In December 2023, I had the honour to become a part of the UNLEASH global family when I was selected to participate in the fully funded global innovation lab.
UNLEASH is a global innovation programme for young leaders to develop solutions for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. They run a scholarship programme to receive full funding to participate in the programme.
In the land of a thousand hills in Kigali, Rwanda, I met 1000 other young, ambitious, global changemakers from 136 different nations. It’s difficult to express exactly how special that environment is.
I worked on Sustainable Development Goal 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing. With my team, I worked on a solution focused on the urgent mental health need in a Burundian refugee camp.
There is currently no system in place to provide long term care and specialised care to the 15,000 young Burundian refugees there. We asked refugees living in this camp about their situation – they are asked once about their mental health when they arrive in Rwanda, but there are no mental health professionals in Mahama camp to conduct follow up mental health assessments and in the whole 13 million population in Burundi, there are only 3 psychiatrists. With three quarters suffering from anxiety disorders, around 60% having PTSD and depression, this is a mental health crisis and there is urgent need for long term care.
From our informal interviews with those in the camp, we identified their needs and used the UNLEASH methodology for developing innovative solutions, we developed a prototype to connect Burundian psychiatrists with those who need them.
It is one of the most inspiring, ambitious and passionate environments I have had the honour to be in. I am grateful to the entire UNLEASH team and everyone who made this opportunity possible in this beautiful country.
I’m excited to see the positive change in the world from the 175 innovative solutions created during the lab.
Preeti Kaur 