New Wave of Recovery: Mawja’s Mission for Mental Well-Being in Libya

In a country marked by conflict and widespread stigma surrounding mental health, Dr. Yossra Ammar, a psychiatrist from Tripoli, is working to make mental well-being accessible to all. Through Mawja, an online platform dedicated to emotional health, Dr. Ammar is starting vital and necessary conversations about mental health in Libya and the broader Arab world.

The idea for Mawja emerged in March 2019 when Dr. Ammar delivered a lecture titled “Broken Heart” at Tripoli University. The event, attended by 150 students, emphasised the importance of dealing with emotional trauma. “From that day on, I realized our need to talk about sensitive issues, ones that impact everyone’s lives,” she recalls.

Despite the growing demand for mental health support, Dr. Ammar faced a challenge: her time was limited. “There were so many requests for consultation, but my time is limited,” she explains. In response, she began considering ways to reach more people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea for Mawja materialised into a web application offering tools for anxiety, depression, and stress relief, along with self-assessment features to help users better understand their emotional health.

In 2023, Dr. Ammar’s journey took a significant turning point when she joined Innovation Garden, part of the Libya Start-up! initiative. This programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by SPARK and Super Novae, supports young entrepreneurs by offering business training, mentorship, and access to funding. “Through Libya Start-up, I was able to create a legally registered startup,” Dr. Ammar says.

The programme provided invaluable guidance on how to build a sustainable business. “Honestly, this experience increased my knowledge on creating a startup, budget management, and proposal writing. These were areas I lacked as a doctor,” she shares. With the help of mentors, Dr. Ammar learned to develop a marketing plan, expand her team, and structure her startup for growth.

In September 2024, Dr. Ammar pitched Mawja to a panel of judges for a chance to secure funding. Her hard work paid off when she won second place in the Innovation Garden accelerator programme, earning a €15,000 grant. “The grant enabled us to legally register Mawja and create our website,” she says. The funding also allowed her team to develop new features, preparing the platform for the upcoming launch of a mobile app.

Dr. Ammar’s vision for Mawja is ambitious and clear. “I aspire that Mawja be the first Arab application in the region that addresses emotional management in a simple and easy way,” she says. By offering accessible tools for emotional well-being, Dr. Ammar hopes to normalize mental health conversations and make these resources available to anyone in need.

In just over a year, Dr. Ammar has turned Mawja into a thriving platform, and with the support of the Libya Start-up! initiative, the future looks bright for her vision to transform mental health care in the Arab world.