A delegation from the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA), together with researchers of the Navigating Educational Pressures and Stressors (NEPS) Project, has paid a courtesy call on the Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST) as part of a three-day Ghana site visit.
The visit formed part of SFA’s ongoing engagement with the NEPS project team to review implementation progress, assess alignment with project objectives and strengthen institutional collaboration.
The NEPS Project is a 42-month multi-country initiative funded under the Science for Africa Foundation’s BEING Initiative, an international mental health programme aimed at improving the wellbeing of young people aged between 12 and 24.
Implemented across Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, the project explores how educational pressures, poverty, stigma and other social stressors shape adolescent mental health while developing evidence-based interventions and practical support systems to improve student wellbeing in schools.
The Ghana site visit also provided an opportunity for SFA representatives, who travelled from Kenya, to engage directly with the NEPS research team and introduce themselves to university leadership while reviewing the project’s operational and financial progress.
Speaking during the engagement, the Programme Manager of the Science for Africa Foundation, Mr. Byron Bitanihirwe, explained that the visit was intended to provide support and ensure that the project remained aligned with the terms of its funding agreement.
“We are here within a support capacity to ensure that what the NEPS project is actually developing aligns with the contract that they signed. We just wanted to get a bit more clarity in terms of certain aspects,” he said.
Mr. Bitanihirwe noted that many of the concerns and queries raised during the review sessions had been addressed and that the Foundation would compile a report to guide the next phase of implementation.
“I think a lot of the queries that we put forth to them have now been addressed. We are going to develop a report just to ensure that there is alignment in terms of our expectations moving ahead,” he stated.
He further encouraged the research team to maintain open communication with the Foundation and reach out whenever they encountered challenges requiring support.
Providing further insight into the purpose of the visit, Principal Investigator of the NEPS Project, Professor Obed Brew, said the SFA team had undertaken a comprehensive review of the project’s progress, including its financial management and implementation activities.
“They have looked at a lot of things from the work which we have done and have done an assessment in comparison with our budget and our spend, and as of yesterday, they concluded that they are satisfied with what it is they have so far seen with regards to our to-be-spent activities,” he said.
The Ghana Lead for the NEPS Project, Professor Daniel Ansong, said the engagement had also served as a source of motivation for the team and reinforced confidence in the project’s direction.
“They have also given us a lot of encouragement to be able to push on and we have good KNUST representatives that are supporting this thing so we hope to be very successful,” he said.
Receiving the delegation, the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Professor Christian Agyare, reaffirmed the university’s commitment to the success of the project and emphasized the need to ensure that its outcomes extend beyond the life of the grant.
“What I can say is that on behalf of the management of the university being led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Akosua Rita Dickson, we are committed to the project and whatever we can do to make sure that we execute the project,” he said.
Professor Agyare stressed the importance of scaling up the project’s interventions and findings to benefit wider society and the higher education sector across Ghana and the sub-region.
“It’s not just us having the project completed and then everything stays within. I think that responsibility of scaling it up is very key,” he added.
Senior Counsellor at the KNUST Counselling Centre, Mrs. Victoria De-graft Adjei noted that the Centre was particularly encouraged by the project’s focus on young people and the intersection between poverty, educational pressures and mental wellbeing.
“Mental health is a public health issue and it cuts across every aspect of society and knowing that NEPS is looking at the young ones and how poverty and educational pressures affect them especially when it comes to their mental health. We are so happy to be part of the team and we are also assuring that we will do all that we need to do to make this project a success,” she said.
The delegation also paid a courtesy call on the Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Education to express appreciation for facilitating the team’s engagement with students across selected schools in the metropolis.
As part of the site visit, the team visited St. Louis Senior High School to interact with students and introduce them to the objectives of the NEPS project.
The delegation later held discussions with the KNUST Counselling Centre to review its contributions to the project and explore plans for developing a Mental Health Training Manual as part of the project’s implementation.
