Youth-Led Mental Health Innovations in Ugandan Schools

Twogere
Jun 20
2 min read

Mental health promotion in schools is often delivered to students rather than with them. At Twogere, we believe that young people are not just beneficiaries but designers of effective mental health solutions. In 2024, we launched a bold school-based innovation initiative that placed learners at the center of designing context-specific mental health interventions for their schools.

Project Scope and Engagement

The initiative engaged 10 secondary schools across 5 districts: Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Bugiri, and Luuka. Each school formed a Mental Health Innovation Team composed of students, one teacher mentor, and a Twogere facilitator. Over 12 weeks, these teams went through a structured innovation cycle involving problem mapping, ideation, prototyping, and testing.

Youth-Driven Solutions

The innovations were striking in both creativity and relevance. Examples included:

A student-led "silent room" for self-regulation and de-escalation during stress peaks.
Integration of mental health themes into school drama, music, and debate clubs.
Low-cost peer counselling toolkits designed for local language and literacy levels.
Anonymous feedback boxes

Many ideas directly addressed stigma and access barriers that adults had overlooked. Notably, 7 out of 10 schools developed interventions that required under UGX 300,000 to implement—underscoring that innovation doesn’t have to be expensive to be impactful.

Key Outcomes

210 learners directly participated in the co-design process.
85% of students reported improved confidence in talking about mental health in school settings.
100% of the participating schools committed to integrating the top innovations into their school improvement plans for 2025.
Teacher mentors reported increased engagement and emotional safety in classrooms where interventions were piloted.

What’s Next?

The most promising solutions are being reviewed by an independent panel comprising mental health experts, educators, and adolescent development specialists. Winners will be announced in November 2025, with the top three innovations receiving seed grants for scaling and technical support.

Final Word

This initiative affirms what evidence and experience increasingly show: when young people are trusted to lead, they design mental health interventions that are relevant, feasible, and sustainable. As we prepare to scale this model, we invite educators, funders, and policymakers to follow closely—because the future of school mental health in Uganda is being designed by the very students we aim to support.

Twogere is a youth-led organization dedicated to reducing the mental health treatment gap among young people in Uganda through innovative, community-driven approaches.