PDO Kenya is a user-led organisation dedicated to making mental health care more accessible, through service provision, advocacy and education.

Though open to all, they focus particularly on reaching marginalized communities with no other recourse to care, such as vulnerable adolescents, prison populations, sex workers and people living with HIV. Through their Pamoja Initiative, PDO trains volunteers and specialists to provide free mental health services. They also provide psychosocial support to health workers using fun and creative methods, such as dance workshops.

What Others Can Learn

PDO are incredibly successful at recruiting and retaining volunteers to support their work and further their reach.

Partnership With Ember

At the start of our partnership, PDO had begun getting recognition for their work, but were struggling to secure funds. Our goal together was to help overcome this challenge.

We started by building a fundraising strategy around PDO’s objectives, and strengthening skills in grant writing. Then we worked to capture the impact that PDO was having, by developing an efficient monitoring and evaluation framework suited to the needs of the already-stretched team, and producing infographics showcasing their achievements

Then we focused on widening PDO’s network beyond Kenya. We brokered a relationship between PDO and Altro Foundation that resulted in their receiving funds to create a mobile Wellness Lounge, a youth-friendly travelling mental health clinic, fitted with a telepsychiatry unit to enable real-time connection to high quality mental health care specialists worldwide.