SDG Awards 2024

Finalist Profile

Welcome to the SDG Awards, a distinguished recognition program honoring the remarkable contributions of individuals, organizations, and initiatives in championing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Finalist Profile

Aquí Estoy Chat

About Company

SDG Awards 2024

Category - Goal 3 - Good health and well-being

Aquí Estoy's volunteers provide empathetic support, enhancing well-being globally across 23 countries.

➜ Aquí Estoy’s volunteers provide empathetic support, enhancing well-being globally across 23 countries.

➜ Free, anonymous WhatsApp support ensures mental health access, especially in underserved regions.

➜ Partnering with businesses and using social media, Aquí Estoy raises awareness and reduces mental health stigma.

1. What is the local impact your organization has achieved regarding your selected SDG? (No Word Limit)

At Aquí Estoy Chat, our work has profoundly impacted the lives of young people in Spain, addressing critical mental health challenges aligned with SDG 3.4 (promoting mental health) and SDG 3.8 (universal health coverage). Mental health in Spain is an increasingly urgent issue, especially among the youth. Nearly half (48.9%) of young Spaniards aged 15 to 29 have reported experiencing mental health problems. Anxiety and depression affect 6.7% of the population, with these rates being more than double among women compared to men. Additionally, between 2.5% and 3% of the adult population suffers from severe mental disorders, yet more than half of those who need treatment do not receive it. According to the Red Cross, about 75% of young people in this age group reported feeling lonely or isolated in 2023, highlighting an urgent need for targeted mental health interventions. The Spanish government has responded to this growing crisis by doubling the general health budget allocation for mental health services, dedicating €100 million as part of the 2022-2024 Mental Health Action Plan. However, this funding, while a significant step forward, still represents a small fraction of the overall €92.072 billion health budget (representing only 0,001%). The demand for mental health and wellbeing initiatives continues to outpace the resources available, leaving many young people without the support they urgently need. Aquí Estoy Chat has stepped in to fill this critical gap. By leveraging WhatsApp—a platform familiar to and widely used by young people—we have made emotional support accessible to those who might otherwise be neglected. Since our inception, we have provided immediate, compassionate support to over 15,000 young people in Spain, offering them a safe, stigma-free space to discuss their concerns. These conversations often mark the first step toward recovery, providing a crucial lifeline when traditional systems cannot meet their needs. Our approach goes beyond merely filling gaps; it is designed to drive systemic change. We empower a dedicated network of volunteers trained in empathetic listening and crisis management, equipping them to provide consistent, compassionate support. This model addresses the immediate needs of young people and strengthens the broader mental health infrastructure by enhancing the community's capacity to respond effectively to emotional crises. As government initiatives continue to evolve, our work remains crucial in ensuring that every young person has access to the support they need. We are committed to continuing our efforts to bridge the gap in care and contribute to a more resilient and responsive support system in Spain.

2. What is the global impact your organization has achieved regarding your selected SDG? (No Word Limit)

Aquí Estoy Chat has expanded its reach beyond Spain, making a significant impact across Latin America by addressing critical gaps in mental health care aligned with SDG 3.4 (promoting mental health) and SDG 3.8 (universal health coverage). The challenges in this region are starkly different from those in Spain, requiring tailored strategies to meet the needs of diverse populations. In Latin America, mental health care faces severe underfunding, with most countries allocating less than 2% of their health budgets to mental health services and mostly concentrating on patients hospitalized and not on preventive initiatives. This chronic lack of investment exacerbates a wide range of barriers, including insufficient mental health data and studies, economic instability, and pervasive violence, all of which contribute to the significant unmet needs in the region. Unlike Spain, where there is a growing infrastructure for mental health, many Latin American countries struggle with basic healthcare provision, leaving mental health as a lower priority despite its critical importance. In some cases there are comprehensive laws, like Argentina's mental health law, but without any realistic implementation. Given these challenges, Aquí Estoy Chat has taken a multifaceted approach to make a meaningful impact in the region. We are not only providing direct support to young people facing mental health crises, but we are also actively working to raise awareness, address mental health issues, and promote systemic change. Our platform has reached over 40,000 young people across Latin America, offering culturally relevant, accessible support through WhatsApp—a tool that allows us to bypass traditional barriers to care. In addition to direct intervention, we recognize the importance of advocacy in driving long-term change. Aquí Estoy Chat is committed to placing mental health on the public agenda in Latin America, where it is often overlooked. Through strategic partnerships and collaborations with local organizations, we will be seeking that mental health will be recognized as a critical issue that deserves attention and resources. Our advocacy efforts aim to increase funding, improve data collection, and develop more comprehensive mental health policies across the region. Our efforts go beyond immediate intervention to include advocacy, awareness-raising, and systemic change, ensuring that mental health becomes a priority in a region where it has long been neglected. We are committed to continuing this work, helping to bridge the gap in mental health care and ensuring that every young person, regardless of where they live, has access to the support they need.

3. What is the scalability of your innovation and how do you plan to achieve it? (No Word Limit)

Aquí Estoy Chat is designed for scalable growth, leveraging advanced technology and a vast global audience of over 460 million Spanish speakers—the second most spoken native language in the world. This provides a significant opportunity to expand our reach across various regions without encountering barriers. Our technological infrastructure is robust, built on several key platforms that facilitate scalability and maintain high service quality. We use Turn.io as our central messaging hub, integrated with OpenAI. This system enables us to manage and respond to thousands of WhatsApp conversations simultaneously, ensuring real-time support on a large scale. Our training program, powered by Fonselp, effectively prepares thousands of volunteers in empathetic listening and crisis management, ensuring they are equipped to handle sensitive situations. Additionally, Zendesk serves as our help center, supporting both users and volunteers by providing assistance and resolving issues efficiently. To complement our direct support, we've integrated AI-driven tools that offer users self-compassion exercises and grounding techniques while they await direct human assistance. These tools are crucial in de-escalating crises and providing immediate relief, particularly during peak times. However, the primary challenge to our scalability remains financial. We ensure the quality of every conversation by having mental health experts monitor up to eight volunteers per hour, a resource-intensive but essential practice. Currently, our business hours are from 8 PM to 4 AM European time. With additional funding, we could extend these hours and increase the number of experts available, thereby enhancing our capacity to support more users.

4. What is your organization’s unique strategy for using technology to achieve your selected SDG? (150 Words Limit)

Aquí Estoy Chat employs a strategic use of technology to advance SDG 3, specifically 3.4 (promoting mental health) and 3.8 (achieving universal health coverage). By utilizing Turn as a messaging hub integrated with AI, we ensure that real-time mental health support is accessible to a wide audience across the Spanish-speaking world. Our platform allows us to provide immediate interventions, critical for preventing mental health crises and reducing the burden of mental disorders. The use of Fonselp for volunteer training and Zendesk for support ensures that our services are scalable and sustainable, enabling us to deliver high-quality mental health care and bridge the gap in access to essential services, particularly in underserved communities.

5. What challenges did you encounter while working for your selected SDG, and how did you address them? (150 Words Limit)

Addressing SDG 3, particularly 3.4 and 3.8, involves unique challenges because mental health intersects with multiple goals, making it difficult to treat as a standalone issue. Despite mental health’s critical role, it’s often overshadowed by other priorities. Over four years, our data shows we predominantly reach middle-class, urban populations, revealing a significant challenge: how to effectively reach disadvantaged groups who remain underserved. This gap has pushed us to rethink our approach, focusing on refining our messaging and forming partnerships with local organizations to better connect with those in marginalized communities. We are committed to ensuring that mental health support reaches everyone, especially those who need it most but are hardest to reach.

6. How did you engage local communities and stakeholders in your work, and what was their feedback? (150 Words Limit)

We actively engage local communities and stakeholders by directly gathering feedback from the people we support—20% of whom have provided valuable insights through optional surveys and testimonials. We also conduct regular feedback cycles with our volunteers, analyzing their experiences, the duration of their volunteering, and their progression through our training programs. Additionally, we collaborate with established organizations like Crisis Text Line and Teléfono de la Esperanza, understanding their decades of experience in empathetic listening into our approach. Our dialogue with government entities, although complex, is ongoing as we seek to align our efforts with public mental health initiatives. This multi-layered engagement strategy not only enhances our service delivery but also helps us refine our approach to ensure we meet the needs of those most at risk. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding our ability to adapt and provide culturally sensitive support.

7. Which organizational skills and resources did you use to deliver goods/services without harming the environment or society? (150 Words Limit)

Aquí Estoy Chat operates entirely virtually, which significantly reduces our environmental footprint. We embrace a “less merch, more action” philosophy, focusing our resources on delivering impactful mental health support rather than producing physical goods. Our operations rely on digital platforms like Turn, Fonselp, and Zendesk, minimizing the need for paper and other physical materials. Training and services are conducted online, eliminating the carbon emissions associated with travel and in-person events. We also prioritize digital outreach and virtual volunteer engagement, ensuring that our activities are both sustainable and effective. By optimizing technology and avoiding unnecessary resource consumption, we deliver our services in a way that aligns with our commitment to environmental responsibility while still making a profound impact on the communities we serve.

8. In your view what roles do businesses, governments, and civil society should play in achieving the SDGs, and how can they collaborate effectively? (150 Words Limit)

In the context of SDG 3, which focuses on health and well-being, each sector plays a pivotal role. Governments must lead by integrating mental health into public health systems and creating policies that support preventive care and early intervention. Businesses can drive innovation, providing technology and funding to scale mental health services and make them more accessible. Civil society, including organizations like ours, ensures these services reach marginalized populations and adapt them to community needs. Effective collaboration involves governments setting a comprehensive framework, businesses developing scalable solutions, and civil society advocating for and implementing these initiatives at the grassroots level. Together, we can create a holistic approach to health that addresses mental well-being as an essential component of overall public health.

9. What advice do you have for individuals or organizations aiming to create positive change and support the SDGs? (150 Words Limit)

Start by thoroughly investigating existing efforts in the area you aim to impact. Understand what is already being done and identify how your work can align with these initiatives. If you’re part of the affected community, engage with others who share your experiences and collaborate with them. If you’re not directly impacted, immerse yourself in the testimonies and evidence from those who are. Prioritize the insights of the affected community—they are the true experts. Your role is to support and amplify their voices, not to lead. Approach your work with empathy and humility, focusing on elevating the perspectives of those most affected. Collaborate with the community and other organizations to develop solutions that are rooted in their real needs and lived experiences. By doing so, you ensure that your contributions are meaningful, sustainable, and truly beneficial to those who need it most.

10. How would winning this SDG Award help you enhance your impact and expand your project? (150 Words Limit)

Winning this SDG Award would provide crucial recognition and resources to expand Aquí Estoy Chat's reach. The funding would allow us to extend our operational hours, particularly during peak times, and scale our volunteer training programs to support more individuals in crisis. This recognition would also enhance our credibility, facilitating partnerships with key stakeholders and enabling us to integrate more advanced technologies like Llama 3.1. These resources are vital for bridging the gap in mental health services, especially in underserved communities. The award would help us elevate the voices of those affected, ensuring they receive the quality care they deserve.

11. What are your future objectives regarding your selected SDG? (150 Words Limit)

Our future objectives for SDG 3 include ensuring that we can respond to 100% of the people who reach out to us annually. Currently, we can attend to only 50% of the 100 daily messages we receive during our available hours and 0% outside those hours. Expanding our capacity to cover all requests, both during and outside of our current hours, is a top priority. Additionally, we aim to strengthen our awareness and outreach programs to better reach underserved communities. Finally, we plan to institutionalize a research and advocacy program to further our impact, ensuring that mental health remains a priority in public policy in Spanish communities. By achieving these goals, we will significantly enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of our mental health support, contributing to the global advancement of SDG 3.