Spring Impact Spring Impact

Social Impact at Scale

Spring Impact Spring Impact

Scale Accelerator

Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

A fully-funded consultancy programme for ambitious NGOs in the EU and UK who are working to prevent childhood sexual violence

“The programme was truly transformative for us, giving us clarity, guidance and a plan that accelerated us forward” (Mayday Trust)

Are you an NGO in the EU or UK working to prevent childhood sexual violence? Do you have a programme, intervention or service that has been successfully evaluated and could have an even greater impact?

Made possible thanks to the support of Oak Foundation, Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence seeks to reduce the number of children across the EU and UK that experience sexual abuse and exploitation each year.

The programme provides fully-funded consultancy support to ambitious NGOs at the forefront of this issue who want to scale up their impact and take their vital work to more people, in more places.

It will equip you with the guidance, tools, and knowledge to build and implement sustainable strategies for scaling your solution, rapidly test these new approaches, and identify the best way of driving change at a national and systemic level.

Together with our team of scaling experts, you will have the opportunity to take stock and work through the different stages of your journey to scale, including: 

  • Building a robust strategy for scale
  • Maximising the long-term impact of your solution by engaging national initiatives, the public sector, and responsible government agencies in your scaling-up approach
  • Developing actionable scaling and financial models, and build the internal operations needed to make the journey to scale achievable and financially sustainable

Appliations are now closed

Programme routes | Application process | Who it’s for | What you’ll gain | FAQs

Two programme routes

Organisations will be considered for two fully-funded programme routes as a part of the same application. The Spring Impact team will work out which one is the best fit for you.

1. Expert Consultancy: Up to 3 years of fully-funded, tailored consultancy for a select group of NGOs with a proven programme, intervention or service that has high potential for success at scale. Our scaling consultants will provide hands-on technical assistance to help you achieve long-term, sustainable and widespread impact.

2. Leaders of Scale: An online, 6-month intensive training programme for a cohort of like-minded NGOs, coaching two members of your leadership team in the skills, knowledge, and frameworks needed to lead your organisation’s journey to scale.

Who it's for

The programme is aimed at NGOs and mission-driven organisations in the EU and UK focussed on preventing childhood sexual violence, striving towards a society where children are safe from harm and able to thrive. 

We use the term childhood sexual violence to encompass many forms of sexual violence against children up to the age of 18, including incest, peer-to-peer abuse, technology-facilitated abuse online (grooming and illicit images), sexual exploitation, and rape.  

We consider prevention as any programme, service or intervention that is working to stop or lessen the likelihood of childhood sexual violence from occurring. This could include upstream prevention activities, such as parental education or challenging gender norms. 

Examples include, but are not limited to: school-based education programmes, interventions challenging gender norms and stereotypes, community mobilisation activities to change attitudes and behaviours, parent training, safe online environments for children, preventing peer victimisation, empowerment & self-defence training, etc.

Essential criteria

To take part, organisations will need to meet the following criteria: 

  • Programme, intervention or service must have been running for at least 2 years and there is strong ambition in the organisation for it to reach more people.
  • Programme, intervention or service must demonstrate clear evidence of impact and have been proven to work in the EU and/or UK contexts. 
  • Organisation has strong leadership capabilities and capacity to engage meaningfully in consultancy support.
  • Organisation has robust safeguarding policies and processes in place.

Programme details

Support to participate

To ensure NGOs are not excluded from participating due to a lack of funds, limited staff capacity or other resource barriers, organisations selected for Expert Consultancy will be able to request resources and support to aid their engagement in the programme.

Time commitment

The time commitment across the duration of the programme will differ depending on the programme route, and can look quite different from organisation to organisation – depending on your organisation’s needs. 

Expert Consultancy: The consultancy will last up to 3 years, depending on your organisation’s needs. It will commence in January 2024.

Time commitment: At least 1 day a month for 3 – 4 members of your organisation’s leadership team.

Leaders of Scale: The online training programme will be delivered over 6 months and commence in January 2024.

Time commitment: At least 1.5 days a month for 2 key staff members.

Consulting team

Our team is composed of specialised scaling consultants, with expertise in multiple forms of replication, including scaling with government, working in partnership with other NGOs addressing a common goal, facilitating community adoption, and other scaling pathways.

Meet the team.

 

Advisors

The programme will be supported by an expert Advisory Board. These individuals will play an integral role offering guidance, support and challenge based on their expertise to optimise the success of NGOs taking part. The board will also share learnings with the broader sector, to support and improve how childhood sexual violence is addressed at scale.

What you'll leave with

By the end of the programme, you and your team will: 

  • Know how to implement your solution elsewhere in a financially sustainable way – whether through scaling with government, partnering with aligned organisations, or another form of replication
  • Work out how to create the biggest difference for your beneficiaries or cause, and identify what parts of your solution could make the most impact in new locations
  • Find the right balance between reaching more people and maintaining high quality delivery
  • Have the support, space, and mindsets needed to think critically about your impact in the long-term, and make sure you’re asking the right questions
“

The programme has given us the space to grow our thinking exponentially. We would not be the same organisation we are now if it wasn’t for the programme

”
Scale Accelerator participant, 2020

The long-term benefits of Scale Accelerator

Scale Accelerator is our flagship programme, which has already enabled over 60 high potential organisations to significantly expand their reach and impact over the years.

The programme is based on our unique scaling methodology and consultancy approach which has supported over 300 organisations across the world to scale up. After working with Spring Impact, organisations reported they have:

Accessed funding to pursue their scale journey after the programme, including unlocking new funding opportunities.

“They have helped us to design a functioning offer that will last longer. The barriers we have always had around funding have been reduced thanks to this.” (Scale Accelerator participant, 2019)

Expanded their solution to several new locations, geographical areas or communities:

“We didn’t have the capacity to get there by ourselves – it would have taken five years, but with Spring Impact’s help, it ended up taking twelve months.” (Scale Accelerator participant, 2022)

Identified high quality partners to work with to address a problem at scale: 

“We have now formed partnerships with other organisations and can really see the value. Our ability to scale at speed and some of the quality of our work is due to Scale Accelerator” (Scale Accelerator participant, 2020)

Found ways to reach more people sustainably:

“We can now approach potential partners and say: here is the problem… We have the expertise, the tools and instruments for how to do that – if you can find a way to fund it, we should partner up.” (Spring Impact client, 2022)

We'll be sharing insights and learnings as the programme progresses. Stay up to date by registering your interest below.

Register your interest

Click here
“

It exceeded my expectations 1 million percent. The learning was phenomenal – it was far more structured and led than I had anticipated or in a way that I had never encountered.

”
Leaders of Scale participant, 2021

Any questions?

Learn more about the programme features and elements by reading through our FAQs. Here you can find out more about what we mean by 'scaling impact', the key differences between the two programme routes, the time commitment, and more.

What do you mean by 'scaling impact'?

At Spring, we recognise that ‘scale’ can be a buzzword that’s talked about in different contexts but often not understood or practically defined. We define scale as a successfully tested and proven solution being expanded to reach more people with long-lasting impact and sustainability. 

This way, if your team is scaling a solution, you are dramatically expanding its impact in a way that better matches the size of the problem you’re trying to solve, in a way that is operationally and financially sustainable.

We will also support organisations to implement vertical scale, shifting policy, practices and behaviour at an institutional or systems level to better address problems. Scale up must address not only expansion, but also promote embedding innovations into policies, norms, programmatic frameworks, and operational guidelines to help create the conditions for sustainability.

How do you define 'childhood sexual violence'?

We use the term childhood sexual violence to encompass many forms of sexual violence against children up to the age of 18, including incest, peer-to-peer abuse, technology-facilitated abuse online (grooming and illicit images), sexual exploitation, and rape.  

We consider prevention as any programme, service or intervention that is working to stop or lessen the likelihood of childhood sexual violence from occuring. This could include upstream prevention activities such as parental education or challenging gender norms. 

Examples include, but are not limited to: school-based education programmes, gender norms and stereotypes interventions, community mobilisation activities to change attitudes and behaviours, parent training programmes, ensuring safe online environments for children, preventing peer victimisation  and more. 

Is there any cost to the programme?

This programme is fully-funded so there will be no cost for organisations to pay if selected to take part. Therefore both routes, Expert Consultancy and Leaders of Scale, are free.

Additionally, organisations selected for Expert Consultancy will be able to request resources and support to aid their engagement in the programme, to ensure NGOs are not excluded from participating due to a lack of funds, limited staff capacity or other resource barriers.

In return selected organisations are expected to engage fully with the programme including ensuring the buy-in of their wider internal team and other key stakeholders. You can read more about the time commitment in the question below.

What level of evidence do I need to apply?

In order to be ready to scale, your solution, intervention or service should have strong evidence for its outcomes, so it can prove that it’s making a difference to preventing childhood sexual violence and gain buy-in from potential partners.

The level of evidence required will differ based on the type of solution you are delivering. Spring Impact looks for clear qualitative evidence of outcomes and a robust monitoring and evaluation process. The strongest forms of qualitative evidence are external or independent evaluations but we do not expect every solution to have this in place.

If there is a lack of evidence for the outcomes and impact of your solution, intervention or services resources would be better invested into developing this evidence before embarking on the scaling journey.

What is 'Getting Scale Ready'?

This is our 5-week online course designed to help organisations and leaders kick-start their journey to scale. 

If you are eligible for this programme, before applying, you will be granted a free place on Getting Scale Ready – providing you with a great opportunity to build your foundational skills, strategies, and knowledge of scale as you prepare your application for the more intensive Scale Accelerator programme.

Please note, all eligible NGOs who are interested in applying for Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence will need to complete this course before submitting their application. 

What is the difference between Leaders of Scale and Expert Consultancy?

Both routes provide follow Spring Impact’s tried and tested methodology, which is designed to help you achieve scale in a sustainable way. 

The Expert Consultancy route provides longer-term, in-depth support, tailored guidance, and specialised assistance from our team. This route encompasses the same content as the Leaders of Scale training, but with the crucial addition of having our experts act as your critical friend, providing hands-on support throughout your scaling journey.

Key differences

Delivery Approach 

Expert Consultancy: Spring Impact will walk the journey to scale together with you, aiming to really get to grips with your solution, context, and organisation. 

Leaders of Scale: Two key leaders from your organisation will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to be in the driving seat of your scaling journey. 

Length of time

Expert Consultancy: up to 3 years

Leaders of Scale: 6 months

 

Time Commitment

Expert Consultancy: at least 1 day a month for 3 – 4 members of your organisation’s leadership team throughout the duration of the programme

Leaders of Scale: at least 1.5 days a month for 2 key staff members over 6 months. 

What is the time commitment?

Expert Consultancy:

At least 1 day a month for 3 – 4 members of your team, including senior leadership. This will be for a period of 1-3 years, depending on the length of the support that your organisation receives. This will include time to:

  • Take part in bespoke, collaborative workshops with your Spring Impact consultancy team both in person and online; become upskilled in Spring Impact’s scaling methodology,
  • A nominated project lead will need to allocate up to 1 day a week for the duration of the programme.

Resources and support are available to ensure that your team is able to dedicate the time needed to engaging in the consultancy.

Leaders of Scale:

  • At least 1.5 days a month for 2 leaders within your organisation for 6 months.

Any questions?

Get in touch

Reach out to our team via the link below with any questions you may have about the programme.
Email us

Case studies

Learnings and insights

Previous Spring Impact clients

Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
Village Reach focuses on designing responsive primary healthcare systems to improve the accessibility of health products and services to the hardest-to-reach communities. Through radical collaboration with governments, partners, and the private sector, we create sustainable solutions that are scaled and sustained beyond our direct reach. By working together, they have enabled 79 million people to access quality health care.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
StrongMinds radically expands mental healthcare for people with depression globally.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
A U.S nonprofit & Kenyan NGO that aims to alleviate poverty and build resiliency in the drylands of Africa.  To date, the BOMA project has impacted +44, 000 woman and children.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

BeadforLife provide business training, programmes and support that enables women in Uganda who live in extreme poverty to become self-sustaining entrepreneurs thus, improving their livelihoods and well-being. One example is the Beading programme where fashionable fairtrade products are created in conjunction with business concepts such as accounting and quality control being taught.  We have worked with Bead for Life since August 2015 with the purpose of helping the organisation assess feasibility, develop a scale strategy and design a model for replicating their Street Business School (SBS), a programme that supports women to develop their capacity and business skills.

   
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
Village Enterprise equips rural communities in Africa with resources to create sustainable businesses and new business activities which promote environmental best practices. Through this, they strive to end extreme poverty in rural Africa.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

Marie Stopes International (MSI) is one of the largest international family planning organisations in the world. Millions of the world's poorest and most vulnerable women trust Marie Stopes International to provide them with quality family planning and reproductive healthcare.

We work with MSI in Zambia on their Diva Centres initiative which is a human centred design approach to encouraging adolescents to access sexual health services. We are helping MSI to think about how this programme can be scaled and made sustainable.

Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
At WEvolution, they nurture collectives called Small, Powerful Groups: meaningful, resourceful and accountable communities where everyone can be a change-maker and an entrepreneur.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA) works to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care and education and provides support to its member affiliates. Planned Parenthood affiliates are separately incorporated public charities that operate health centres across the U.S. as trusted sources of health care and education for people of all genders in communities across the country.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

Groundswell is a nonprofit which works to tackle homelessness by working with homeless people and enable othem to take more control of their lives, have a greater influence on services, and therefore set a chain reaction of togetherness and opportunity. We worked with Groundswell to scale the impact of their Homeless Health Peer Advocacy Programme that partners former homeless with current homeless, to ensure health appointments are met.

Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

Silulo Ulutho Technologies have a social mission centred on bridging the digital divide through providing ICT services that are geographically and economically accessible. The organisation already have twenty six branches located in deprived areas of the Eastern and Western Capes of South Africa. Each café can serve 200-300 clients a day and Silulo have already trained over 12,000 students.

Silulo Ulutho Technologies was a participant in a South African Scale Accelerator programme we delivered in conjunction with The Rockefeller Foundation, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Cape Town University and Franchising Plus.

Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
Mayday Trust transformed itself from a traditional charity providing supported accommodation services, to a nationally-recognised voice for radical systems change. When Mayday heard from people that traditional services were failing to help and they were becoming trapped in broken systems, Mayday set about to transform the services it offered.
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

Save the Children runs world-class programmes to save children’s lives and challenge world leaders to keep to their promises to give children a brighter future. Save the Children is part of Rapid Routes to Scale; a unique group of stakeholders from the academic, social and private sectors, committed to ensuring people in low and middle income countries have better health by understanding how primary care can be scaled and acting upon it.

Members include ICSF, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Center for Health Market Innovations, GlaxoSmithKline, Innovations in Healthcare (formerly The International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery), Novo Nordisk, Merck & Co, Merck Serono and T-HOPE at The University of Toronto.

Rapid Routes to Scale undertook the first ever global in-depth study to identify healthcare innovations in developing countries that have the potential to be replicated to increase accessibility to affordable medicine. Find out more here.
 
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

RECLAIM is a social change organisation that challenges the homogeneity that exists in the leadership profiles across UK society and supports youths and the working class people.

 
Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence

The African Development Bank (AfDB) aims to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries, thus contributing to poverty reduction. AfDB funded a series of workshops, facilitated by the Social Fund for Development in Egypt, in which we participated by introducing social and micro franchising to the Egyptian market.

Through events and workshops, we discussed case studies, illustrated best practices, outlined financing mechanisms and drove awareness about the benefits of social and micro franchising to the country’s key stakeholders in large micro finance institutions (MFIs), corporations and NGOs.

Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence
Social Bite is a social enterprise running an employment support programme for vulnerable and marginalised people experiencing homelessness across Scotland
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