Shamiri

This is about impact and evidence. In a 2021 JAMA Psychiatry RCT of 413 students (ages 13–18) with elevated symptoms in Nairobi and Kiambu, depression fell 44% at 4 weeks and 38% at 7 months; anxiety fell 48% and 45%. 80% of youth with elevated symptoms moved below the clinical threshold. The comparison group showed similar but smaller effects but was not a true control – students received study-skills sessions – so the study may understate the effect. Durability beyond 7 months and effects versus a treatment-as-usual are unknown. To scale via government, Shamiri must show school outcomes; preliminary data shows a half-letter grade improvement in academic outcomes, but more rigorous data is coming soon.

This is about scope. 50% of youth in Sub-Saharan Africa are facing mental health problems . In Kenya alone, 5M youth suffer from mental health disorders without sufficient resources or expertise to meet their needs. There’s still a lot of mental health related social stigma, but Shamiri’s curriculum is focused more on growth mindset, gratitude, and values. This relatively short weekly, 4-week intervention can be delivered in any public high school setting in Kenya. Shamiri has reached ~213K youth across 10 counties, demonstrating the model works in urban, peri-urban, and rural settings.

This is about whether the government can deliver the model. Shamiri has directly replicated their model across 10 counties in Kenya. The curriculum is straightforward and well-developed. Delivery of the curriculum depends entirely on the quality of recruited Shamiri Fellows and oversight provided by Supervisors. This part of the model has more variability and can be resource intensive (training + supervision). They’re testing what it would take for teachers and the county government to take over some of these responsibilities. This includes testing: supervisor-to-fellow ratios,  tailored training approaches, and using AI to simplify and improve training and supervision.

This is about what the model costs if delivered and paid for by the government. It costs Shamiri $7/student to deliver this intervention. They are testing what price point (likely ~$3/student) and framing of the intervention makes it attractive for the Ministry of Education and parents to pay. Early willingness to pay analysis suggests most parents would pay ~$2 for mental health support for their kids. They are experimenting with two technology platforms that should drive costs down further: shamiriOS, a backend platform for streamlining operations, and shamiriAI, a tool to reduce supervisory burden while maintaining fidelity.