Friendship Bench awarded winner of the 2025-2026 KBF Africa Prize

____________________

The King Baudouin Foundation awards €250,000 (sh1.1b) to Friendship Bench, a Zimbabwe-founded model partnering with governments and organisations to implement low-cost, fully integrated mental health care worldwide.

The Prize is in recognition of its pioneering work to expand access to affordable, evidence-based mental health care and address the growing global mental health crisis.

Across Africa, mental health remains critically underfunded and underserved. WHO estimates that around 150m people in the region are affected by mental health conditions, with access to services severely limited and unevenly distributed.

In Southern Africa, up to 30% of adults are estimated to experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, yet fewer than 10% receive adequate care, reflecting a significant treatment gap.

Founded in 2006 by Professor Dixon Chibanda, Friendship Bench was created to bridge the mental health treatment gap at a primary care level. It provides mental health support in discreet, safe community spaces, often wooden park benches, bringing care closer to where people live.

The model trains lay health workers (affectionately known as ‘Grandmothers’) to deliver evidence-based talk therapy grounded in basic cognitive behavioural therapy, with an emphasis on problem-solving treatment, behaviour activation and activity scheduling. 

Beyond Zimbabwe, the model has been piloted in countries including Malawi, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, demonstrating its potential to inform community-based mental health approaches in diverse contexts and settings.

In several settings, these pilots are exploring how the model can be adapted to local health systems, including through integration with primary care and community health services.

Clinical evidence shows the model delivers substantial mental health outcomes, with some studies reporting up to an 80% reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as improvements in quality of life and wellbeing.

“Too many people are left without life-saving support due to stigma, cost or distance. Friendship Bench was born out of the urgent need to bring mental health care to where people are. This important recognition from the KBF Africa Prize will allow us to reach thousands more people and help build a world where mental health care is within reach for everyone,” Professor Dixon Chibanda, Founder of Friendship Bench, noted.

The KBF Africa Prize recognises African organisations that are driving locally led, sustainable solutions to the continent’s most pressing challenges.

The Prize plays a catalytic role in helping organisations scale their impact and gain international visibility. Several past laureates, such as Dr Denis Mukwege, Elman Peace and Grameen Bank, have since been awarded or shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize.