Who We Are

Our Mission

REPSSI leads in innovative Mental Health and Psychosocial Support interventions to transform policy and practice for girls, boys and youth in Africa to reach their potential

Our Vision

All girls, boys and youth enjoy psychosocial and mental wellbeing

Our Core Values

Integrity ♥ Collaboration ♥ Excellence Innovation ♥ Diversity

Our Story

The Regional Psychosocial Support Initiatives (REPSSI) is a renowned pan African organisation that has been providing holistic psychosocial care and support to girls, boys and the youth in East and Southern Africa. The organisation was founded in 2002.

Our programmes are spread across 13 countries and aim to respond to the psychosocial, mental health and social protection needs of children and families affected by: HIV and AIDS, conflict, poverty and social strife. Programmes are delivered through partnerships with regional bodies, national governments and non-governmental organisations.

REPSSI is renowned for the development of high quality, evidence-informed psychosocial support tools and resources, which are used globally within programmes and services for children, youth, families and communities.

Through our programmes, children and youth who enjoy psychosocial and mental wellbeing are able to thrive, respond to life’s shocks and challenges and find opportunities in a complex and fast-changing world.

Our Countries of Operation

Angola

Botswana

Eswatini

Kenya

Lesotho

Malawi

Mozambique

Namibia

South Africa

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Our Approach

We believe in creating sustainable partnerships. For the last 18 years, we have maintained a range of partnerships at community, county, regional and international levels. REPSSI works closely with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the African Union as well as with a range of governments, academic institutions, civil society organisations, researchers and mental health professionals. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), REPSSI believes that psychosocial support is a critical enabler for the achievement of all the SDGs.

We execute our programmes using a four-pronged approach:

Research and Material Development

Building capacity and promote evidence based programming models

Influence policy and practice

Build partnerships

Focus Areas

To achieve our goals, we focus on the following areas:

Health and sexual reproductive health rights

We train health practitioners to provide care and protection to all girls, boys and youth through their health services
We support adolescents and young people affected by HIV to learn life skills
We help families to give children infected with HIV love, care and protection
We enhance access to and uptake of sexual and reproductive health and rights for girls, boys and the youth
We provide psychosocial support to families affected by cancer.
We conduct mental health needs assessments; screening and diagnosis and advise on enrolment into appropriate treatment programs.

Protection and sustainable livelihoods

We encourage girls, boys, families and communities to prevent violence against children and to adopt more positive gender norms
We train counsellors for Gender-based violence survivors in techniques to promote healing and recovery of their lives.
We provide interventions for children who are in conflict with the law.
We invest in skilling the social service workforce by developing competence based certificate and diploma training programmes

Education and early childhood development

We train teachers on how to collaborate to provide love, care and protection to learners
We promote the role of mothers and fathers in giving love, care and support for the development of young children.

Disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response

We build family and community resilience and promote protection of the environment and reduce climate change through community dialogues
We build capacity to understand and respond to the social and emotional consequences of disasters and humanitarian emergencies in the region

Our Core Values

REPSSI is guided by and exhibits the following core values in its organisational life and practices:

Integrity

We are committed to fairness, equity, accountability and honesty in our internal and external relationships, communications and transactions.
Collaboration

We value the collective wisdom that emerges when individuals work together as a team both internally and externally.
Excellence

We are committed to the highest professional standards.
Innovation

We are driven by research, learning, and innovation to retain our leadership in psychosocial support. We value indigenous wisdom, knowledge and practices.
Diversity

We believe diversity exhibited by our staff and partners is an asset to our organisation.

What does REPSSI do to help?

Our assistance includes providing easy-to-use, evidence-based and culturally appropriate tools, and sharing innovative approaches. We train partners to provide social and mental health services to children, youth and their families and communities. We also develop activities and tools that can be used with children, youth, communities and families.

Our Impact

Impact in Numbers by 2019:

Total reach

Trainees

Total teachers trained

Students enrolment into the Community Based Work (CBWCY)

Caregivers, police officers, social workers, probation officers and teachers graduated

The REPSSI Mainstreaming Model is a fundamental tool for strengthening psychosocial and mental wellbeing for girls, boys, youth and families within East and Southern Africa.
With this model, REPSSI has achieved significant success harnessing regional and national political commitment, which resulted in development of regional standards and frameworks, changes in national policies, the development of policy frameworks and tools and extensive investment in psychosocial training for the social services workforce.
Leveraging on its practice successes and new knowledge, REPSSI will maintain the gains made and intensify its focus on the children, youth, family and community.