SERAC-Bangladesh, with support from the GHAI Advocacy Accelerator, is leading a six-month advocacy initiative to advance the integration of adolescent mental health support into Adolescent-Friendly Health Service Centers (AFHCs) across Bangladesh. The project focuses on formalizing the Volunteer Peer Leader (VPL) model as a youth-led mechanism to enhance mental health services for adolescents.

The initiative employs a multi-pronged strategy that includes youth-led consultations, inter-departmental coordination meetings, national roundtables with civil society organizations (CSOs) and policymakers, and evidence-based policy briefs with budget analysis. By centering adolescent voices, the project ensures that young people actively influence policy design, service delivery, and decision-making related to mental health.