Project Director

Job Title: Project Director, Aikyam Foundation Location: Delhi Background & Context India is facing a significant youth mental health challenge. Across the 11–29 age group — in schools, colleges, coaching centres, and early work life — distress is common, often persistent, and largely unmet. Young people are dealing with multiple, compounding pressures: academic and career expectations, economic uncertainty, digital exposure, adverse childhood experiences, and structural inequalities that shape everyday life. ~140M youth (11–29) estimated to experience symptoms of anxiety or depression 13,000+ student suicides annually — up more than 50% over the past decade 1 in 7 adolescents aged 10–19 experienced a mental disorder in India Yet the ecosystem of support remains critically inadequate. The interventions today remain concentrated on curative solutions like counselling (both private and govt), rather than promotion and prevention. There is limited focus on destigmatisation, upstream risk factors, or recovery. Government programmes such as NMHP and Tele-MANAS exist, but face some challenges in execution. India's mental health budget stands at ~1.5% of health spend against a global average of 3–4%. About Aikyam Foundation Founded in 2024 by Manisha Dhawan, Founding Trustee of The Convergence Foundation (TCF), Aikyam Foundation is a not-for-profit built to address the youth mental health crisis in India. Aikyam seeks to strengthen system design for youth mental health (ages 11-24) in India across government, educational institutions, and civil society. It also plays a role in supply shaping for the sector — by supporting adoption of proven approaches and helping shift focus towards promotion, early support, and stronger pathways to care. Aikyam is also a founding partner of the India Mental Health Alliance (IMHA). It is actively exploring partnership with state governments to co-design and support state-led youth mental health systems as replicable, evidence-based models for national adoption. Aikyam is a sister organisation to The Convergence Foundation Aikyam is a sister organisation to The Convergence Foundation (TCF). TCF, The Convergence Foundation is an Indian philanthropic foundation dedicated to catalysing rapid and sustained economic growth to enhance the lives of all Indians. Established by Ashish and Manisha Dhawan in April 2021, TCF builds on their legacy of impactful philanthropy, including the founding of transformative institutions like Ashoka University and the Central Square Foundation. In each area, TCF works on: Building pioneering institutions to address India's most complex socio-economic challenges. Shaping the larger ecosystem and sharing knowledge, insights and learning with other philanthropists, governments and key stakeholders The TCF Network includes 20+ organisations, each committed to addressing specific areas of India's socio-economic development, from school education and governance to…