For institutions
Launch a pilot. See what your students do when they are trusted.
A four-week challenge, run with us, honestly measured. If the evidence convinces you, we build from there. If not, you have lost four weeks and gained data.
A Changemaker Hub is any institution (a school, university, church, NGO or youth centre) that runs the YES Challenge and, in doing so, becomes a place where young people are trusted to act before they have proven themselves. You do not need a large budget or an outside intermediary. You need a local host and the decision to trust.
What your institution gets
Results in weeks, not years
Teams launch real ventures within a four-week challenge. You see outcomes this term, not next decade.
Runs on a tiny budget
The investment per team is measured in tens of dollars, and returning contributions from profitable teams help fund the next cohort.
Real student outcomes
Financial literacy, initiative, resilience. Learned through real trade, not simulated in a classroom.
Culture and reputation
A Changemaker Hub becomes known as a place that trusts its young people, and can prove what that produces.
Generates its own resources
Teams that profit return the trust-based investment and contribute half of the first four weeks' profit to the next cohort. Everything beyond belongs to them.
Evidence you can report
Every cohort produces auditable numbers (teams, profitability, people served) fit for donors and boards.
The pilot
Five phases, one term
This is the same roadmap we use with pilot partners today. Investment and logistics depend on your context (on-campus launch or fully remote); we put concrete numbers on the table in the discovery call.
- Phase 1
Align
A short working session with your leadership: goals, constraints, course placement. You appoint one coordinator and a small ambassadors team (two faculty, two students).
- Phase 2
Launch
Faculty orientation, student kickoff, teams of 3-5 form on the spot, trust-based investments are handed over the same day. On campus or fully remote.
- Phase 3
Four-week challenge
Teams build, sell and serve. Faculty encourage and support, never judge, never direct. Weekly mentoring with us.
- Phase 4
Showcase
Every team presents, every student is recognised. Beneficiaries from the community are invited. Baseline and endline are measured.
- Phase 5
Decide
We review the evidence together and decide about integration: a semester course, the next cohort, certified facilitators of your own.
The deal for every team is simple, and it is not a loan: lose the money and you owe nothing. Profit, and you return the trust-based investment plus half of the first four weeks' profit to fund the next cohort. Everything beyond that belongs to the team.
After the pilot
The path onward
The stages follow the model's own adoption pathway (Ali Raza Khan, YES Network Pakistan). Progress is evidence-based: what your students actually did, not what your strategy paper says.
Pilot
One four-week challenge cycle, measured from baseline to endline. No badge required to start. Only one commitment: trust students before they have proof.
Certified Changemaker Hub
A documented, repeated practice: trained local ambassadors, published evidence, the challenge embedded in your term rhythm.
Lighthouse
Your institution trains the next generation of facilitators and anchors the model in your region.
Details on hub certification live on our certification home:changemaking.org/certified-hub
Talk to us about a pilot
30 minutes, and you decide afterwards whether this goes anywhere. Tell us when calls suit you and we come back with concrete time options within two working days.