2022 Year in Review

An Extraordinary Year

2022 was an extraordinary year for JA around the world, one that saw us deliver more than 15 million student learning experiences, modernize our brand, receive a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, and so much more. In the video below, you’ll hear six stories, which represent millions more students and alumni throughout our network.

Leadership Message

from Jonas Prising (Chair, Board of Governors, JA Worldwide; CEO, ManpowerGroup) and Asheesh Advani (CEO, JA Worldwide)

Serving more students than ever in our history.

This year, thanks to your support and partnership, JA delivered 15.1 million student learning experiences, the most in our 103-year history. We offered these experiences as part of our Inspire-Prepare-Succeed Pathway, which includes introductory learning that piques a student’s interest (“Inspire”); core learning experiences that build skills, attitudes, and competencies (“Prepare”); and applied learning that demonstrates mastery of competencies in the real world (“Succeed”). 

But as the world’s youth and their parents and teachers clamor for the real-world, hands-on, immersive-learning experiences that will prepare them for the jobs of the future, this year, we developed a three-year strategic plan that will move us toward deepening our impact on communities by serving more underserved youth and growing our global reach. Through four strategic priorities—accelerating digital learning experiences, cultivating new partnerships, strengthening the JA global network, and empowering the underserved by targeting the students in every region and country who have low access to (or poor outcomes for) education and livelihoods—we intend to reach 100 million youth per year by 2050.

Of course, we cannot serve millions of students without partnerships with schools, governments, foundations, and corporations, and 2022 delivered on those fronts, as well, with more schools served and more funded partnerships than ever before, including the largest grant in JA Worldwide’s history, which is expanding offerings in sub-Saharan Africa.

Earning global recognition for our work.

Early this year, we received word that JA Worldwide had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of our role in furthering global peace and prosperity throughout the last century, often in parts of the world marked by political instability, violence, and war. Over the years, we’ve opened or maintained operations in some of the world’s most precarious countries, including Yemen, Iraq, Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, and more. In early February, we also launched programs in Ukraine, despite the news that soldiers were gathering on the border. Our staff there remains safe and, thanks to extensive efforts by JA Europe, the JA Ukraine Fund is providing assistance to young people in need, delivering educational programs to help youth maintain their self-confidence and mental health, training Ukrainian-speaking volunteers to deliver learning experience to young Ukrainians digitally (regardless of where they are located now), and equipping the schools that are welcoming Ukrainian youth with the laptops or mobile devices they need. These efforts are paying off: In spite of the war that has ravaged the country, Ukraine’s Ministry of Education recently endorsed the JA Company Program, our best-known learning experience, which has been used for generations to sustain families in times of hardship and to prepare young people with the skillset and mindset to rebuild broken communities.

Listed for the fourth-straight year as one of the ten most-impactful social-good organizations in the world, JA Worldwide also made Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators as the top nonprofit on the list, and was honored with the Tony Hsieh Award for leadership through empowerment. This list only scratches the surface of the awards and recognitions in the JA network, with hundreds more at the regional, national, and local levels.  

Innovating through global initiatives.

In 2022, we launched new initiatives and delivered even more impact through existing initiatives. We attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, deepened our relationship with United Nations’ agencies, partnered with Global Entrepreneurship Week, broadened our global microcredential—the Entrepreneurial Skills Pass—to include 52 countries in four regions, landed two JA schools in the top-ten finalists for the World’s Best School Prizes, inducted four new laureates into the Global Business Hall of Fame, and invited the winning student team from each of our six regional youth-entrepreneurship competitions to compete for the second-annual De La Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award.

Lifting youth voices.

Perhaps the initiative of which we’re proudest this year is Youth Voices, a collaboration with the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, Cortico, and Accenture, which launched in 2022. In addition to continuing to offer JA’s young alumni exceptional opportunities for mentorship, skill-building, visibility, networking, and leadership, this year, we created a team of Youth Voices Facilitators, who were trained to facilitate discussions among and give voice to their peers. The result? A collection of firsthand experiences from 100+ JA Worldwide students and alumni across 45+ countries that is not only revealing key insights but also reinforcing JA Worldwide’s role in promoting youth empowerment. 

2022 was an unprecedented year for JA around the globe, as you’ll see throughout this report. We can’t wait for what’s next.


2022 Global Impact

JA’s reputation for impact is unmatched, producing remarkable global outcomes among JA students: curiosity, creativity, self-confidence, resilience, and the determination to build a better life. Our funders support the development of learning experiencing that prepare them for entrepreneurship, fulfilling employment, and financial health. Funders also support strategic initiatives at the JA Worldwide headquarters, at regional operating centers, and in JA member countries and local areas, where JA staff engage, train, and support educators and volunteers. The result is over 190 million student-contact hours and over 15 million student experiences in 2022. 


Stories of Transformation and Impact

With a network spanning five continents and serving over 15 million students, JA is the leading global educator in entrepreneurship, work-readiness, and financial health for young people ranging in age from 5 to 25. JA has offices from Accra to Amsterdam, Singapore to Sao Paulo, and Miami to Marrakech that facilitate hands-on JA learning experiences, in and out of the classroom, that prepare students for boundless business, career, and financial success.

What makes JA special are volunteers from a range of backgrounds—international corporations, new startups, and long-standing family-run businesses—who bring real-world experience to classrooms and mentorship to JA students. JA’s learning experiences—more than 50 in all—are designed to be fun, hands-on, high-impact programs that give young people a taste of life in the real world. These learning experiences motivate and inspire students to acquire the skills they need for future career success. For some programs, like JA Finance Park and JA Job Shadow, students leave the classroom for a day in the real world. For others, like JA’s most well-known offering—the JA Company Program—JA brings the real world to schools.

Here, we gather six stories of JA students, alumni, and partnerships that get us one step closer to our vision: a world in which young people have the skillset and mindset to build thriving communities.


Financial Statements: Stewardship in Action


Download the full JA Worldwide Annual Report.

Download our 2022 JA Worldwide Factbook, with country-by-country data.

Looking for additional detail? Download our latest Form 990. Or view the annual reports of our six regional operating centers:

JA Africa | JA Americas | JA Asia Pacific
JA Europe | INJAZ Al-Arab JA MENA
Junior Achievement USA


Annual Report Archive

Factbook Archive