Enabling youth to lead mental health advocacy: the case of the Philippines

The paper presents a case of a civil society initiative that enables youth to lead advocacy campaigns to strengthen mental health governance in the Philippines. It begins by presenting how youth in the Philippines are affected by mental health issues and a quick review of government policies. It then shares the experience of and lessons from PRO-Health, a civil society health rights initiative, which is collaborating with the largest student organization in the country, the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP), to organize youth to lead advocacies to improve mental health governance. Particularly, it shows why and how young people should lead mental health advocacy, focusing on the kind of evidence that can be generated, how the capacities of youth can be enhanced, and the importance of multi-level and multi-sectoral linkages in youth organizing for accountability. The paper ends by discussing the Youth on Mental Health Assemblies being convened that have formulated a youth-led and youth-centered mental health agenda.