Youth programmes and the attention economy

Africa is the world's youngest continent. Governments, foundations and NGOs run thousands of programmes for young people: skills training, job placement, entrepreneurship support, mentorship, civic education, sports and arts. Many struggle with the same first step: getting young people to sign up, show up and stay.

The reason is rarely that young people are uninterested. It is that programmes often communicate like institutions: long posters, formal language, application forms that feel like exams. Young people are scrolling past them on their way to something that speaks to them.

Speak like your audience

Young Kenyans mix languages, use humour, and can spot inauthenticity instantly. A recruitment video for a digital skills programme in Nairobi should sound like a friend telling you about an opportunity, not a ministry announcing a tender.

In Tari Studio, set the language of speech and on-screen words to English as Kenyans speak it, or the Kiswahili-English mix that many young urban Kenyans use. Have a young person from your target group check the script; they will tell you which lines sound like an uncle.

Answer the real questions

Young people considering a programme ask:

• What will I actually get? A certificate, a job, a stipend, a network?
• What does it cost me? Money, time, transport?
• Who has done it before, and what happened to them?
• How do I apply, and by when?

One short clip per question, honest and specific.

Show real participants, with consent

Peers are the most persuasive messengers. Feature real participants and alumni who agree to it, with written consent, and let them speak in their own words. Do not invent success stories or exaggerate outcomes. Young people talk, and a programme caught overpromising loses its audience.

For scenes where real participants cannot appear, AI video can illustrate the experience: a classroom, a workshop, a team building a project. Label it where it matters, and never present a generated person as a real alumnus.

Make it quickly, make many

Type /script in the Studio with the length and the topic, edit the timed scenes the AI director writes, and make the video. Scripts are free; each video shows its credit cost on a quote first. Scripts with /script.

The AK2 model's music-led energy suits youth content; AK1's documentary feel suits testimonies and explainers.

Respect their data and time

Application processes that ask for too much information too early lose applicants. Ask for what you need, explain why, and protect it. Kenya's Data Protection Act applies to programme data too. Our privacy approach.

Keep them engaged

Recruitment is the start. Short weekly clips, reminders, celebrations of progress and peer stories keep participants coming back.

Write your recruitment script.