Strengthening leadership, inclusion, and integration

Ganga Nepali (17, left) with Krishnamaya Thapa (24) at Ganga’s school located in Bandipur Rural Municiapility, Nepal. Krishnamaya is a Community Campaigner at CBM Global partner KOSHISH Nepal, which has been providing regular mental-health counselling support to Ganga. Here, Ganga does breathing and stretching exercises along with Krishnamaya. Please refer to NPL-24-Field-Story-Mental-Health-Ganga-Nepali(17) for more information.
Krishnamaya, a Community Campaigner at KOSHISH Nepal, provides regular mental-health counselling support to Ganga. This includes breathing and stretching exercises.

In 2024, CBM Global played a pivotal role in advancing inclusive mental health by strengthening leadership, amplifying the voices of people with psychosocial disabilities, and promoting integration.

Through a groundbreaking partnership with Africa CDC, supported by the Wellcome Trust, we launched the Africa Mental Health Leadership Programme, equipping leaders across Africa to advocate for sustainable, rights-based mental health systems. CBM Global’s expertise in disability inclusion and mental health ensures a human rights-based approach, fostering collaboration between civil society, OPDs, and governments while promoting innovative solutions to reduce stigma, social exclusion, and abuse.

Reinforcing our commitment to strengthening OPDs, we promoted our Good Practice Guide: Strengthening the Voice of Organisations of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities, capturing key lessons from our work in Africa and Asia.

Expanding our efforts to integrate mental health and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), we advanced research into mental health, stigma and NTDs and began developing guidelines for integrated NTD and mental health care, set to launch in 2025.

Following our role in developing the IASC Information Note on Inclusive MHPSS, we piloted and finalised new training content on inclusive mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), supported by the World Health Organization, which we aim to scale up in 2025, further embedding MHPSS work across our three vehicles of change and humanitarian programming.

“Psychosocial support goes beyond advocacy – it ensures that persons with disabilities lead the conversation. Our voices must be centered, recognizing the value of our lived experiences and expertise. This affirms that persons with disabilities are not just recipients of MHPSS services but also facilitators, service providers, and change-makers. Having a co-facilitator with a disability in training sessions fosters deeper connection, allowing participants with disabilities to resonate with shared experiences and engage with greater confidence. CBM Global’s Disability-Inclusive MHPSS training is a vital initiative that must continue, reinforcing the meaningful participation and leadership of persons with disabilities in shaping a more inclusive and equitable system.” – Shiela May Inmenzo Aggarao, secretary of the Philippines Nationwide Organization of Visually Impaired Empowered Ladies (NOVEL) and co-facilitator of our Inclusive MHPSS pilot training.

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