Research & insights
Evidence before attribution.
We study how people and cultures are formed, and how better conditions can be designed, tested and sustained. Our research programmes, frameworks, publications and policy anchors are gathered here, together with every source we cite.
StatusNo research outputs have been published yet beyond our organisational and programme profiles. Publishing Culture Engineering research is a priority for the third horizon (24–36 months) of our proposed roadmap.
01 Research programmes
Eight themes, from the person to the system.
Culture Engineering research asks how beliefs, behaviours, relationships, norms and institutions form, persist and change in a specific context. These are the themes that organise that work. Each connects to programmes and frameworks on this site.
- 01
Purpose and identity formation
How people come to understand their worth, strengths, values and direction, and what helps that process.
Homo Completum - 02
Educational and civic culture
The norms, routines and institutions of schools and civic life, and how they make some behaviours feel normal.
Purpose Clubs - 03
Youth leadership
Self-leadership and responsible leadership: how roles, practice, mentoring and supervision build them.
Project 100,000 - 04
Institutional behaviour
How schools, employers and public bodies adopt, sustain or resist new practices.
The MLP lens - 05
Community participation
Locally led action and service, and the conditions that sustain ownership after a project ends.
Our work - 06
Social value
The positive outcomes a programme seeks to generate for people and communities, and how they can be credibly evidenced.
Social Value Studio - 07
Cultural diffusion
How practices spread between schools, communities and countries, and what must adapt along the way.
The method - 08
Conditions that support positive norms
The narratives, routines, relationships, opportunities and institutions that make constructive behaviour normal.
Five levers
02 Research method
Listen first. Then diagnose, design and test.
This is the operational logic behind our strategy of Research → Design → Test → Mobilise → Embed → Scale. Every transition requires evidence, feedback and adaptation.
- 01
Research and listen
Start with the people affected and how they describe the challenge.
OutputsEvidence reviews · baseline studies
- 02
Diagnose
Identify the behavioural and systemic patterns that keep a challenge in place.
OutputsCultural diagnostics
- 03
Co-design
Design context-appropriate interventions with communities, schools and partners. Children take part in ways appropriate to their age and rights.
OutputsCurricula · toolkits
- 04
Pilot
Test with partners on a small scale, once safeguarding responsibilities and data boundaries are agreed.
OutputsField experiments
- 05
Collect evidence
Measure reach, engagement, learning and outcomes separately, including what did not work.
OutputsEvaluation reports
- 06
Refine, embed and replicate
Improve, institutionalise what works and replicate only validated models, adapted locally.
OutputsPolicy briefs
LoopEvidence improves the next programme.
Evaluation design
Qualitative co-design at baseline, pilot feasibility studies, implementation fidelity checks, cohort follow-ups, and controlled or comparison studies where feasible and ethical. Independent evaluation for material outcome claims.
The planned output types above are tagged “Planned” in the library below.
03 Research Explorer
The library: frameworks, publications, plans and policy anchors.
Search and filter everything we have developed, issued, planned or anchored our work to. Every item carries its status, so a plan is never mistaken for a result.
Type
Topic any of
Nothing matches those filters.
Try a different search term, choose another type or include more statuses.
01 Frameworks 7
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Culture Engineering
The systematic study, intentional design, testing and stewardship of the beliefs, behaviours, relationships, norms and institutional arrangements that influence collective outcomes.
- Cultural change
- Institutions & systems
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Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) adaptation
Landscape pressures, regimes of institutions and norms, and niches where purpose innovations are tested. A useful analytical lens, not proof that one intervention causes culture change.
- Cultural change
- Institutions & systems
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Homo Completum
An integrative philosophy of complete-person education: spirit (orientation), soul (inner life) and body (lived practice), developed together.
- Purpose & identity
- Education & civic culture
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Five intervention levers
Narratives, routines, relationships, opportunities and institutions: the places where an intervention can take hold.
- Cultural change
- Youth leadership
- Institutions & systems
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Impact measurement ladder
Five stages from reach and access to durability and systems change. Reach is necessary, but it is not the same as impact.
- Evidence & measurement
- Community & social value
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Purpose Club model
A minimum viable school club: teacher patron, safeguarding contact, elected student roles, a weekly supervised session and a proposed 12-module curriculum.
- Education & civic culture
- Youth leadership
- Purpose & identity
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Theory of change
Research → capability → action → adoption → enduring value, across five levels from the individual to the system, with its critical assumptions stated.
- Evidence & measurement
- Institutions & systems
- Community & social value
02 Publications 3
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OnPurpose Futures — Complete Organisational Profile (October 2026)
Identity and philosophy, theory of change, Culture Engineering, Homo Completum, the Academy, field delivery, social value, measurement, governance and roadmap.
A strategic profile, not an audited impact report.
- Cultural change
- Purpose & identity
- Community & social value
- Evidence & measurement
Request a copy PDF to be published -
OnPurpose Futures — Organisational Profile deck (October 2026)
A 24-slide summary of the organisation: the ecosystem, frameworks, delivery model, measurement approach and evidence base.
Cites the same seven sources as the Complete Organisational Profile.
- Cultural change
- Purpose & identity
- Community & social value
- Evidence & measurement
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Project 100,000 — Africa’s Purpose Generation: Strategic Project Profile (October 2026)
Concept, operating model and proposed ten-year delivery architecture for the flagship youth initiative, with its safeguards and measurement system.
Targets and programme models are proposals, not reported results.
- Purpose & identity
- Youth leadership
- Education & civic culture
- Child rights & data
Request a copy PDF to be published
03 Planned outputs 8
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Evidence reviews
Structured reviews of published research on a question before anything is designed.
- Evidence & measurement
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Baseline studies
Measures taken before a programme begins, so that change can be assessed honestly.
- Evidence & measurement
- Community & social value
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Cultural diagnostics
Studies of the norms, incentives, relationships and institutions behind a specific challenge.
- Cultural change
- Institutions & systems
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Field experiments
Pilots and, where feasible and ethical, comparison studies of interventions in real settings.
- Evidence & measurement
- Cultural change
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Curricula
Learning sequences such as Culture Engineering 101–301 and the proposed Purpose Club modules.
- Education & civic culture
- Purpose & identity
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Toolkits
Practical resources for facilitators, schools and partners, such as the purpose-discovery toolkit.
- Education & civic culture
- Community & social value
- Youth leadership
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Policy briefs
Short, evidence-based notes for education, youth and civic policymakers.
- Institutions & systems
- Education & civic culture
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Evaluation reports
What worked, what did not and for whom, including null findings, unintended effects and equity gaps.
- Evidence & measurement
- Community & social value
04 Policy anchors 6
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Agenda 2063: Aspirations 5 and 6
Continental policy fit: a strong cultural identity and shared values (Aspiration 5), and a people-driven Africa that empowers youth and protects children (Aspiration 6).
- Purpose & identity
- Youth leadership
- Cultural change
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African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
Defines children as persons below 18 and requires their best interests, views and protection to be respected. It sets the floor for how we work with under-18s.
- Child rights & data
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Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems: Policy Guide (2024)
Makes the case for responsible decision-making, relationships, inclusion and wellbeing alongside cognitive learning: skills beyond exams.
- Education & civic culture
- Purpose & identity
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Guidance on AI and Children, Version 3.0 (December 2025)
Makes child rights, transparency, fairness, privacy and oversight core requirements for any AI used with children, including on our planned platform.
- Child rights & data
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Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
Contains specific safeguards for processing children’s personal data (notably Section 31) in Nigeria, our first learning environment.
- Child rights & data
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IRIS+ system and impact measurement guidance
Its “What, Who, How Much, Contribution, Risk” lens shapes how each programme defines, measures and reports outcomes.
- Evidence & measurement
- Community & social value
04 Insight into practice
Thought leadership, policy insight and innovation.
Research is part of our fifth engine, Research, Innovation and Systems Change: Futures Labs, ACES, volunteer and fellow networks, collaborations and knowledge-sharing.
Thought leadership
From the Journal
Policy insight
Anchored to existing policy
Policy briefs are a planned output. Until they exist, our programme designs are anchored to continental, international and national frameworks for children, education, data and impact.
- AU Agenda 2063, Aspirations 5 and 6
- African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- UNESCO policy guide on social and emotional learning
- UNICEF Guidance on AI and Children
- Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
- GIIN IRIS+
Policy briefs · PlannedSee the policy anchors
Innovation
Futures Labs
Applied research and design spaces in which youth, researchers and institutions co-create, pilot and evaluate responses to community and cultural challenges.
- Primary outcome
- Solutions tested, improved and adopted by partners.
- Measured by
- Pilot protocol; user feedback; outcome measures; adoption and cost assessment.
PlannedFutures Labs
ACES The Africa Culture Engineering Summit: a planned convening for researchers, practitioners, institutions, funders and change-makers to share evidence and build partnerships. ACES
05 Research ethics
We will report disappointing findings as well as positive ones.
Participation does not guarantee transformation. We test our assumptions rather than attributing every observed change to our own work.
- 01
Consent
Appropriate caregiver consent, child assent, school permissions and rights of withdrawal; legal bases vary by country. Follow-up is opt-in, and media consent is separate from programme participation.
- 02
Safeguarding
Child-protection controls from the beginning, no unsupervised adult–child contact and age-appropriate complaint channels. Children take part in design and review in ways appropriate to their age and rights.
- 03
Data protection
Privacy by design, informed consent, appropriate retention periods and non-identifying, aggregate analysis. No child-data monetisation. Country-by-country legal advice before expansion.
- 04
Publishing null findings
Null findings, unintended effects and equity gaps will be published. Reach will be reported separately from outcomes, and material outcome claims will be independently evaluated.
StatusResearch-ethics, community-consent and evidence-quality controls are part of our proposed governance, which requires operational validation. Privacy and safeguarding
06 Sources & references
Every figure, with its source.
The complete bibliography for this website: each statistic we use, checked against its original publisher, followed by the reference lists of our three documents.
How we use evidence
- Checked
Every statistic on this site was verified against its source page, or a press release from the same publisher, on 19 October 2026. Two figures needed a correction, and the correction is shown.
- Labelled
Projections are labelled as projections. Estimates and projections are never presented as observed outcomes.
- Located
Geographies differ. We say “Africa” or “sub-Saharan Africa” exactly as each source does, and Nigerian figures vary by definition.
- Aged
Several “youth” figures include people over 18: ILO NEET data covers ages 15–24, the Pew/UN shares cover under-25s, and the UIS out-of-school figure runs to upper-secondary age.
A Statistics used on this site
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S01
Verified
World Bank — Africa's Pulse, Vol. 32: Pathways to Job Creation in Africa (October 2025).
620 million+Between 2025 and 2050, sub-Saharan Africa's working-age population is projected to add more than 620 million people to its labour force.
Verification notes
The source says 'more than 620 million', so show it as '620 million+' or 'more than 620 million' rather than an exact '+620 million'. The same page says this is more than three-quarters of the net increase across all emerging markets and developing economies. This is a projection of new labour-force entrants, not a count of young people. The page is the Africa's Pulse landing page, and its content can change when the April 2026 or later editions are posted, so cite the October 2025 edition.
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S02
Verified
World Bank — Education in Eastern and Southern Africa (brief, 17 October 2024).
Nearly 9 in 10Nearly 9 in 10 children in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to read by age 10.
Verification notes
The exact source wording is 'struggle to read by age 10'. A qualifier sometimes added about reading a simple text is not on this page. It matches the World Bank's standard learning-poverty definition, but it is better to quote the page as written. The same brief says approximately 89% (about 20 million) of 10-year-olds in Eastern and Southern Africa will be learning poor without substantial action; that figure covers that sub-region only. The brief does not give the reference year of the underlying learning data.
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S03
Verified with correction
ILO — Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024: Sub-Saharan Africa (ILO Brief, August 2024).
21.9%In 2023, more than 1 in 5 young people (21.9%) in sub-Saharan Africa were not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Correction21.9% is the rate for 2023, not a 2024 projection. The brief says the youth NEET rate is 'expected to see a nominal decrease to 21.8 per cent (from 21.9 per cent in 2023)'. Use '21.9% (2023)' or '21.8% (2024 projection)'.
Verification notes
ILO 'youth' means ages 15–24, so this includes 18–24-year-olds and not under-15s. The same brief says three in five young NEETs in the region were women (2023), the youth unemployment rate was 8.9% (2023), and the youth employment-to-population ratio was 40.5% (2023). The low unemployment rate reflects widespread informal and low-quality work, not good job prospects.
ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/Sub-Saharan%20Africa%20GET%20Youth%202024_0.pdf
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S04
Verified
World Bank — Speech by Paschal Donohoe, 'Building Skills, Creating Jobs, and Empowering Africa's Future', University of Ghana (16 March 2026).
10–12 million vs ~3 millionEach year 10–12 million young people enter Africa's labour force, while Africa creates approximately 3 million formal jobs a year.
Verification notes
This is a round-number estimate from a senior World Bank official's speech, not a statistical publication, so attribute it as such ('a World Bank speech, March 2026'). The source says 'formal jobs', not 'wage jobs'. The figures refer to Africa, not only sub-Saharan Africa.
worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2026/03/16/building-skills-creating-jobs-and-empowering-africa-s-future
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S06
Verified
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (with the GEM Report and the African Union) — SDG 4 scorecard progress report on national benchmarks in Africa (2025).
118 million118 million children, adolescents and youth are currently out of school in Africa.
Verification notes
This covers primary, lower-secondary and upper-secondary school-age populations (roughly ages 6–17, varying by country), so it is not only under-12s. The publication page gives no exact date; it refers to the '2025 Africa SDG 4 scorecard'.
uis.unesco.org/en/publication/sdg-4-scorecard-progress-report-national-benchmarks-africa
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S07
Verified with correction
UNICEF — Generation 2030 Africa 2.0: Prioritizing investment in children to reap the demographic dividend (press release, 26 October 2017).
1 billion+ by 2055On UNICEF's 2017 projections, the number of Africa's children (under 18) will reach 750 million by 2030 and top one billion by 2055.
CorrectionUNICEF's press release for the report says the number of Africa's children 'will top one billion by 2055' and under-18s will reach 750 million by 2030. The cited landing page (data.unicef.org/resources/generation-2030-africa-2-0/) does not contain the mid-century wording used in the original profile; that wording was broadly consistent but not a direct quote. Use 'more than one billion by 2055'.
Verification notes
This projection is based on 2017 UN population data and is now nine years old. Present it as 'UNICEF (2017) projected…'. A newer UN WPP 2024-based figure would be preferable, but I did not locate one in an official page.
unicef.org/press-releases/dividend-or-disaster-unicefs-new-report-population-growth-africa
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S08
Verified
GSMA Intelligence — The Mobile Economy Africa 2025 (October 2025).
416 million (~28%)416 million people in Africa use mobile internet, about 28% of the population.
Verification notes
The report page gives the figures without an explicit reference year; they are presumed to be end-2024, the usual GSMA base year, so label them as 'GSMA, 2025 report'. The 28% figure appears in the page banner. The page says almost 75% of the population remains unconnected to mobile internet.
gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-economy/africa-2025
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S09
Verified
GSMA Intelligence — The Mobile Economy Africa 2025 (October 2025).
960 million (64%)960 million people in Africa, 64% of the population, live within mobile broadband coverage but do not use mobile internet (the 'usage gap').
Verification notes
Additional figure. It shows that the main barrier is affordability, skills and relevance, not network coverage. No explicit reference year is given on the page.
gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-economy/africa-2025
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S10
Verified
Pew Research Center — '5 facts about Africa's population growth' (19 May 2026), using UN World Population Prospects 2024.
~19 yearsThe median age in Africa is about 19 years today, projected to rise to 35 by 2100.
Verification notes
Additional figure. It was verified from Pew Research Center's analysis of UN WPP 2024 (medium variant), not directly from the UN DESA data portal, which could not be read by the fetch tool. Cite it as 'UN World Population Prospects 2024, via Pew Research Center'. The figure is for all of Africa, not only sub-Saharan Africa, whose median age is lower.
pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/05/19/5-facts-about-africas-population-growth
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S14
Verified
UNICEF Nigeria — Education opportunities for Out-of-School Children (OOSC) cheat sheet (June 2022).
18.3 millionNigeria has an estimated 18.3 million out-of-school children: 10.2 million at primary level and 8.1 million at junior secondary level. 12.4 million have never attended school and 5.9 million left early, and about 1 in 3 children are out of school.
Verification notes
Additional figure, and the numbers are disputed. Different official sources give different figures: (1) UNICEF Nigeria's education page says 'about 10.5 million' children aged 5–14 are not in school (older figure, undated page); (2) Africa Check (11 Nov 2024) reports UNICEF's 2023 Nigeria Education Fact Sheet estimated 12.9 million aged 5–14 plus 4.9 million at senior secondary level, from 2023–24 MICS; (3) Africa Check reports UNESCO's 2024/25 GEM Report estimated 18.2 million (8.58m primary, 4.06m junior secondary, 5.54m senior secondary); (4) UNICEF used 18.3 million in a May 2024 statement, per Africa Check. Nigerian media also cite 18.5m and 20m+, which I could not confirm in an official source. The same cheat sheet says Nigeria accounts for 15% of the global out-of-school total and 66% of Nigeria's out-of-school children are in the North-East and North-West. The government treats children in Qur'anic-only schools as out of school, which affects counts. Recommended wording: 'an estimated 18 million+ (UNICEF; UNESCO)', naming the source.
unicef.org/nigeria/media/7746/file/UNICEF%20Nigeria%20Cheat%20Sheet:%20Out-of-school%20Children.pdf
B OnPurpose Futures — Complete Organisational Profile (October 2026)
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O1
World Bank. Africa’s Pulse, October 2025.
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O2
World Bank. Education in Eastern and Southern Africa, 17 October 2024.
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O3
ILO. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024: Sub-Saharan Africa (regional brief).
ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/Sub-Saharan%20Africa%20GET%20Youth%202024_0.pdf
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O4
World Bank. Building Skills, Creating Jobs, and Empowering Africa’s Future, 16 March 2026.
worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2026/03/16/building-skills-creating-jobs-and-empowering-africa-s-future
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O5
UNICEF. The State of the World’s Children 2024.
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O6
UNESCO. Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems, 2024.
unesco.org/en/articles/mainstreaming-social-and-emotional-learning-education-systems-policy-guide
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O7
Global Impact Investing Network. IRIS+ system and impact measurement guidance.
The Organisational Profile deck (October 2026) cites the same seven sources in its research and editorial notes.
C Project 100,000 — Strategic Project Profile (October 2026)
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P1
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 2025 Africa SDG 4 Scorecard.
118 million out of school; includes children, adolescents and youth, not just under-18s.
uis.unesco.org/en/publication/sdg-4-scorecard-progress-report-national-benchmarks-africa
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P2
UNICEF. Generation 2030 Africa 2.0 (2017 demographic projections).
Cited in the profile with a mid-century approximation. On verification, the press release says under-18s will “top one billion by 2055” (see S07).
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P3
GSMA. The Mobile Economy Africa 2025.
416 million mobile-internet users, about 28% penetration.
gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-economy/africa-2025
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P4
UNESCO. Mainstreaming Social and Emotional Learning in Education Systems: Policy Guide (2024).
unesco.org/en/articles/mainstreaming-social-and-emotional-learning-education-systems-policy-guide
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P5
African Union. Agenda 2063, Aspirations 5 and 6.
Cultural identity, values, empowered youth and children.
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P6
UNICEF Innocenti. Guidance on AI and Children, Version 3.0 (December 2025).
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P7
African Union. African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Definition, participation and best interests.
au.int/en/documents/20120224/african-charter-rights-and-welfare-child-acrwc
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P8
Nigeria Data Protection Commission. Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
Especially Section 31 on children’s data.
ndpc.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Nigeria_Data_Protection_Act_2023.pdf
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P9
UNICEF. Keeping Children Safe Online: platform regulation and child-rights lessons (2025).
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P10
ITU. Facts and Figures 2025.
African connectivity disparities; geographic definitions vary.
Editorial noteOur documents are strategic profiles, not audited impact reports. Empirical data are attributed to their original source, year and geography. The documents do not indicate that any projected beneficiaries, clubs, funds raised or social outcomes have already been achieved.