Basic Needs Basic Rights Kenya (BNBR Kenya) is a registered national Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that intervenes in mental health. Our main purpose is to support people with mental health conditions, those at risk, and their caregivers to live and work successfully in their communities. We strive to ensure that they access basic rights by empowering their communities to provide care, social support and avert adversity to those affected or at risk.

Our work draws from universal human rights principles and protocols and is premised on the foundation that everyone deserves a dignified life. We thus dedicate resources and capabilities to protect, promote and actualize the basic needs and rights of persons with mental health conditions and their caregivers as a basis of addressing the stigma, inequalities, and discrimination that such people often face.

BNBR Kenya was initially founded in 2005 as the local office of BasicNeeds UK but, in 2016 formally established itself as a national NGO in Kenya. Since our inception, we have distinguished ourselves as a leader in health and development, particularly mental health in Kenya. To this end, we are implementing a model for mental health and development which takes a holistic approach to mental health care comprising elements of psychosocial support, community development and livelihoods, improving policy and practice through research and advocacy, and system strengthening. This is informed by our belief that addressing mental wellbeing and illness goes beyond just health systems, given that mental wellbeing and illness themselves are not simply health issues, but have social and economic causes and effects.

Our interventions thus focus on the clinical, economic, and social wellbeing of individuals, as well as the resilience and wellbeing of their communities, ultimately resulting in better outcomes for people with mental health conditions.