Physical Health South Africa Project #70528

Shout-It-Now

by Shout-It-Now

Project Report | Jun 9, 2026
Shout-It-Now GlobalGiving Report June 2026

By Sarah Reeves | Business Development Manager

Executive Summary

At a time when global health funding is under unprecedented pressure, support from donors through the GlobalGiving platform has enabled Shout-It-Now to continue delivering critical health and wellness services to vulnerable adolescents and young people across South Africa. Through GlobalGiving, Shout has raised more than US$9,000, helping to ensure that young people continue to access life-saving HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, gender-based violence (GBV) support, and mental health screening despite significant reductions in traditional donor funding.

The flexibility of GlobalGiving donations has been particularly valuable, allowing Shout to respond rapidly to community needs, maintain youth-friendly service delivery, and reach young people who might otherwise fall through the cracks of the health system. Based on our current service delivery model, these contributions have enabled us to provide comprehensive support to hundreds of adolescents and young adults while simultaneously strengthening community referral systems, digital engagement platforms, and peer-led support networks.

Every contribution made through GlobalGiving directly translates into tangible health outcomes. A donation of just US$33 can provide a young person with a comprehensive package of HIV prevention, SRHR, GBV, and mental health services, demonstrating the exceptional value and impact of donor support.

1. Background and Context

South Africa continues to face interconnected epidemics of HIV, gender-based violence, mental health challenges, and teenage pregnancy among adolescents and young adults.

Young women aged 15–24 remain disproportionately affected by HIV, with infection rates significantly higher than those of their male peers. At the same time, rates of gender-based violence remain among the highest globally, while increasing levels of economic vulnerability and unemployment place additional pressure on young people's health and wellbeing.

For many years, Shout-It-Now's large-scale HIV prevention programmes were primarily funded through bilateral donor mechanisms. Recent reductions in global development assistance have created substantial funding gaps, threatening the continuity of services for vulnerable youth populations.

GlobalGiving has therefore become an increasingly important source of flexible funding, allowing Shout to sustain essential programming while exploring innovative and cost-effective approaches to service delivery. These resources support community-based interventions, digital health platforms, peer-led outreach, and integrated service delivery models that address multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously.

By investing in prevention today, GlobalGiving donors are helping to reduce future healthcare costs, prevent HIV infections, support survivors of violence, and empower young people to make informed decisions about their health and futures.

2. Objectives and Expected Outcomes

Our Goal

Through GlobalGiving support, Shout-It-Now seeks to reduce HIV incidence, gender-based violence, unintended pregnancies, and poor mental health outcomes among adolescents and young people in South Africa.

Our approach combines community-based services, youth leadership, digital innovation, and evidence-based interventions to create sustainable pathways toward improved health and wellbeing.

Key Objectives

Increase access to youth-friendly HIV testing and counselling services.
Improve uptake and continuation of HIV prevention interventions, including PrEP.
Strengthen access to sexual and reproductive health services and family planning.
Provide trauma-informed GBV prevention, response, and referral services.
Expand access to mental health screening and psychosocial support.
Create safe spaces where young people can access mentorship, peer support, and life-skills development.
Strengthen digital engagement and demand creation through innovative technology platforms and AI-enabled support tools.
Support government and community partners to strengthen local responses to HIV, GBV, and adolescent health challenges.

3. The Cost of Impact: How Donations Translate into Services

One of Shout's greatest strengths is our ability to deliver high-impact services efficiently and at scale. Through years of implementation experience, community partnerships, and innovative service delivery models, we have developed a highly cost-effective approach to reaching young people.

The average cost to provide services to one client is:

Rapid HIV testing and linkage to support: US$8.70

STI screening, pregnancy screening, and family planning: US$15.30

GBV prevention and support services: US$8.00

Mental health screening: US$0.70

Comprehensive integrated package of services: US$32.70

The approximately US$9,097 raised through GlobalGiving could therefore support comprehensive service delivery for over 275 young people, or provide thousands of individual prevention, screening, and support interventions depending on community needs. This cost-effectiveness ensures that every donor contribution generates meaningful and measurable impact.

4. Lessons Learned

Several important lessons have emerged from our work during this reporting period:

Community Trust Drives Impact: Young people are most likely to access services when programmes are delivered by trusted peers and community-based organizations that understand their realities.

Integrated Services Increase Effectiveness: Addressing HIV, SRHR, GBV, and mental health together provides a more holistic and effective response than siloed interventions.

Digital Platforms Expand Reach: Technology-enabled service delivery and digital engagement tools have become increasingly important for reaching young people, particularly those who face barriers to accessing traditional healthcare services.

Flexible Funding Creates Resilience: GlobalGiving's flexible funding model allows organizations like Shout to adapt rapidly to changing community needs and sustain services during periods of funding uncertainty.

5. Looking Ahead

As global health funding continues to evolve, Shout-It-Now remains committed to ensuring that every young person has access to the information, services, and support they need to thrive.

Over the coming year, we will focus on:

Expanding youth-friendly HIV prevention services.
Strengthening GBV prevention and survivor support programmes.
Scaling digital health platforms and AI-enabled support tools.
Increasing access to mental health screening and psychosocial services.
Creating stronger pathways to economic empowerment for vulnerable adolescents and young adults.
Diversifying funding sources to ensure long-term sustainability.

The continued support of GlobalGiving donors will play a critical role in achieving these goals. Every contribution helps us reach more young people, prevent new HIV infections, support survivors of violence, and build healthier, safer communities across South Africa.

On behalf of the young people we serve, thank you for making this work possible.

Attachments:

Shout-It-Now Capacity Statement (PDF)

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Dec 8, 2025
Shout-It-Now Report

By Sarah Reeves | Business Development Manager

GlobalGiving Report

Executive Summary

In the midst of global funding cuts, support from our incredible donors through the GlobalGiving platform has supported and supplemented Shout’s large-scale HIV prevention programs, ensuring all young people are empowered to make the best choices for their own health and wellbeing. We have been able to raise $8,046 in our first few months of fundraising, which in turn has ensured we can provide youth-friendly health services to over 300 vulnerable adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). This impact feeds into the organizations broader programming, which is highlighted in more detail in this report. Beyond direct service delivery, these funds have enabled continuity of care, digital engagement with hard-to-reach youth, and the strengthening of community-based referral networks during a period of extreme financial uncertainty. GlobalGiving donors have therefore played a catalytic role in sustaining essential services at a critical time.

1. Background and Context

South Africa faces extremely high rates of HIV, Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and teenage pregnancy. The HIV epidemic disproportionately affects young people, particularly young women aged 15-24, with HIV prevalence rates twice as high in young women compared to their male counterparts. Teenage pregnancy rates have also surged, with a 48.7% increase among girls aged 10-14, and a 17.9% increase among those aged 15-19 from 2017 to 2021. One in three South African women have experienced GBV, with 6 cases being reported every hour. Contributing factors include poverty, gender inequality, limited access to contraceptives, inadequate SRH information, and negative attitudes from healthcare workers.

The GlobalGiving platform and our donors have been pivotal in Shout-It-Now’s ability to navigate drastic funding cuts to youth and adolescent health. The organization has been primarily funded by the US-government, and has had to adapt to a new funding environment. Funding from GlobalGiving ensures Shout can continue working towards our vision of a world where all young people are empowered to make the best choices for their own health and wellbeing.

Importantly, flexible community-based funding such as GlobalGiving allows Shout to rapidly respond to emerging needs, pilot innovative digital tools, and ensure uninterrupted access to prevention, protection, and psychosocial support for vulnerable youth.

2. Objectives and Expected Outcomes

2.1. Our Aims and Objectives

Through GlobalGiving Support, we aimed to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing incidence of HIV, GBV and teenage pregnancy amongst adolescent girls and young women in South Africa. To achieve this aim with reduced bilateral donor support, Shout is leveraging technology and other community-based approaches to ensure a more cost-effective and impactful way forward in ending HIV, GBV and unplanned pregnancies. Our approach prioritises youth leadership, digital innovation, and differentiated service delivery models that meet young people where they are, both online and in their communities.

Key Objectives:

Offer innovative, community-based HIV testing and counselling services to increase accessibility and reach more people, particularly in rural areas.
Utilize peer navigators to provide support and promote PrEP uptake among AGYW and male sex partners.
Establish safe spaces for youth to build social connections, receive support, and develop life skills through mentorship programs and peer support groups.
Leveraging our Chomi GBV Chatbot - Provide trauma-informed care and counselling services for AYP who have experienced interpersonal violence.
Provide technical assistance to the South African Government to strengthen their capacity to respond to HIV, STIs, teenage pregnancy, and IPV.
Strengthen digital demand creation and health-seeking behaviour through mobile platforms, social media engagement, and AI-enabled client support tools.
Establish safe spaces for youth to receive support, counselling, and referrals to relevant services.

3. Results and Impact

Over the past 6 years, and will support from GlobalGiving donors, Shout has been able to achieve the following impact:

The organization has tested over 470,000 young people for HIV
The Shout team has initiated over 160,000 people onto Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), and ensured 110,000 people stayed on PrEP
Shout supported over 28,000 survivors of GBV
Over 100,000 AGYW were supported for comprehensive HIV prevention and empowerment support, including economic strengthening support.

Through GlobalGiving contributions specifically, over 300 AGYW accessed youth-friendly HIV prevention, GBV response, counselling, and referral services within just a few months, demonstrating the high return on investment of small, flexible donor contributions. These results contribute directly to national HIV prevention targets and the South African National Strategic Plan on GBVF and HIV, reinforcing Shout’s role as a trusted implementing partner.

4. Impact Stories

A young women and Shout client from Mamelodi Tshwane Region in Gauteng attended the Girls Club Programme and SASA! The two interventions that have equipped her in realising her potential and standing up for women and children’s rights.

SASA! is an evidence-based community mobilization approach to prevent violence against women by addressing a core driver: the imbalance of power between women and men, girls and boys. SASA! means “now” in Kiswahili and is an acronym for the intervention’s four phases: Start, Awareness, Support and Action.

Through her participation in SASA! and subsequent linkages to employment opportunities by Shout, she had the opportunity to work with National Institute for Community Development and Management under the National Department of Social Development and the Health and Welfare SETA as a GBVF Ambassador. Our client and her GBVF Ambassador peers worked to raise awareness about GBVF and make a difference in their community. Mamelodi is a recognised hotspot for Gender Based Violence and Femicide cases in Tshwane. While fighting Gender Based Violence and Femicide and raising awareness, our client was receiving a stipend and was able to care for her son as well as assisting her sister and her children.

This journey highlights how integrated programming, combining prevention, psychosocial support, and economic strengthening, can break cycles of vulnerability and enable young women to become agents of change within their communities.

5. Lessons learned and next steps

As we continue to work towards cost-effective and sustainable health and wellness programming, we are hoping to connect with donors across the world to sponsor some of the incredible programs Shout implements.

One key lesson learned is that community trust, peer-led engagement, and digital innovation are essential to reaching young people effectively in resource-constrained settings. Moving forward, Shout plans to expand our digital health platforms, strengthen PrEP demand and retention strategies, and deepen linkages between GBV response, mental health support, and economic empowerment for AGYW.

GlobalGiving will remain a critical platform for mobilising flexible, community-driven funding to support these next phases of growth and impact.

Links:

Attachments:

Shout-It-Now Newsletter (PDF)

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