In the 21st century, there has been growing awareness and understanding of the mental health challenges faced by individuals with disabilities, affecting their daily lives. Young people with disabilities are at higher risk of poverty, poor nutrition, exclusion from the labour market, mental health issues (Trani et al., 2020) and abuse (Bornman & Bornman, 2023). Discrimination, stigma and social exclusion further contribute to these challenges, making it difficult for many young people with disabilities to maintain good mental health. These contextual factors can affect their psychological and relational wellbeing (Mawila, 2023; White & Jha, 2023).

To boost the mental health and relational wellbeing of young people with disabilities, aspects such as welfare, mental health status, contextual challenges and effective intervention programmes need to be explored. This study explores how the relational wellbeing of young people with disabilities and their community of practice in the Global South (Colombia, India and South Africa) can be supported through co-design to adapt the PicPecc mobile health (mHealth) tool.

The introduction of an mHealth tool may help young people with disabilities communicate their mental health challenges. Ultimately, children and young people with disabilities aged 10 to 24 years will be empowered to exercise their agency beyond the project to ensure its sustainability.

The project will employ qualitative research methods to generate data from focus group interviews and co-design workshops.

The study intends to foster wellbeing through the PicPecc intervention as a vehicle for achieving educational and lifelong success, to promote mental health among young people (between 10 and 24 years old) with disabilities, and to support young people with disabilities to communicate about their wellbeing.

The aim is to enhance digital skills, using an mHealth tool for communication and participation (journaling and gamification), and to facilitate access to support services (using the app’s chat function). The project will promote a better understanding of the interconnected nature of education, wellness and health as crucial to human wellbeing.

The study intends to support and promote relational wellbeing in young people with disabilities and their community of practice in Colombia, India and South Africa through co-design and the adaptation of an mHealth tool (the PicPecc application).

The project teams from the three countries will test and extend relational approaches to wellbeing and generate empirical insights into key contemporary challenges to young people’s wellbeing, using the mHealth tool. Equitable access to the tool holds promise for facilitating communication about, and participation in, decisions about their health, quality of life and overall wellbeing.

The project aims to ensure inclusive, equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all as articulated in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4, as well as children’s rights, and health. It also aims to generate theoretical and empirical insights on relational wellbeing (White, 2015, 2017; White & Jha, 2023), and to bridge digital inequality gaps by introducing participants to a viable mHealth app.

In delivering PicPecc4 Wellbeing, monitoring and evaluation will be conducted over the course of the proposed three-year workplan. This will ensure that activities linked to the proposed budget are carefully managed. The three country teams plan to have online meetings on a bi-weekly basis. Once the project is established, monthly meetings will be held to track and monitor the project implementation.