2024 F.M. Kirby Impact Prize Finalist Spotlight: No Means No Worldwide

We are thrilled to share why we are so excited about each of the five finalists for the 2024 F.M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact. Here, we share what we’ve learned about No Means No Worldwide.

The Problem No Means No Worldwide is Working to Address 

Sexual and gender-based violence continues to challenge many communities globally, affecting 37% of women in the poorest countries. Girls, ages 15 and younger, face approximately half of the burden of sexual assaults—setting off a cycle with severe repercussions for their health and wellbeing. No Means No Worldwide collaborates with local partners across 10 African countries, as well as Mexico, to bring an evidence-based sexual violence prevention intervention to youth living in communities with a high burden of sexual violence.  

No Means No Worldwide instructor leads a class of boys in the curriculum. Photo courtesy of No Means No Worldwide

Why We’re Excited About No Means No Worldwide’s Impact Potential 

No Means No Worldwide’s intervention, a ten-hour curriculum, is delivered through trained local partners who are trusted in the community and also able to adapt the intervention for the local context. As of early 2024, No Means No Worldwide has trained over 3,000 instructors and graduated over one million youth participants. The intervention has contributed to compelling outcomes for its participants, including a reported 47% decrease in overall incidence of rape among female participants and 79% of male participants who witnessed physically or sexually assaultive behavior reporting that they successfully intervened to stop it.  

  • Evidence of meaningful impact. No Means No Worldwide has undertaken several studies, including RCTs, to better understand the medium and longer-term impact of its intervention; the studies have demonstrated significant evidence of impact on graduated youth as noted above. The organization also operates a robust monitoring and learning system to regularly manage and optimize program implementation and impact across all geographies in which it operates. 
  • Success in implementing training-of-trainers model. No Means No Worldwide engages local partners in new regions to drive expansion of the program and has spent the past several years learning from and refining its approach to train and support these partners to ensure quality and sustainability of programs.  
  • Empowering local partners to adapt and lead. Knowing that each new area of expansion brings with it unique characteristics as well as organizations who are deeply embedded inand trusted by—those communities, No Means No Worldwide identifies such local organizations to lead implementation of the intervention and adapt it as needed for the local context. 
  • Changing attitudes and behaviors beyond the graduates. No Means No Worldwide has seen that in addition to changes in attitudes and behaviors among its graduates, these changes also spread beyond the graduates into the communities, through graduates’ families, schools, and beyond. 
Students participating in the No Means No Worldwide program learning how to establish physical boundaries. Photo courtesty of No Means No Worldwide.

The Plan to Achieve Impact at Scale 

Over the next five years, No Means No Worldwide is planning to reach 5 million young people using its training-of-trainers approach with local partners; over the next 15 years, the organization aims to reach over 50 million youth. 

To achieve these goals, No Means No Worldwide is planning to deploy the following strategies: 

  • New country expansion. No Means No Worldwide plans to expand into 1–2 new countries each year, identifying local partners in those countries to lead the intervention. 
  • Leveraging technology. As No Means No Worldwide expands its training-of-trainers model, it will also explore ways to supplement or even replace some of the in-person training of trainers with digital training methods. 
  • Diversifying funding streams. No Means No Worldwide will continue to pursue new streams of funding and new groups of funders as its efforts evolve, including engaging edtech funders to support development of a digital training platform.  

What’s Next for the Kirby Impact Prize? 
CASE will announce the winner of the 2024 F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact in early Summer 2024.