence transfers into a more codified ‘curriculum’ for learning.

4. Awareness & Activism in Climate and Sustainability. This work is just beginning in SAT YouthHubs, and will increasingly be oriented towards youth participation in climate solutions, including environmental conservation, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, while also working to raise awareness of the climate crisis among young people to achieve a more resilient future.

5. Civic Engagement & Democracy Building – again being formalized in 2025 – help to cultivate a sense of responsibility and influence in young people, to help them become leaders in their own communities and advocates at local, continental and global levels for their rights. Civic engagement in advocacy, social norms nudging, youth representation and social accountability/youth-led monitoring is designed not only to enhance their sense of connectedness and purpose, but to build the competence to lead social innovation, and to strengthen democratic practices and engagement with governing. The latter is our #YouthBuiltDemocracy project.

Youth Hubs – Youth Hubs are spaces where young activists come together to work for change in youth well-being and adolescent & youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to support meaningful engagement in health decision making processes and platforms.

At regional and country levels young people discuss their needs and those of their peers in health and SRHR and take part in advocacy with those in power, to change things for the better. They also think through and plan how to better support young people representing other young people in structures like provincial health committees, national task teams, regional economic communities, or local government.

Life skills for life – sexuality education, or education for health and wellbeing, is an essential part of growing up into a fully functional, responsible adult able to have healthy relationships and to make informed choices and decisions that protect themselves and respect others (see what people say about CSE).

It allows young people to protect themselves against unwanted sex and unintended pregnancy, to prevent and report abuse, to have safe sex if and when they decide to, to better communicate their needs and boundaries to others, and to engage in healthier relationships, and, later, in ‘adulting’.

Based on the International technical guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education (ITGCS), and on country curricula, young people collaborating with SAT offer each other essential education and information to keep each other safe.