Impact & accountability
What we have done, and what we have not.
We are one year old and small. Rather than dress that up, we publish what we can actually evidence — including the parts that have not worked.
Year one
The figures, without decoration
young women currently in our programmes
community outreaches delivered
national gatherings hosted
programmes running year-round
Every number above refers to something with a date, a place and a list of names behind it. We do not count reach, impressions, attendance at a single event, or people who received a leaflet. If we cannot name it, it does not appear here.
Method
How we decide whether this is working
Confidence is difficult to measure and easy to fake. So we track a small number of things that are hard to argue with, and we ask the young women themselves.
Retention, not attendance
Anyone can fill a room once. We track how many young women are still in a Circle twelve months after joining — the only attendance figure we think means anything.
School days recovered
For members receiving dignity packs, we ask a simple question each term: how many school days did you miss because of your period? The answer is specific and it moves.
Progression, in her words
Members in a Circle set goals with their mentor — at camp or in the Circle itself — and review them there. We record what she said she wanted, and whether it happened — not our interpretation of her growth.
Members becoming mentors
The clearest signal that this works is a young woman who arrived needing support choosing to give it. We count how many members move into facilitating and mentoring roles.
Return visits per community
We track how many times we have gone back to each community, because a single outreach is closer to a gesture than a programme.
What she would change
Every camp and gathering ends with an anonymous question: what was a waste of your time? We publish the answers to our mentors, unedited.
Candour
What has not worked yet
Publishing this costs us something. We think an organisation that only reports its successes has told you nothing you can rely on.
Our first outreaches reached fewer girls than we planned
We lost members between an outreach and their first session
Mentor availability has been our hardest constraint
Data costs quietly excluded some members from online sessions
Accountability
What we commit to, in writing.
These are not aspirations. If we fail on one of them, you are entitled to say so and we are obliged to fix it.
- Every programme is free to every young woman, permanently
- Funds given for a named purpose are used only for that purpose
- We claim no tax status we do not hold — Section 18A certificates only once SARS confirms our PBO registration
- Donors receive written confirmation of receipt within two working days
- Every funded activity is reported on, whether or not it succeeded
- No member's image, name or story is used without her informed consent
- Under-18s participate in person only with a guardian's consent, and travel only with a signed indemnity form
- Every mentor is screened and trained before their first session
- We decline support we do not believe we can use well
Our standard
We would rather report honestly on a hundred young women than impressively on a thousand.