Partnership With the Carter Center Empowers Journalists to Uncover the Impacts of Climate Change on Youth Mental Health Globally

By Mai El Shoush
Partnerships Campaign Manager, SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Child Mind Institute

“Nothing about us, without us.”

This is the fundamental principle that drives the mission of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute. It’s woven into every aspect of our work — research, cultural adaptation, implementation strategies, and alliances — as we continue to advance youth mental health care.

Our partnership with The Carter Center, a nongovernmental organization where advancing human rights and improving global mental health care are among the top priorities, further exemplifies this principle. The partnership began in 2024 through the SNF Global Center’s Global Fellows Program and was inspired by the successful Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism program – founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1996.

Through the Carter Center’s Climate Change Mental Health Fellowship focused on the intersection with climate change, the two-year SNF Global Center Communicator Fellowship examines the impacts of climate change on mental health in communities across low and middle-income countries (LMICs). It also provides journalists with the resources, mentorship, and networking needed to continue to report and raise awareness on child and adolescent mental health needs in climate-vulnerable communities. The SNF Global Center is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation as part of its Global Health Initiative (GHI).

The goals of the Fellowship include:

• Equip journalists with the tools needed to produce high-quality work that reflects an understanding of mental health.
• Develop a diverse cohort of better-informed journalists who can more effectively report on mental health across evolving and emerging platforms.

The intent is to amplify youth and community voices, raise critical awareness and information gaps, strengthen media coverage, and redirect essential resources towards mental health needs.

“The Carter Center is excited to continue working with The Child Mind Institute to provide opportunities for additional insights on climate change,” says Karen Ladley, EdD, senior associate director of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism & Media. “Through high-quality and responsible storytelling, we hope these stories raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on mental health, showcase the need for readily available mental health services and practitioners, and destigmatize the experience of seeking mental health treatments or support.”

In low-and middle-income countries, where climate shocks are most severe and mental health resources are extremely scarce, the need to bring visibility to these challenges through journalism is even more critical. Globally, many countries have only a handful of mental health professionals for entire populations, leaving climate-related distress unrecognized and untreated.

Over the past three decades, the Carter Center has worked with more than 300 journalists from around the world.

“In the reporting completed so far, our journalists have covered extreme flooding and extreme drought, opposite conditions that have both caused families to lose their homes, as well as their access to food, education, and healthcare,” says Ladley. “On the other side of the spectrum, reporting on climate change and mental health touches on feelings of eco-anxiety, grief, and climate distress, which grows increasingly among young people and vulnerable groups.”

Journalist Avit Ndayiziga from Bujumbura, Burundi, was named as the inaugural 2024 Communicator Fellow. Hammad Sarfraz from Karachi, Pakistan was announced as the 2025 Fellow. Both journalists bring a wealth of expertise in applying cultural awareness and sensitivity to their evidence-based reporting of overlooked and under-resourced areas.

Ndayiziga is the editor in chief of Community Voice. The community-based media outlet in Burundi, available in both French and English, covers underreported stories and sheds light on issues such as climate change, health, and human rights.

“This fellowship has gone above and beyond,” says Ndayiziga. “It is a life-changing opportunity that amplifies the voices of underserved communities, children, and families navigating a silent yet urgent climate change-induced mental health crisis.”

It is through this fellowship, he continued, which makes it possible to further travel to remote areas and share compelling stories. In 2024, Ndayiziga visited Burundi’s Gisagara Camp of internally displaced people (IDPs) located in a hard-to-reach area. He reported difficult conditions such as imminent rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds. And he described how living in this type of environment can force children to re-live past flood experiences, which can later trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

As a result of his reporting, he says, the government of Burundi and partners resettled the IDPs in an alternative location. This encouraged him to continue bringing to the forefront the climate change-induced mental health crisis on children and families.

“By openly addressing the link between climate change and mental health, we can make these often-hidden experiences and impacts visible, drive better data and policies, and equip communities and clinicians with the tools to respond,” says Ladley. “Talking about climate change now is no longer a distant option. Climate change is shaping lives daily through extreme weather, food and water insecurity, and displacement, all of which take a toll on mental health.”

Hammad Sarfraz is an award-winning journalist who has covered politics, foreign policy, and conflict. He now leads a team of reporters across the country as the head of the Original Content and Special Reports division of The Express Tribune in Pakistan. They cover stories that often go unheard and have considerable impact.

He describes Pakistan as being at the frontline of the climate crisis, with floods, droughts, heatwaves, and brutal winters leaving millions displaced and livelihoods destroyed. However, he continues, the mental toll is not being talked about enough.

“For me, this fellowship is not just about advancing my reporting — it is about breaking the silence and pushing mental health into the very heart of our conversations in Pakistan and across the Global South, where it still sits at the periphery,” says Safraz. “Even when trauma is etched on people’s faces, we rarely pause to think, let alone report on it.”

He notes that this fellowship has given him the chance to use the platform that the Carter Center and the SNF Global Center at the Child Mind Institute has offered him to bring mental health out of the margins and into the mainstream of journalism.

Along with addressing the link between climate change and mental health, both the SNF Global Center and the Carter Center aim to use their partnership to drive better data and strengthen systems. For LMICs, building community resilience in the face of escalating climate risks and supporting better response mechanisms can be crucial.

“What makes our partnership unique is the combination of the Carter Center’s long legacy of strengthening mental health systems and the SNF Global Center’s impact on global youth mental health,” says Peter Raucci, director of the Global Fellowship Strategy. “Together, we are supporting and equipping journalists to surface underreported stories at the intersection of climate, mental health, and equity. These stories have the power to shift the overarching mental health ecosystem as well as public understanding.”

Following the announcement of the landmark integration of mental health and wellbeing in the UN’s agenda on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), the SNF Global Center continues to work with increased urgency alongside partners to improve mental health outcomes for young people.