Nivishe Mental Health Fellowship (Cohort 7)

Nivishe Foundation, a Nairobi nonprofit working on community mental health, runs this 12-week virtual fellowship for emerging and established changemakers who want to understand mental health from African and global perspectives and then act on it. Fellows learn from mental health experts, practitioners and researchers in sessions that range from community mental health and lived experience to neuropsychology. It ends with a capstone project in which each fellow designs and runs a mental health initiative that reaches their own community directly.

What you get:

• Twelve weeks of live virtual sessions led by mental health experts, practitioners, researchers and leaders
• A grounding in mental health from African and global perspectives, from community mental health and lived experience to neuropsychology and how the brain, mind, environment and society shape wellbeing
• Leadership skills and practical approaches to the mental health challenges in your own community
• Mentorship during the fellowship as your capstone idea takes shape
• A place in the Nivishe Fellowship Network, which the foundation says has trained more than 300 advocates across 10 African countries

What you'll do:

• Join a live virtual session every Saturday from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM East Africa Time, for 12 weeks
• Spend about six hours a month on assignments, group discussions and collaborative work

• Aged 18 or over. The fellowship is aimed mainly at young leaders aged 18 to 35, and applicants over 35 with a strong record of community leadership, advocacy or social impact are encouraged to apply
• Committed to reducing mental health disparities and promoting wellbeing in your community
• Working in, or interested in, mental health, community development, advocacy, education, healthcare, research, humanitarian work or a related field. Formal mental health experience is not required
• Holding, or aspiring to, a leadership role, with the ability to influence change in your community or institution
• Values diversity, inclusion and learning from people with different perspectives and lived experiences
• Proficient in English, the language the fellowship is taught in
• Access to a computer and a reliable internet connection, and able to take part in live virtual sessions
• Able to commit to every session, the assignments and a capstone project across all 12 weeks
• No nationality or residency rule is stated. The fellowship is built around mental health in Africa, and the foundation describes its fellows as coming from across Sub-Saharan Africa