Review of selected chatbot innovations from UNICEF’s Mental Health and Psychosocial (MHPSS) Portfolio

KonTerra successfully concluded a review of selected chatbot innovations in UNICEF Office of Innovation’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing portfolio. The review focused on documenting learning and assessing the feasibility of global acceleration/scale-up.

The review concluded that operational chatbot solutions, particularly in testing phases, demonstrated potential in facilitating anonymous communication for adolescents about mental health issues, promising for UNICEF’s MHPSS information and awareness goals. However, more time is needed to adapt solutions to the complexity of mental health needs and to strengthen country systems.

UNICEF’s regional offices were advised to delay scaling up chatbot solutions until all limitations, particularly those regarding child protection, are addressed and tested thoroughly.

Herma Majoor led the evaluation team composed of Marie-Adèle Salem and Blerta Perolli Shehu. It was managed by Kelechi Udoh and Erisa Pereira and quality assured by Sophie Dunn.