Call for Development Partners to Support Mental Health Development

IMI Founder, Father Luzindana (Leader of Catholics Youth Department in Uganda) and Rotarian Eddie Mutebi (Director, Union of Community Development Volunteers -Uganda) in a Partnership Meet 2016

Integrated Mental Health Initiative (IMI) was started in 2015 as a community based organisation  that designs, integrates and applies programs that promote mental wellbeing.

It would be a great pleasure for us and our beneficiaries if you shared information about this organisation with humanitarian foundations and ministries as well as development students and workers to support this organisation, which applies psychological approaches  for mental wellbeing, peace and development. And also develop ways to strengthen peace and development initiatives through sustainable efforts.

We are supporting this organisation to succeed in Uganda and Africa. We also welcome volunteers who can come, support, and give it a stronger foundation. You can also like our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/integratedmentalhealthinitiative
Or
www.integratedmhi.blogpot.ug

We will be grateful if you helped promote it there and in case we are needed there to come learn from you or share our expertise, or otherwise wish to hear more information from us, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Call for partnership and collaboration

Dear Venerable, Professor, Dr./Mr./Ms./Sir./Madamme;

We hope this email finds you well, as we write to call on you to partner with us in our grassroots development endeavors.

You were identified in the course of finding potential partners, using both our established networks and further learning about you in our development research and activities.

We thought you could join us in our efforts towards strengthening capacity and rebuilding lives in Africa and wanting places elsewhere in the world.

At Integrated MentaI Health Initiative (IMI), we amass effort and actions designed to address specific mental health challenges at different levels of human functioning, so as to reduce vulnerability, accelerate healing for the mentally-challenged and support sustainable mental wellbeing. Our work currently in Uganda, but with various modes of reaching beneficiaries in the countryside, region and across the world, which we believe can have a great impact in future.

We are pleased to have learned about various wellness traditions, oriented, inducted and had them integrated in our operations. These mainly include: eastern, western and African traditions. We are happy to share that, we experienced intriguing results on not only human mental well-functioning as a person, but also mental wellness in a person’s functioning within the natural and manmade environments. These, we were incorporated in our work to suit the different needs of people that we meet; local or foreign. It was a revitalizing listening to messages of peace from distinguished leaders in associated with the mental health sector from around the world. And through that, we hope we can achieve a world where everyone is well, happy and peaceful.

Through our approach and design of interventions, we have brought hope, built faith, and supported our beneficiaries to realize and discover themselves, and adjust to different changes as they happen in their lives. This experience, in turn, makes us happy, and is what keeps us going, even in far many resource-limiting conditions we work in.

To achieve that, we explore and use well our unique experiences on top of what we learn from our work and existing experiences. But also look for partners, colleagues and friends who make themselves available to support in whatever way possible or offer equipment and leadership support, when they find such needs.

Currently, we partner with School of Psychology,Makerere University; individual practitioners from Department of Psychiatry, Makerere University and Butabika Mental Teaching Hospital; individual practitioners; Union of Community Development Volunteers (UCDV); Ecological Christian Organisation(ECO); Medicare Professional Clinical Officer’s College; Ministry of Gender and Welfare; and District Local Government Offices. And we are always open to receive new partners, friends, peers, parents, brothers and sisters in our cause. You can like us by clicking ‘like’:www.facebook.com/integratedmentalhealthinitiative and find more information on the website:www.integratedmhi.org.

As such, we have been wondering how best to continue contributing to mental wellness and peace as basis on general human and ecological wellbeing at local level as much as international stage in different ways; to share experiences, expertise, collaborate in research undertakings and input with and/or from international scholars and practitioners to improve my work in Africa. And on how you can contribute those endeavors.

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We are wondering too how to become part of your development part, as to other organizations and benefit as such, especially, for the purposes of deepening expertise and professionalism on integrated mental health (extended mental health) and its application, supporting research and publications, community and leadership engagements, and online—based outreaches (website development and maintenance), building toilets for poor families, supporting the disabled and elderly people with clean water and medicine, proper housing, supporting skills development among children and youths for sustainable peace, support poor families with clothes, basic education, reading materials, relief supplies, and support to continue participating in forth coming workshops and future activities with practitioners and development partners around the world.

Our clients can further gain from the books distribution, vocation tools, equipment for practice, publishing and promotion of activities, and volunteer (as teachers, facilitators, and mentors - who can been encouraged to regularly come here to perform with communities we service activities that reduce vulnerability, bring hope and healing, and inspires them to aspire securely into an Africa and life they want to see and live in.

We believe and are confident that our partnership, collaboration, active participation and working with you will help build strong solidarity with you so we can help make the world a better place to see, feel better about and to live in, and achieve development and peace –as suggested by the sustainability millennium development goals (SDGs).  Equally, very useful, you can recommend us or talk to someone about us, since there are always individuals, groups, families, companies, organizations, embassies and nations that time and again are so eager to support others and share their love, compassion and happiness.

In case of any questions, comment or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us using the address above.

We look forward to working with you.

With Metta/In Service;

Jacob Waiswa Buganga (BCPsy.,MAPCs. &  Cert.  Homebased Care)

Founder, IMI.‎

Reaching Vulnerable Children Through Health and Education

Over the years (10) I have selflessly and compassionately contributed towards the welfare of children and community. I left the comfort of my family’s wealth and responsibilities as assets manager to transform the lives of most neglected sections of the community –focusing on the children using youth power. 

A community-based approach was employed, where if a community got empowered, the children followed. Both the out-of-school and in-school children reached were 49, 000 and 78 youths, who worked as change agents. The water-source projects were run side-by-side with environment health education, lessons on health decision-making and activities (involving tree planting, hand-washing, use and distribution of mosquito nets, and promotions of donor-supported immunization exercises, family planning, and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention) in schools and community. 120 schools in 60 different communities directly benefited. Through a community development agency founded and run by me (Union of Community Development Volunteers –UCDV). My work helped to improve safe-water access and use, to scale-up prevention of the most common diseases among children (for example: diarrhea, cholera, malaria, and dysentery). 

While supporting the healthy development of children on one hand, the youths were being empowered on the other hand –with knowledge about their potential and practical skills. Acquired skills brought them income they much-needed to improve their welfare and self-managed projects for sustainable livelihoods. The youth effort under my leadership helped to create socioeconomic and health structures for children to survive and thrive.

While the youth (most of whom had children) were between the ages of 16 and 30), the children in question were from 5 and 18. It is worth reporting though that the programs went as far as helping the in-born and the less-than-5 to thrive parented by the volunteer program youths. 

Partners in that area of work were: local government department, community leaders, and internal and local non-government organizations –mainly with interest in volunteerism for community development such as the Uganda Water and Sanitation Networks (UWASNET), United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Volunteer Service Organization (VSO), and the National Volunteers Association. The partnerships were never in vain; instead they won me confidence, courage, and funding for UCDV –an umbrella under which I now work. 

More of such partnerships and networks are needed. In fact, the rewards from them now compels me to rethink the current partnership policy to include other organizations (non-volunteer based) and development agencies –with interests in children rights and advocacy, public health development, environment conservation, education, and poverty eradication. Strengthening structures for continuity of UCDV programs and replicating benefits to other vulnerable communities in the countryside has been his immediate need which from experience and drive the future is bright. 

By

Mutebi Eddie,

Executive Director,

Union Of Community Development Volunteers
Block 26, Plot 842, Professor Apolo Nsibambi Road, Bulange Zone 'A'
P.O. Box 35792, Kampala - Uganda
Telephone: +256 414 690 897
Mobile: +256 782 713 500