Shamiri Institute

Our mission is to provide youths, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and beyond, with evidence-based tools to improve their life outcomes. We believe in a world where youth, anywhere, can actualize their life outcomes. Founded at Harvard and launched in Kenya in 2018, we combine rigorous social science research with deep contextual knowledge of the education and mental healthcare space in SSA and beyond. Since 2018, we've deployed 400 interventions to more than 1600 youths in 10 schools in Kenya. Rigorous gold-standard field experiments show our model works: our intervention reduces depression and anxiety and improves peer relationships and academic performance. In a region where half the population is 19 or younger, our potential for impact is immense. In 2021, we are delivering our in-person group-based intervention, Project Thrive!, to 5,000 students across 25 schools, and delivering our digital intervention, Thrive! Online, to 100,000 Kenyan youths.