Kavli Trust supports new initiative to strengthen child and adolescent mental health in Nepal

The longtime partnership between Kavli Trust and the Strømme Foundation is being carried forward through a new mental health project for children and young people in Nepal.

Text and photo: Nora Geiran Dingstad

Kavli Trust has been working with the Strømme Foundation since 2010, initially by funding the development and distribution of the intensive learning programme Speed School and from 2020, through the rollout of the life skills programme Samvad in several countries.

Read more: Kavli Trust’s partnership with the Strømme Foundation

The foundation is now funding a pilot programme focusing on preventive measures in mental health that aims to empower marginalised children and adolescents in Nepal.

“During the pandemic, it became clear that mental health challenges grew significantly in Nepal, especially among young people. Funding from Kavli Trust made it possible for us to develop a pilot project that addressed these challenges and found local solutions,” explains the project manager for education, Anne Breivik, about the background for the new project.

The programme is based on the recognised ICDP model – International Child Development Programme – developed at a Norwegian university, but adapted and further developed for various countries, including Nepal.

Many of the young people who have been helped by Kavli Trust and the Strømme Foundation through Samvad have become group leaders in the new pilot project.

“We now have a separate initiative focused on mental health funded by Kavli Trust, and starting with the 2024 programme, the Samvad curriculum also includes psychosocial and mental health,” says Breivik.

The project has a funding framework of NOK 7.5 million. Kavli Trust has invited the AKO Foundation to be a match funding partner and the two foundations are each contributing NOK 3.75 million.

With funding from Kavli Trust, the project will be developed and implemented in public schools, self-help groups and local organisations in Nepal alongside the Samvad model. More than 12,000 children, adolescents and their parents will receive guidance, mental health assistance and new and vital knowledge about their own mental health.

Long-standing partnership

Over the past eight years, Kavli Trust has contributed a total of NOK 12 million to establish the Samvad programme in the Lumbini province of Nepal.

Prior to this, Kavli Trust funded a comparable programme in Bangladesh with NOK 7 million over five years.

Kavli Trust has also helped to spread the Samvad model to Myanmar, where the programme has been part of larger development initiatives aimed at entire rural areas.

“Kavli Trust has played a key role in the development of the Samvad programme. Through a long-standing partnership based on mutual trust and dialogue, Kavli Trust has helped to expand and develop the programme, so that thousands of girls have had the opportunity to participate in life skills courses,” says Anne Breivik.

“We are grateful for the partnership with the Strømme Foundation and that we have had the opportunity to help close to 4,500 young people take part in the Samvad programme. This has given them essential life skills and resulted in increased school attendance and an improvement in the living conditions and future prospects of these children and young people. Investing in the education of girls in Nepal means investing in reduced inequality, economic growth and fewer forced marriages,” says Rune Mørland, who is responsible for funding allocations at Kavli Trust, and adds,

“We now look forward to help expand Samvad with the new programme, which is specially aimed at strengthening the mental health of children and young people.”

Facts

• Recipient: Strømme Foundation
• Allocation amount: NOK 3.75 million (match funding with AKO Foundation) Total funding framework of NOK 7.5 million)
• Project period: 2024–2026