The Healthy Brains Global Initiative (HBGI) was founded in 2020, uniting world leaders across sectors to tackle the growing effects of mental and neurological health conditions behind its approach of New Voices, New Finance, and New Science.
To bring in New Voices, HBGI has commissioned studies to develop its strategy, and brought in a wide variety of stakeholders through its Interim Board and Lived Experience Council.
To utilize New Finance, HBGI is now establishing four new ‘outcomes funds’, contracting new programs and paying for them on the basis of outcomes, and learning from day one through generating and sharing data at scale. This flexible, outcomes-based model, with embedded research, will support bottom-up approaches to improve mental health, to improve life chances, and to foster systems-level change.
Donors and multilaterals are all increasingly interested in performance measurement and outcomes – they want to see and pay for results. But their systems are not geared for this so they find it complex and expensive. HBGI, on the other hand, will be structured from the outset to contract, manage and pay for performance.
Finally, to drive New Science, HBGI will embed implementation science in all of its programs from day one to drive a change in the global understanding of mental health conditions. Data generated will be shared across locations and aim to answer locally relevant questions and issues, build capacity to contribute to program performance, and provide informed input for local health system strengthening.