Community partners

Zion is the Founder and President of the Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative (MHEI), advocating for implementation of the Mental Health Act 2021 of the National Assembly and Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria. He collaborates with the Mental Health Associations in Nigeria and Nigerian Medical Association.

Zion leads national projects for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the EU-ACT program, and the British Council in Nigeria. He also spearheaded and convened the Association of Mental Health Reform Organizations in Africa (AMHROA), a network spanning 15 African countries with over 160 members. Zion currently consults with United for Global Mental Health in the UK.

He takes pride in being a community partner on the R-NEET project, which aims to empower disadvantaged youths, promote youth mental health, and enhance community well-being.

Matteo Bergamini is the founder and CEO of Shout Out UK, a social enterprise providing impartial political and media literacy training. He was honoured with an MBE for his services to charity, social enterprise, and education. Matteo serves on NewsGuard’s Board of News Literacy Advisors Meta’s EU Digital Working Group, and the Editorial Board for The Digital Citizenship Map. He has participated in various anti-disinformation campaigns, including the Channel 4 Youth Leaders’ Debate and APPG on Political Literacy. Matteo was added to the Forbes Under 30 Social Impact list (2021).

Mental health issues amongst young people are a growing global concern. To address this, we must first understand what builds mental resilience in the digital context. I am proud to be supporting this ground-breaking R-NEET research as a community partner.

Cassey started at The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) over 18 years ago as a volunteer telephone counsellor. Later, she ran the Call Center and Press, and currently is Operations Director and Board Member. Cassey represents SADAG at national and international conferences, press and media interviews, workshops and advocacy projects to help fight for patients’ rights and destigmatize mental health. This includes the Teen Suicide Prevention School Programme, Rural Outreach Projects, Support Groups, Responsible Reporting initiatives, Mental Health in the Workplace and advocacy projects (e.g., the Life Esidimeni crisis).

SADAG is proud to be part of such a monumental research project – first of its kind in Africa – especially because R-NEET focuses on young people who are our future. We get to learn so much through this process on how to better help and support youth.

Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface is a West African from Nigeria’s Kabangha community (Ogoniland), Rivers State. He is an environmental justice activist, human rights defender, and Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), Nigeria.

Mr Dumnamene is very excited to be an R-NEET community partner, as the project offers him the opportunity to engage and leverage his vast network of volunteers on different platforms in communities across the Niger Delta. This will enable him to recruit eligible study participants, as well as foster increased community support for and uptake of the R-NEET study, and empowerment in the region.

Makananelo Makape is the Programme Manager for Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI), South Africa. Makananelo is also an accredited assessor and moderator with the Health and Welfare Sector Education Training Authority (HWSETA) and holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand. Her passion is working with young people and communities and adapting innovative methodologies that work to improve their wellbeing.

By participating in the R-NEET study, REPSSI directly benefits the communities they work in, including raising awareness about depression and resilience, potentially leading to better prevention and treatment strategies.

Celeste is the Country Director at Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI), South Africa. She is a psychologist by training and uses her skill set to advance the provision of mental health and psychosocial support services to victims of violence and human rights abuses. Passionate about community-based psychosocial support services, she has provided capacity building, supervision and mentorship to community-based lay and volunteer counsellors in SA, Sudan, the Gambia and Guinea. She has also co-developed various online curricula and facilitated workshops with human rights actors and psychosocial support practitioners from the Philippines, Africa and the Middle East.

Participating in the R-NEET study will further advance the above interests and uncover critical insights for better prevention and treatment strategies.