Nivishe Foundation

Amisa is the Founder and Executive Director of the Nivishe Foundation, a non-profit organisation working to provide grassroots community-based mental health interventions, innovations and approaches. Amisa ensures that Nivishe’s approach is culturally sensitive to mental health in the African context, decolonising practices and designing interventions for local relevance to ensure that implementation is collaborative rather than imposed. The Nivishe Foundation works with community radio stations, using local languages to reach its target audience on topics surrounding mental health and its impact on communities. It also offers pro bono therapy services primarily to women, girls, and young people in informal settlements in Kenya. Additionally, the initiative works with marginalised communities in the country, including the Nubian community of which Amisa is a member.

Amisa attended the One Young World Summit in Manchester, 2022, which gave her a global perspective that has continued to impact her work. Amisa learned about more health interventions and practices through networking with fellow Delegates and attending mental health panels at the Summit.

The Nivishe Foundation reaches 5,000 women and 10,000 young people through its community-based mental health interventions. The organisation reports a 40% increase in people better positioned to seek mental health support as a result of its radio programmes and community outreach. Additionally, it has trained 320 mental health fellows on counselling, mental health, neuroscience and psychology. Fellows are tasked with designing a specific community-based mental health intervention as part of the fellowship programme in their own communities, and must reach at least 200 community members. Through this programme, the Nivishe Foundation has impacted an additional 64,000 people indirectly.

“Attending the Summit gave me exposure. My work is local, so by attending several mental health sessions and interacting with other Delegates working on the field about the interventions they were using, I was able to learn from them and gain a global understanding.”