18 July, 2025

Last week, we were in South Africa to host a SKY Girls knowledge-sharing workshop, bringing together teams from six countries, expert speakers, and the Gates Foundation. It was a rare and brilliant chance to connect in person, something we’ve learned is still unmatched when it comes to sparking collaboration, creativity and shared learning.

SKY Girls began 12 years ago Botswana. Today, it’s active in seven countries, with over 1.5 million social media followers, 46 million YouTube views, and 1.6 million girls reached in schools and communities. It’s all about helping teenage girls stay true to themselves and that starts with listening to them.

A standout moment from the three-day workshop was our co-creation session with teenage girls from Johannesburg. Human-centred design is at the heart of SKY, and this session gave teams a chance to share co-creation techniques and hear directly from the girls themselves. The results? Ideas that were more creative, relevant and impactful than anything we could have come up with alone.

Co-creation means designing with your audience, not for them. It’s about building on real insights, not assumptions. This is especially important when working with young people, whose tastes and trends evolve fast. If you want ideas that are cool, authentic and effective, start by asking the people you’re trying to reach.

You don’t need a big budget to do this. Just find the right moments in your project to bring in the voices that matter most. Whether you’re working on climate action, education, health, or anything in between, if your goal is meaningful change, co-creation should be part of your toolkit. Designing with, not for, the people you’re trying to reach leads to better ideas, stronger impact, and ultimately, more lasting change.

By Alice Railton