CAHSS SFC ODA Global Challenges Internal Fund

(£50,000) GCRF grant. "Strong minds, strong lives: Building enduring partnerships through co-design of a rural mental health service and research strategy"

Mental health service provision for children and young people in rural Malawi is an area of urgent need for highly vulnerable communities. The purpose of this project is to lay the foundations for improving access to mental health services by bringing together key stakeholders to (i) identify both need and gaps in service (ii) to potentiate currently available services through knowledge exchange; and (iii) to lay the foundations for future partnership work in research, policy and practice. This work will be supported by a systematic review of the research and policy literature. By engaging service providers and researchers through the use of networking meetings, focus groups and interviews, locally grounded data will be collected and place-based solutions identified. Investment in this more time intensive methodology will also result in stronger strategic partnerships within the clinical, academic and civic communities. This will be critical for planned outcomes including a GCRF Collective grant bid to progress the necessary research work. Success in this will depend upon catalysing the development of enduring interdisciplinary partnerships between UoE and Malawian partners. Future translational outcomes