The tragedy revealed a stark reality: many young people facing mental health challenges had nowhere to turn for support.
“I saw the gap. I saw the need,” she recalled. “As a young person, I realized that we needed youth-driven solutions to youth mental health challenges.”
Today, the 26-year-old PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge leads the Ndinewe Foundation, a Zimbabwean organization that provides young people with locally and culturally relevant mental health resources, peer support and education.
Nindewe be translated to I’m with youin English.
UN youth leader Tanatswa Amanda Chikaura, 26, is the founder of the Ndinewe Foundation.
“Our main goal is to ensure that young people have the resources and tools they need to not only support themselves, but also to support other people, and to ensure that these tools and resources are locally and culturally relevant,” she said.
For example is the foundation’s main focus through community initiatives, including the sports and mental health initiative, to integrate mental education into sports activities for children and young people.
From local to global
On Friday, Chikaura will join 14 other UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals at UN headquarters for One World, One Game, One Goal, a youth-focused event to be held ahead of the FIFA finals, which will highlight the role of sport in promoting the Sustainable Development Goals.
The assembly will also launch a new youth mental health campaign aimed at encouraging young people around the world to talk openly about mental health, seek support when they need it and look out for each other.
For Chikaura, whose own work combines sports with mental health education, the campaign reflects the same belief that has guided her advocacy from the beginning: that young people themselves must be at the center of designing solutions.
A growing crisis
The need is urgent. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, with most deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
Chikaura noted that Africa is home to the world’s youngest population, making investment in youth mental health particularly critical.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” she said. “Not only to raise awareness of mental health, but to ensure that young people have the tools and resources they need to thrive and live meaningful lives.”
Her academic research also focuses on one of the least understood aspects of mental health: suicide prevention among autistic people.
She said autistic individuals face a significantly higher risk of suicide than non-autistic people, but tailored support remains limited.
To give young people a voice
As one of the UN’s Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals, Chikaura hopes to bring the experiences of young people in Zimbabwe to international decision-makers while advocating for greater investment in mental health.
She warned that mental health continues to receive less than two per cent of many national health budgets despite the scale of the need.
“Adolescent mental health has been neglected for far too long,” she said. “It cannot continue.”
Her goal, she added, is to ensure that every community has access to culturally relevant mental health support so that no youth is prevented from reaching their potential because of mental health challenges.
“It is my hope that young people are able to live and thrive and be the best versions of themselves.”
