The UNGA 2025 spotlights: A Tanzanian Fight against young people mental health stigma

Think of a teenager in Arusha, curled up under a mosquito net, scrolling through endless feeds that make their worries feel even heavier – the pressure of exams, the sting of unspoken bullying, or that nagging voice saying it's all just 'in their head'. What if one helpline call could turn that isolation into a global shout? That's the spark our Chief Executive, Kiiya Joel Kiiya carried to New York this September 2025, representing C-Sema at UNGA and proving that Tanzania's youth aren't just stats – they're the heartbeat of change.

UNGA week hits Manhattan like a whirlwind: delegates dodging yellow cabs, world leaders swapping handshakes over hurried coffees, and the air thick with big ideas on everything from climate to crises.

Amid it all, Kiiya – wove C-Sema's story into two unmissable spots. First up, from 23 to 25 September, was the Segal Family Foundation's Spotlight Africa bash in Midtown. Picture a cozy corner of the city transformed into an African hub: lively chats on AI shaking up social good, the quiet power of women at the helm, and bursts of art that pulse with the continent's rhythm. Awards went to stars like Nasser Diallo, who's all about firing up young leaders, and Charlotte Iraguha, championing women's rights. As a trusted partner of the foundation, Kiiya didn't just attend – he connected dots, chatting up funders about scaling our helpline from dusty Tanzanian villages to digital frontiers, blending peer support with tech that reaches the hard-to-get spots.

But the real buzz? Kiiya's slot at the United Nations High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-Being on 25 September. With UN security cranked up – early arrivals mandatory for those Special Event Tickets collected at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza – he joined Multistakeholder Panel 2 in Conference Room 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. It was a room full of heavy-hitters: experts, activists, and policymakers hashing out how to outsmart rising mental health woes with smart policies and grassroots grit.

Kiiya didn't hold back, spotlighting C-Sema's 116 Child Helpline and our game-changing Mind Your Mind (MYM) project as lifelines in the making. He painted a picture straight from the data: back in 2023, an online survey by Elimika Wikendi hit home hard – half of kids aged 10 to 24 pinned mental health woes on curses or witchcraft, a myth that kept doors shut on real help. Fast-forward three months into MYM's video blitz, and that stigma dipped to 46%, a solid 12% drop that shows how a few raw, relatable clips can crack open tough conversations.

By November 2024, the digital push had hooked over 4.4 million users, pulling in a 6.2% engagement rate that felt like young people leaning in, saying, 'This is us.' Twitter/X Spaces? Seventy per cent of listeners walked away with fresh eyes after peer stories hit the air, according to snap polls. And our chatbots? Forty per cent of folks dived into survivor tales and straight-up asked for referrals – a quiet revolution in reaching out.The ripple hit our helpline too: mental health calls soared from 19% to 44%, a whopping 25% jump, fielding over 600 youth cases in the thick of it. Places where our radio jingles hummed saw calls spike compared to the quiet zones, proving you need that multi-channel mix to make waves. Even offline, through the FMF school programme, we reached 11,968 students in 2024, boosting their confidence by 12% – enough to shatter taboos on everything from periods to panic attacks.

Kiiya wove in global nods too, like how the UK's Online Safety Act – live since July 2025 – is flipping the script on digital dangers. By forcing platforms such as X, Facebook, and TikTok to run kid-focused risk checks, slap on age verifies like facial scans, and scrub harmful posts before they spread, it's easing the load on families. Echoing that, MYM calls for African innovators to bake mental health safeguards into every app and ad, turning tech from trigger to tool.

Those New York moments? Pure electricity – fist-bumps in the corridors, ideas bouncing like pinballs, and that electric hum when someone's story lands just right. As Kiiya put it in the panel, "These aren't cold figures from a helpline; they're warm threads of hope, weaving a safety net for a generation ready to thrive."

Now, with UNGA's echoes still ringing, C-Sema's geared up to roll these wins into action: hunting fresh funding streams, training waves of peer counsellors, and looping in governments to stretch MYM further. It's not about grand gestures – it's the everyday wins that add up, helping one more kid hit dial and find their voice. Who's next?

Prepared by C-Sema's Communications Team