Community Mental Health Nursing in Kenya: Evaluation and Policy (2025W UBC-Based)

This program is part of the Global Experiential Education Program (GEEP) and is informed by ORICE values. GEEP aims to strengthen the bridge between classroom learning (theory) and application (practice) to address pressing global issues, in this community-based praxis initiative. Students who participate in GEEP can participate in experiential education projects designed and led by global community partners.

Details at a Glance

Application Deadline: September 14th, 2025 (11:59PM)

• Program Type: Co-curricular (Not-for-credit)
• Engagementship Type: Community-Engaged Research Project in collaboration with Kamili Organisation
• Engagementship Location: 2025W In-person, UBC-Based
• Duration: 8 months starting in September 2025
• Eligibility: Open to UBC-V Undergraduate (60+ credits) & Graduate students (more details below)

Project Description

Background

For 11 years, Kamili Organisation has been offering scholarships for qualified general nurses to come to Kamili for specialized training in mental health. Selected nurses, pursuing further education in mental health nursing with Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) are provided a scholarship that includes a 1 week intensive training on the Kamili model – a community based approach that aims to provide mental health care at a primary level health facility, making services accessible, affordable and sustainable. The newly trained nurses return back to their place of work around the country and become part of a growing network of Kamili-trained nurses with a mental health specialization. This network now comprises 156 nurses in 44 of 47 counties across Kenya. Once trained, the network supports one another and has access to the staff at Kamili for guidance, receives site visits from Kamili leadership and participates in annual training and network development activities. During the 2024 winter semesters, Kamili and ORICE partnered to begin the process of developing an evaluation to understand the impacts of this program on the nurses and their service provision. In August 2025, two students went to Kenya to engage in person with Kamili to gain a stronger understanding of the organizational context and goals. 

Current Project

Kamili Organisation is midway through developing an evaluation to understand the impacts of this training for selected nurses once they return to their home site of work. Kamili would like to understand the facilitators, barriers and impacts the nurses experience when bringing their specialized knowledge to their practice site. The purpose of this evaluation is both to inform the current program and to develop evidence to influence policy at multiple levels/sites in Kenya.

Students joining the 8 month engagementship (September 2025 – April 2026) will remotely continue the work completed with previous cohorts with a student team of 4-6 students to prepare, implement, analyze and document the findings of the evaluation. Activities associated with this project will include a full review of the research and draft evaluation materials developed to date, refining evaluation tools with the partner, project planning, implementation protocols, evaluator training materials, data cleaning, analysis, final report writing/policy brief and contributions to grant applications for related programs.

Learn more about previous students’ experiences working with Kamili on page 16 of ORICE’s 2024/2025 Annual Report.

Organization Details

Kamili Organisation provides affordable mental health services via 30+ clinics across Kenya. Our model clinic in Nairobi provides: accurate diagnosis, treatment, support to patients and their families and psychosocial care in the form of education. Kamili also regularly works with the local community to raise awareness about the symptoms and stigma associated with mental health.

Project Timeline

Over a period from September 2025  to April 2026,  the selected team of students will spend 3-5 hours weekly working collaboratively to complete the project. Students will be asked to participate in weekly scheduled in-person meetings (on the UBC Vancouver Campus) to ensure collaboration and accountability goals are defined and met. However, the remainder of the allotted time will be self-directed or in small work teams as per agreements with teammates.

More Information