The Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Summit has emerged as one of the region’s most important platforms for addressing youth well-being. This year’s gathering at Whitesands Hotel, Mombasa, hosted by our partners LVCT Health, focused on the theme “Investing in Young Minds for Accessible and Youth-Led Solutions.” It brought together mental health experts, government bodies, grassroots organisations and youth leaders from across East Africa to spotlight a critical reality: while young people face growing mental health challenges, the resources and safe spaces to support them remain limited.

The event featured contributions from a wide range of organisations working at the intersection of youth and mental health, including Tackle, Grassroot Soccer, SOS Children’s Villages, Pwani Youth Network, Vijana Amani Pamoja and Moving the Goalposts, alongside government representatives and practitioners from the health and education sectors. The diversity of voices underscored that mental health is not an isolated issue - it touches education, sport, community empowerment and livelihoods.

DBA Africa was honoured to be one of the few sports organisations represented at the summit, highlighting how sport can and should play a role in the mental health conversation. DBA’s Pius D.Shiundu joined a panel on “How Sport Fosters Resilience, Emotional Well-being, and Community Belonging”. In his session, Pius shared how DBA Africa’s programmes go far beyond the game - creating safe, structured spaces, primed for youth development, where young people can build character, confidence and belonging. Through rugby and community engagement, DBA is helping to address psychosocial challenges early, giving children and adolescents tools to navigate hardship and unlock their potential. As Pius emphasised, “for DBA Africa, sport is a powerful tool for change.”

The CAMH Summit reinforced the urgency of collective action in tackling youth mental health, and DBA Africa was honoured to be part of this important dialogue, it was also an opportunity to show the unique value sport brings to this space, standing alongside peer organisations in health, education and community development.

Looking ahead, DBA Africa remains committed to investing in the mental well-being of the next generation, building partnerships that integrate sport into the broader mental health ecosystem. By working with networks like LVCT Health and fellow youth-focused organisations, DBA continues to prove that the future of adolescent health and empowerment will be achieved not alone, but through collaboration with sport as a unifying force for change.