EGPATH (Empowering Girls to Prevent Adolescent Teen Pregnancy and HIV)

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; Uganda

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

EGPATH (Empowering Girls to Prevent Adolescent Teen Pregnancy and HIV) is a start-up initiative based in Mbale city that envisions a world where every adolescent girl, particularly those aged 13 - 19, is empowered to take charge of her future, equipped with the knowledge and resources to make informed decisions about her sexual health.

EGPATH’s primary distribution unit is its network of trained facilitators within schools. These facilitators are responsible for delivering the Sugar Daddy Awareness curriculum to students, facilitating discussions, and engaging with the community. They serve as the direct link between EGPATH and the target population, ensuring that the program reaches the students effectively. Facilitators will be selected based on their ability to engage 13-year-old girls and experience in reproductive health, HIV prevention, or youth mentorship.

Partner schools act as additional distribution units by providing classroom space, integrating sessions into timetables, and granting access to students. This ensures consistent, school-based delivery, while collaboration with local education and health offices builds community ownership and sustainability.
Through this model, EGPATH can scale efficiently: starting with two schools in Mbale, expanding to eight schools across three districts in the first year, and reaching over 150,000 students in the Bugisu region within five years.

Daniel Kasansula provides strategic leadership, builds partnerships, secures funding, and oversees project implementation. With extensive experience leading large-scale adolescent health programs, he brings the expertise, vision, and determination to ensure EGPATH’s impact is measurable and sustainable.

Belinda Achom manages daily operations, coordinates trainings, oversees logistics, supervises facilitators, leads research and development efforts and ensures effective communication and reporting. Her organizational skills and hands-on approach ensure that programs run efficiently while maintaining a personal connection with the communities we serve.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 350 adolescent girls.

• Deliver one-hour sessions to all targeted girls in the pilot schools.

• Raise $5,000 in supplementary funding from local partners and donors during the pilot.

FOUNDING TEAM

Daniel Kasansula - Founder

Belinda Achom - Co-Founder

GirlSmart Education

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; KENYA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

GirlSmart Education’s mission is to amplify the life outcomes of over 5 million girls across East Africa by enhancing their knowledge of high-risk sexual behaviours, averting early teenage pregnancies and reducing HIV/STI transmission.

GirlSmart will pilot in Kariobangi, Nairobi, a low-income residential area with high rates of teenage pregnancy and HIV prevalence. In its pilot, 250 youth will receive the Sugar Daddy awareness intervention, equipping them with life-changing knowledge about risk profiles. What sets them apart is their hybrid centralised and decentralised distribution model, which allows for both direct internal scale-up and rapid national expansion through an MoU with Kenya’s Ministry of Education. By combining this with their partnership model, where they build recurring relationships with schools and health clinics, they can reach 100,000 youth in just under 2 years.

GirlSmart Education was started in 2025 by Kalori Wesonga and Faith Mutinda. Kalori Wesonga serves as GirlSmart’s Project Manager, while Faith Mutinda serves as Program Coordinator.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• 250 youth will receive the Sugar Daddy Awareness Intervention within 3 months.

• Using 2 peer facilitators, we will distribute 6 proven interventions.

• Fundraising an additional $300,000 USD from new donors or investors within three months.

FOUNDING TEAM

Kalori Wesonga - Founder

Faith Mutinda - Co-Founder

Tufaayo Foundation

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; Uganda

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Tufaayo Foundation’s Sugar Daddy Awareness Program aims to empower grade 8 (senior one) teenagers in the Lira District with knowledge about the risks of partnering with older men. The program targets 250 girls in 3 months, 1,000 girls in 1 year, and aims for a long-term reach of 100,000 girls in 5 years.

This is an educational program that will provide teenagers with knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about relationships, particularly regarding the risks associated with partnering with older men. What sets the Tufaayo Foundation apart is the use of fellow youth to empower youth.

Tufaayo Foundation was founded by Nabaziwa Jannat, Mugerwa Moses and Muhindo Moureen, a team of youths who are passionate about youth empowerment and led by Nabaziwa Jannat as the Executive Director.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Directly reach 250 girls.

• Deliver 6 proven interventions.

• Raise an additional $5000.

FOUNDING TEAM

Jannat Nabaziwa - Executive Director

Mugerwa Moses - Co-Founder

Muhindo Moureen - Co-Founder

4Her2Her

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; Malawi

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

By delivering “Sugar Daddy Awareness” classes to Standard 8 girls in Malawi, 4Her2Her will address the dangers of Sugar Daddies who capitalize on girls’ poverty and vulnerability, contributing to a reduction in cross-generational sexual encounters and related HIV/STI incidence, teenage pregnancies and early marriages.

The Sugar Daddy Awareness Classes pilot targets primary schools within Lilongwe Rural and Urban Education Zones. The delivery of these classes will remove the shroud over an SRHR issue that is prevalent yet taboo, giving the targeted girls tools to avoid risky sexual encounters. The curriculum will be taught in classes led by trained facilitators from similar backgrounds, using language and references that are understandable and relatable. 4Her2Her will leverage the lived and professional experiences of its founding team, who have seen their peers fall into the Sugar Daddy trap and use their passion to advocate for gender and social justice within contextual bounds.

4Her2Her was co-founded by Phindu Banda, Mirriam Sibale, Diana Gulitsa and Angella Bwilani. Though from different backgrounds, the team formed a friendship and working relationship based on their shared desire to see women and girls empowered and elevated using methods that recognised and centered their unique experiences. The team believes in the power of participatory arts and transformative approaches to aid in women and girls reclaiming their voices and autonomy.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Directly reach 3,000 Standard 8 girls in primary schools across Lilongwe Urban and Rural Education Zones

• Successfully deliver 60 interventions/Sugar daddy Awareness classes through our trained facilitators

• Raise an additional $5,000 through new donors (which may be in-kind support from existing actors in the sector) during the Pilot

FOUNDING TEAM

Phindu Banda - Human Relations and Training Officer

Mirriam Sibale - Resource Mobilization and Accounting Officer

Diana Gulitsa - Communications and Administration Officer

Angella Bwilani - Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer

Hope Springs Health Foundation Uganda

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; uganda

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Hope Springs Health Foundation Uganda’s mission is to increase awareness of the risks of sugar daddies to 100%, improve girls' confidence to say "no" to cross-generational relationships, and enhance girls' ability to think critically about challenges facing them as well as how current choices can shape the future.

This project will utilize the “Sugar Daddy Awareness” class – (1-hour classes composed of 21 girls per class session. They will target 500 girls in ten schools in Mayuge district to tailor a core message that ‘sexually partnering with older men is risky behavior.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 500 girls in ten schools in the Mayuge District

• Train a team of 20 top-quality facilitators to teach the sugar daddy classes across the 10 schools

• Raise $60,000 by the end of year two operations

FOUNDING TEAM

Safaa Garelnabi - Team Leader

Jonathan Nsamba - Technical Lead

Charles Mwanje - Field Project Coordinator

Blesser Breakers

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; ZAMBIA

Blesser Breakers won the 2022 Fletcher D-Prize. The Fletcher D-Prize is open to all Fletcher students, alumni, and Tufts undergraduates, and is part of a larger entrepreneurship ecosystem of support at Tufts University.

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Blesser Breakers aims to raise Sugar Daddy awareness by delivering a 3-part, 2-hour intervention to Grade 8 girls in Western Province, Zambia, to reduce risky cross-generational sexual relationships, in turn reducing the spread of HIV and unwanted pregnancy.  The intervention will consist of a 15-minute animated video screening (or comic book reading when technology is not available), and a facilitated discussion. To implement and distribute the programming, Blesser Breakers will partner with the Ministry of Education (for on-the-ground outreach, implementation, facilitators, and facilitator training).

Blesser Breakers was founded by Wabei Saboi from Mongu, Zambia, Ashira Pelt from Florida, USA, and Daniel Kibet from Eldoret, Kenya.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 1,000 students during the three-month pilot

• Reach 5,000 students by the end of Year 1

• Reach 15,000 students by the end of Year 2

• Raise an additional $5,000 during the pilot

FOUNDING TEAM

Wabei Saboi - Project Lead

Ashira Pelt - Project Lead

Daniel Kibet - Project Lead

Union des Jeunes Filles pour le Développement

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Union des Jeunes Filles pour le Développement (UJFD) leverages existing youth education programming in DR Congo to deliver and timely scale proven and cost-effective solutions that contribute to the reduction of risky of sex among adolescent girls, reduce teenage pregnancy and HIV infection rates.

UJFD will organize 1-hour anti-sugar daddy module to be delivered by experienced women/youth facilitators. This module will highlight the higher HIV risk of cross-generational relationships to limit risky sex and teenage pregnancies among adolescent girls. This module will be delivered through trained facilitators. UJFD will reach 50 schools during the pilot and reach over 5000 teenage girls in the South-Kivu Province.

Union des Jeunes Filles pour le Développement was started in 2020 by Elizabeth Pelele and Ahongo Zakaria Opulent.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 5,000 students during the three-month pilot

• Organize 100 Sugar Daddy classes

• Number of schools reached (50)

• Reach 25,000 students by the end of year 1

FOUNDING TEAM

Elizabeth Pelele - Co-Founder and Coordinator

Ahongo Zakaria Opulent - Co-Founder and Program Manager

Govuka

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; ESWATINI

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Govuka's mission is to leverage existing youth education programming in Eswatini to deliver and rapidly scale a proven and cost-effective solution to reducing risky sex among adolescent girls -- which would in turn reduce teenage pregnancy and HIV infection rates.

Govuka will – in collaboration with the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) – compile a locally relevant and proven 1-hour anti-sugar daddy module to be delivered by experienced youth facilitators. Unlike the existing programming, this module will highlight the higher HIV risk of intergenerational relationships to curb risky sex and teenage pregnancies among adolescent girls. This module will be delivered through existing Girls Empowerment Clubs. The Govuka team will pilot in 49 high schools spread across Eswatini’s 4 regions reaching about 2,000 girls directly. The pilot will be implemented according to the following steps: 1) Workshop the curriculum to ensure relevance to the Eswatini context, 2) Leverage existing Girls Empowerment Clubs to pilot supplementary module in schools, 3) Enlist and train expert facilitators involved in Girls Empowerment Clubs on the sugar-daddy module, and 4) Measure program outcomes.

Philile Shongwe is the Founder and Executive Director of Govuka. She will be working closely with Gcinaphi Ndlovu, Program Manager and Thandwa Maphalala, Communications Director during the pilot.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 2,000 students during the three-month pilot

• Raise an additional $10,000 during the three-month pilot to begin scaling nationwide

• Reach 120,000 students by the end of year 2

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Philile Shongwe - Founder

Action for Healthy Youth

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; BURUNDI

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

Action For Healthy Youth (ACHY) empowers young people with knowledge and skills to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies.

In Burundi, teenage pregnancy is one of the major causes of school dropout among adolescent girls. The rate of teenage pregnancy stands at up to 15% in some parts of the country. Due to poor birth outcomes of teen pregnancies, the maternal mortality among girls aged 15 to 24 is one of the highest in Burundi, representing almost the quarter (24.1%) of the overall maternal mortality. The UNFPA’s study revealed that the main authors of unintended pregnancies to teenage girls are generally older men, suggesting that young girls engage in unprotected cross-generational sexual relationships which possibly expose them to HIV infection since the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is relatively higher among older men in Burundi.

A proven solution to this challenge exists in form of “Sugar Daddy Awareness” classes. This is an educational intervention that provides teenagers with knowledge about the relative risk of dating older men. A randomized evaluation in Kenya found that this intervention was able to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy and HIV infection by 28 percent in the subsequent year. However, for this intervention to be successful, it has to be adapted to the local context. For instance, Young 1ove’s analysis indicated that younger generations in Botswana may become less fearful of exposure to HIV risk relative to the risk of getting pregnant.

During our pilot in Kayanza Province, trained young facilitators will visit grade 7, 8 and 9 young girls (normally aged around 15 years) in schools and deliver the core message that sexually partnering with older men is a risky behavior, both in terms of HIV infection and teenage pregnancies. The one-hour class will be composed of a standard 20-minute educational DVD translated into local language, followed by a short lecture and class discussion. Self-administered questionnaires will be issued before and after the training to evaluate the influence of the sugar daddy class on the young girls’ level of awareness.

Action for Healthy Youth (ACHY) is a non-profit organization founded by Ladouce Ingrid Iradukunda, a Pan African University Scholar and Dr Fernand Hakizamana, an assistant lecturer at the University of Great Lakes. They advocate for young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 3,000 students during the three-month pilot

• Raise an additional $52,000 during the three-month pilot

• Reach 24,000 students by the end of year 1

• Reach 55,000 students by the end of year 2

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Ladouce Ingrid Iradukunda - Executive Director

Fernand Hakizimana - Training Manager

Strong Girl Network

SUGAR DADDY AWARENESS CHALLENGE; NIGERIA

PROVEN INTERVENTION TO BE DISTRIBUTED

Sugar Daddy Awareness classes. 

Learn more about the Sugar Daddy Awareness Challenge and how a simple, one-hour “sugar daddy awareness” training could help countless girls avoid pregnancy while still in school, which can lead to entrenched poverty, and build a better life.

DISTRIBUTION MODEL INNOVATION

The Strong Girl Network is piloting a proven intervention to combat cross-generational
 sexual relationship in Nigeria with a goal to reach 57,600 girls in 3 months and 500,000 girls in two years. The team will deliver this evidence-based intervention by teaching anti sugar daddy awareness classes across schools providing young girls with critical information on the relative risk of sugar daddies. Strong Girl Network has successfully secured approval from the Oyo State Ministry of Education to introduce our Sugar Daddy classes in 285 state-controlled public schools.

Strong Girl Network will be testing the impact of teaching Sugar Daddy Awareness to 200 students in one hall, at one time. This approach presents its own risks but will be thoroughly monitored by the team to ensure its efficacy before it is scaled up. 

PILOT AND SCALING GOALS

• Reach 57,600 students during the pilot
• Reach 500,000 students by the end of year 2 

 

FOUNDING TEAM

Aderoju Okunsamni - Team Lead

Macduff Nnodim - Project Coordinator 

Bernard Magaji - Research and Data Analysis Lead 

Chisom Olukoya Olufemi - Project Coordinator

Adeoye Adejare - Curriculum Development and Training