In June Shayni Geffen, SAFMH’s Advocacy Lead, was invited to attend a stakeholder event hosted by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) to discuss the PAMHoYA project.
This project (short for Platform for the Harmonisation of Youth Mental Health Data in South Africa) aims to harmonise fragmented mental health datasets for young people aged 15–24—pulling together data that’s often scattered across studies, sectors, and systems.
More about the event can be read here.
As part of the event, Shayni was invited to share reflections on two framing questions:
Question 1: From your advocacy work, what data gaps are most concerning when it comes to youth mental health?
A concerning data gap in youth mental health in South Africa isn’t whether young people need support – we already know they do. The real gap lies in data on service delivery: what consistent and quality mental health services are available to young people, including young people living with mental health conditions? How are these services working? What are the budgets set aside by provinces for their mental health youth services?
Several NGOs have published pamphlets about their work with young people and mental health, and we need the same transparency for our health services, published by our departments of health.
This information should be publicly accessible and transparent.
Secondly, we need data on how to scale up what’s already working. A great example is the pilot project in the Khayelitsha Eastern Substructure in Cape Town led by Dr Stella Mokitimi, where the clinic has made room – literally and figuratively – for children and adolescents in mental health care. They’ve dedicated spaces, trained nurses, and created youth-specific service days. What’s missing is a platform to share and replicate such local successes across districts.
In short:
- Let’s track not just who needs services, but what services are actually being provided and how well they’re working; and
- Let’s ensure data is used meaningfully to drive change, not just sit in reports.
Question Two: From your advocacy work, how can organisations and institutions be held more accountable to what youth data actually shows?
Holding institutions accountable to what youth mental health data shows, or even what they are assigned as per our policies, is very challenging. It is something I am still figuring out, and I would love to hear from our government colleagues present today about what productive ways advocacy organisations can be more accountable. From our advocacy work, two priorities stand out.
First, we need clear focal points and public reporting mechanisms. For example, Objective 4 of the National Mental Health Policy Framework’s strategic states that there should be “units attached to regional hospitals to have facilities for child and adolescent mental health inpatient care for voluntary, assisted and involuntary care.” We should then be able to know who exactly is responsible for this at the provincial or district level? If there isn’t someone who has been assigned to this, what is being done to address this?
Without this clear signposting and transparent information, it’s very difficult for civil society or young people to engage meaningfully, let alone hold institutions and government who have been tasked with this to be their responsibility to account.
Second, I’ve seen how powerful storytelling can be in advocacy. Data can tell us what is happening, but it is often the lived experiences of young people—shared with honesty and courage—that move decision-makers to act. Stories remind us that this isn’t just about numbers, but about lives, choices, and futures. That’s why we invest so much into our youth forum – to shape the policies and programmes of tomorrow.
Ultimately, accountability must come from both sides: institutions must make transparent, trackable commitments (including budget lines), and civil society and youth advocates must help keep those commitments visible and alive.
If you have ideas on how NGOs can better partner with government to strengthen accountability, please do get in touch—we would love to hear and learn from you.
