January 2023 — On October 10^th 2022, the international community celebrated World Mental Health Day — a day to recognize the importance of global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. In South Africa, there are currently 116,677 registered U-Reporters, with 54% of reporters between the ages of 20 and 24. U-Report has proven to be a useful tool for understanding the needs of young people on a range of topics including Sexual and Reproductive Health, Mental Health, and Climate Change. The results of these polls have been increasingly picked up by the media, demonstrating a keen interest among the public in their findings.

On November 11^th 2022, SABC News wrote an article on the U-Report Mental Health poll results. 73% of the respondents felt the need for mental health support in the last 12 months. However, 62% of the reporters said that they did not seek any help. In addition, 35% of youth in South Africa said they did not seek help because they did not know where to go to get support. For those that did seek help, 41% chose to go to a doctor or healthcare professional. This feedback from South African youth U-Reporters shows that certain groups of young people are increasingly aware of their mental health needs and interested in seeking support, although they are not always aware of the resources available.

It is critical that UNICEF provides resources that address the needs of adolescents and young people in receiving mental health information, counseling and referrals. The IoGT Mental Health package helps to fill this gap in resources by providing reliable information to youth on topics such as Understanding Mental Health, Self-Care Tips and Depression & Anxiety.

In response to one of the Mental Health poll questions, South African youth reported feelings of anxiety around the need for working skills, training and employment. This response directly reflects the findings of the UNICEF ESARO 2022 Human Centered Design (HCD) research with field activities in South Africa and Tanzania, as ‘Learning to Earning’ (L2E) topics are a top priority across all demographics of young people that are out of school or engaged in higher education/learning.

The HCD research also found that regardless of gender or education level, entrepreneurship and skills-building were a top priority among those who were in university or had just graduated. In South Africa, young people expressed a need for good guidance and mentorship on how to navigate artistic and unconventional career paths which are amplified by the digital era. Many young people felt that there was a scarcity of selfless mentors willing to nurture their skills without wanting something in return that would place their entrepreneurial dreams at great risk.

It is evident that L2E content has become a major priority for young people in ESAR. Accordingly, the ESAR SBC and EDU Team has developed a L2E Digital toolkit for COs that are interested in using digital platforms like U-Report and Internet of Good Things (IoGT) in their L2E programming.

Link to UNICEF South Africa tweet