The Children and Families Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Resource Collection

Ukraine Parenting Response: Helping children and parents cope

The Ukraine Parenting Response: Helping children and parents cope leaflet gives 14 sets of practical tips that parents and caregivers can use to support themselves and their children during crisis. The leaflet covers tips on self-care for the parent or caregiver, different ways of supporting children to cope with stress, anger and loss, as well as advice and practical tips for ensuring their safety and protection.

Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Guidelines for Health and Psychosocial Service Providers in Humanitarian Settings

The Caring for Child Survivors (CCS) of Sexual Abuse Guidelines is part of the CCS Resource Package developed to respond to the gap in global guidance for health and psychosocial staff providing care and treatment to child survivors of sexual abuse in humanitarian settings. It provides guidance on how to: (1) Build the capacity of health and psychosocial service providers on the foundational (or “core”) knowledge, attitudes and skills to work with child survivors of sexual abuse; (2) Adapt case management for child survivors; (3) Implement targeted psychosocial interventions; (4) Improve coordinated care across multiple sectors and service providers; and (5) Monitor the quality of service provision. The CCS Guidelines are based on global research and evidence-based field practice and bring a much-needed practical approach to helping child survivors and their families recover and heal from the often-times devastating impacts of sexual abuse.

Ukraine Key Care Recommendations (Responding to children's care in the context of the Ukraine Crisis)

"The Ukraine Key Care Recommendations (Responding to children's care in the context of the Ukraine Crisis) guidance document provides a framework to support child protection practitioners and policymakers working both inside Ukraine and in host countries to implement responses related to children’s care in the context of Ukraine in line with international standards and good practice on children’s care and the provision of alternative care. It includes key recommendations to inform strategic priorities, programme design, and priority interventions and advocacy efforts with policymakers, donors and other key stakeholders. The recommendations concern children without parental or family care, at risk of separation, in alternative care or who have recently left alternative care, including those who have been evacuated from residential care facilities either inside Ukraine or to host countries. Each section considers children in both refugee and internally displaced contexts, as well as children with existing intersecting vulnerabilities, such as children with disabilities and children from ethnic minorities, including Roma or third country nationals. "

The Toolkit for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings

The Toolkit for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings provides a set of materials to assist managers and facilitators/animators in setting up and implementing quality Child Friendly Spaces (CFS). These resources have at their core the protection of children from harm; the promotion of psychosocial well-being; and the engagement of community and caregiver capacities. The CFS Toolkit contains: 1. Operational Guidance for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings: It summarises key approaches in the protection of children and in the promotion of their psychosocial well-being. It is directed to CFS managers and facilitators/animators. It has four chapters, addressing the following aspects of setting up and implementing a quality CFS: introduction to CFS, setting up a CFS, information for CFS facilitators/animators and working with caregivers and community members. 2. The Activity Catalogue for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings: It provides materials for facilitators and animators responsible for implementing activities in a CFS. It features a wide range of easy-to-use resources, including sessions to open, close and review a programme of activities. It has a set of seven themed workshops which relate to key aspects of children’s psycho-social well-being. These resources provide structured activities that can be used in a sequence over a period of time, but are flexible too so that they can be used as standalone sessions if CFS modalities vary and/or attendance fluctuates. Activities are generally intended for children from 6 up to 18 years, with some additional resources provided in the annexes for activities targeted to younger children, older children and adolescents. 3. Training for Implementers of Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings: This is a three-day training for CFS managers and coordinators that addresses the challenges of setting up and implementing quality CFS in diverse circumstances. Using various case scenarios, participants in the training are exposed to realistic demands and equipped to find practical solutions to challenges faced in the field. The training draws on resources from the Operational Guidance for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings and the Activity Catalogue for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings. 4. Training for Facilitators of Activities for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings: This training manual complements the Training for Implementers of Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings. It provides practical training for facilitators on the Activity Catalogue to support the effective implementation of the structured activities for children in different contexts. Ideally, this should follow on directly from the three-day implementer training.

Child Protection Sessions for Parents and Caregivers

The Child Protection Sessions for Parents and Caregivers manual is a guide for facilitating child protection sessions for parents and caregivers. These sessions are designed to help parents to better care for their children and to protect them from all forms of violence. These sessions must be conducted by a trained facilitator who can facilitate a discussion on the issues addressed in this manual with parents and caregivers from the community. Each session is divided into section plans that provide the facilitator with guidance on how to conduct the session, plus annexes for each major topic, including tips for facilitators. The annexes contain background information for the facilitator as well as messages for parents that can be given as handouts. Each discussion should ideally be comprised of 10-20 participants.

Guidelines for Consulting with Children and Young People with Disabilities

The Guidelines for Consulting with Children and Young People with Disabilities provides guidance and practical suggestions for consulting with children and young people with disabilities in a variety of situations. It aims to equip individuals working on child rights with the knowledge and skills necessary to communicate with children with a variety of disabilities. The guidelines present tips and suggestions for the entire consultation process including: planning for the consultation, general considerations for consulting with children with disabilities, specific tips for communicating with children with different types of impairments, and some case study examples.

Connect with Respect: Preventing Gender-Based Violence in Schools

The Connect with Respect Preventing Gender-based Violence in Schools tool has been created to help teachers, school principals and the broader education system to deliver education programmes in early secondary school by providing positive role models, empowering children and youth to have healthy and respectful relationships, and delivering a violence prevention programme within their curriculum in Asia and the Pacific. It is designed for students between 11 and 14 years of age, but can be adapted for use with older students. It provides age-appropriate learning activities on important themes and concepts relating to the prevention of gender-based violence and promotion of respectful relationships. The learning activities are informed by research into effective teaching about gender, violence prevention, and life-skills development and are designed for use in the formal school system; however, they can be modified for use in non-formal education settings, including through community learning or literacy programmes.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups: Programme Resource Package

The MHPSS in CAAFAG Programmes Resource Package (field-test version) is an inter-agency package of resources that aims to support the integration of MHPSS into programmes for the prevention, release, and reintegration of children associated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG). It offers evidence-based guidance on how to support the mental health and well-being of children, families, and communities in emergency, humanitarian, and post-conflict settings through CAAFAG programming. The MHPSS in CAAFAG Programmes Resource Package includes a suite of four resources: • Operational Guidance for MHPSS in CAAFAG Programmes: The operational guidance includes an operational framework to guide the design and implementation of MHPSS services in CAAFAG programmes. The operational guidance is a complement to the CAAFAG Programme Development Toolkit Guide developed by the CAAFAG Task Force and aligns with the UNICEF Global Multisectoral Operational Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Across Settings (Demonstration Version) with linkages to the MHPSS Minimum Services Package. The operational guidance consists of two sections: 1) Understanding Children’s MHPSS Assets and Needs and 2) Operational Framework for MHPSS for CAAFAG. • An Evidence Review of MHPSS programming relevant to CAAFAG: The evidence review defines key terms, offers an elaboration on key concepts and considerations for MHPSS among CAAFAG; describes approaches to delivering MHPSS, considers risk and protective factors, offer considerations around integrating MHPSS throughout the CAAFAG programming, describes MHPSS tools for use with CAAFAG programmes, and offers a discussion of evidence gaps and recommended areas for further research. • Contextualization Guidance for MHPSS delivery in CAAFAG programming: The contextualization guidance defines the key aspects of contextualisation for CAAFAG MHPSS programmes and highlights key steps for contextualising the MHPSS for CAAFAG Operational Framework. The guidance also offers information, tools, and illustrative case studies to inform the adaptation of components of the MHPSS for CAAFAG Operational Framework to cultures, contexts, and situations. • Advocacy and Dissemination Package on MHPSS delivery in CAAFAG programming to drive further development and research.

PFA for Children II: Dealing with Traumatic Responses in Children.

The PFA for Children II: Dealing with Traumatic Responses in Children training manual provides guidance for staff working with children who are severely affected psychologically by acute crisis. It is not a clinical tool and does not qualify staff to engage in clinical interventions. It is a supplementary training to Save the Children’s Psychological First Aid Training for Child Practitioners (2013), which lays the foundation for providing PFA. In some situations, additional skills to providing comfort and stabilization are needed. PFA II can be used to train such additional skills. It provides advice to staff dealing directly with children who are showing concerning behaviours (beyond what is perceived as common reactions to traumatic events). The training is designed for people who are not trained in mental health, and is based on field experience, research and the latest theories on child trauma, resilience and recovery.

Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners

This Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners is for training people working with children on how to provide Psychological First Aid (PFA). The training aims to build skills for providing physical and emotional comfort by modelling calmness and teaches participants active listening that can be used to encourage children in distress to voice their concerns and needs. It provides information on connecting children in distress to practical assistance through referral networks and information on positive coping strategies. The training also includes a one day training for humanitarian workers on stress management.

Field Handbook on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

This handbook provides operational guidance for child protection staff and other actors working on prevention and response to family separation in emergencies. It sets out to ensure that responses meet agreed inter-agency standards and are appropriate to the particular situation of individual unaccompanied and separated children, emphasizing the importance of working with affected communities, including children themselves. It accompanies the Toolkit (see Linked Resources section). The handbook is divided into a summary guidance section, which collates all the essential actions and tools covered in the handbook and acts as a quick reference guide for practitioners. Detailed guidance on each topic can be found within corresponding chapters in sections one and Two. Section one provides an overview of the legal framework and organizational mandates related to unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), characterizes family separation in emergencies, describes the causes of separation, outlines how to prepare for and prevent separation in emergencies, and how to undertake coordination and assessment. It also covers the basics of UASC programming, case management and information management. Section two provides detailed guidance on immediate needs in emergencies and detailed information on identification, documentation, alternative care, family tracing, verification, reunification, reintegration and cross-sector coordination.

Gender-Based Violence Against Children and Youth with Disabilities: A Toolkit for Child Protection Actors

The Gender-based Violence Against Children and Youth with Disabilities: A toolkit for Child Protection Actors was designed to invite reflection on and strengthening capacity of staff working with disability inclusion; identify gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response needs of children and youth with disabilities; and foster their participation in both planning and implementation of activities to prevent and reduce the risks of violence. It can be useful to a wide range of actors engaged in child protection, GBV prevention and response, and for youth engagement programs in both development and humanitarian contexts.

Connect Tools

The CONNECT project aims to support actors involved in responding to the situation of unaccompanied children arriving in Europe. Key issues addressed by these actors include recognition as a child and access to reception services, legal representation and guardianship, the participation of children in procedures, access to education and health services. Other important issues are disappearances from centers, how to determine the best interest of the child and identification of possible child victims of trafficking. Each project country have through pilot projects developed practical tools which can be used by actors across the EU Member States. These tools address specific aspects of how actors address the situation of these children and can be used separately or together as a toolkit: 1. Who's responsible? A tool to strengthen cooperation between actors involved in the protection system for unaccompanied migrant children (Italy) 2. Local cooperation for unaccompanied children: A tool to assess and improve reception condition (Sweden) 3. Standards to esnure that unaccompanied migrant children are able to fully participate: A tool to assist actors in legal and judicial proceedings (The UK) 4. The right to be heard and participation of unaccompanied children: A tool to support the collection of children’s views on protection and reception services (The Netherlands) 5. Working with the unaccompanied child: A tool to support the collection of children’s views on protection and reception services (The Netherlands) 6. Evaluation sheet - End of guardianship form (to be filled in by child).

Singing to the Lions: A Facilitator’s Guide to Overcoming Fear and Violence in Our Lives

Singing to the Lions’ is a training manual based on proven psycho-therapeutic interventions that help children and youth overcome fear and violence in their lives. It targets children ages 11+; however adaptations are easily made for younger and older groups, including adults. It is intended for survivors of armed conflict, refugees, adolescents and young people who experienced physical or sexual abuse and other trauma. Through its use of games, drawing, drama and stories, ‘Singing to the Lions’ can be implemented for groups of +/- 20 people in a 3-day workshop or divided into six separate modular sessions of three hours each.

Inter Agency Guidelines for Case Management and Child Protection

"The Inter-agency Guidelines for Case Management and Child Protection have been developed at an inter-agency level through the Child Protection Working Group to complement the agreed standard 15 on Case Management in the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. They aim to provide a common understanding and step-by-step guidance on how to do case management in emergencies. The primary focus of these guidelines is for use by agencies and practitioners in humanitarian settings. However, these guidelines can also be a useful resource for governments and agencies working in more stable or development situations. Likewise, these guidelines can be helpful additional guidance in refugee situations, but practices would need to take into account broader refugee case management including the specific Best Interest Procedure. The associated Child Protection Case Management Training Manual for Caseworkers, Supervisors and Managers is based upon and provides guidance for conducting training on these Guidelines.Included in the zip file is the facilitator’s guide/manual, PowerPoints, and Handouts. "

Communicating with Children About Death and Helping Children Cope with Grief

The 'Communicating with children about death and helping children cope with grief' resource provides guidance for adults on communicating with children about death and helping them cope with grief. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it highlights how children of different ages experience loss and grief, how to talk to them about it and how to help them cope with loss during the pandemic and humanitarian emergencies.

Traditional Games for Child Protection

The Traditional Games for Child Protection manual collates 20 traditional games which are organized by age group, and teach life skills to children to foster resilience and self-protection. It uses the Movement, Games and Sports (MGS) methodology which champions 'learning by doing' and puts child participation at the heart of the learning process. The manual explains the psychosocial and protection related benefits of games for children, highlights the lessons from each game, and provides follow up questions for the children. It was developed for animators, teachers and protection workers.

What To Do If You Come Across Children Who are Separated or Reported Missing

This is a one-page resource on what to do if you come across children who are separated or reported missing. It provides clear steps to be taken if a child is separated from their usual caregivers, including their parents or other family member, or if a child is reported missing. This includes children who are presumed to be orphans. It is developed by the Child Protection Global Protection Cluster.

Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

The toolkit was produced by the Inter-Agency Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) to provide technical guidance to support the implementation of the core principles for working with these children. It highlights key international instruments and guidelines relating to unaccompanied and separated children, including a series of tools and sample documents for use in programming. It accompanies the Field Handbook (see Linked Resources section).

Supporting and Responding to Forcibly Displaced Children: Training Module for Child Helpline Counsellors

The Supporting and Responding to Forcibly Displaced Children Training Module for Child Helpline Counsellors aims to enhance child helpline counsellors’ knowledge and support for children on the move, specifically those who have been forcibly displaced. By taking this module, child helpline counsellors will be able to follow a child’s journey from pre-flight, during flight and after flight while learning about the key concepts and issues associated with each phase of the flight. Case studies and self-reflection exercises are also found throughout the training module along with a final assessment to help child helpline counsellors evaluate their knowledge and contemplate on the key concepts, case stories and programmes they previously studied.

Working with Children and Their Environment: Manual of Psychosocial Skills

The 'Working with children and their environment: Manual of psychosocial skills' aims at improving the overall wellbeing of children through strengthening the psychosocial skills of the adults in charge, all the while passing on effective methods and tools (games and creative activities) for working with children. Depending on the need, it is targeted at animators, teachers, social workers, educators, professional delegates, heads of mission, project coordinators or school directors, as well as ministries of education and social affairs. The manual contains 18 modules divided into two parts according to four fields of skills. Part 1 for a ‘psychosocial approach’ deals with managing oneself, one's relationships with others, and in groups and is directed at people who want to improve their personal and social skills. Part 2 for ‘psychosocial intervention’ deals with managing activities and games and is aimed more specifically at those in charge of activities with groups of children and who want to improve their methodological and technical skills. To respond to the needs of these different target groups, it is possible to organize long training courses (two weeks or more) or training ‘à la carte’ (short one, or two-day workshops). In any case, for people in direct contact with children, setting up individual coaching in the field is essential to help with the acquisition and practice of the new concepts.

Parenting on the Move: Program for empowerment and promoting the development of competencies of parents of children up to 12 years of age, in situations of migrations and refugeehood Package

The Parenting on the Move (PoM) programme package has been developed to support families to provide the necessary conditions for well-being, resilience, and education of children up to 12 years of age, in situations of migration/refugeehood. The programme has three components: parent workshops, family workshops (led by trained moderators), and materials for activities that parents and children can engage in, in a family setting. It can be implemented by moderators (activists, experts, students) trained for its implementation. The moderators need to have the knowledge of the programme’s thematic fields, experience in facilitating group work with adults and group work with adults and children together, and also need to have empathy and developed communication skills. As a programme package, PoM provides a comprehensive framework for implementation through a) training of the facilitators of the workshops; b) mentoring through the implementation; c) monitoring and evaluation. The programme package consists of: • Moderator’s handbook with workshop program • Material for the families: “POM NOTES TO GO” and “POM GAMES TO GO”, • Handbook for trainers and mentors.

Training in Psychological First Aid Module 3: PFA for Children

The Psychological First Aid Module 3: PFA for Children is for training people working with children on how to provide Psychological First Aid (PFA). The training has been developed for staff and volunteers working with psychosocial support for children and those providing direct care and support to children and their caregivers in distress, such as nurses, teachers, social workers, health volunteers, ambulance workers or other first responders. The activities take between eight to nine hours and can be run in one long day or over one-and-a-half days. This manual is part of the PFA kit developed by IFRC in 2018.

Guidelines on Children's Reintegration

The Guidelines on children's reintegration provides practical guidance to help governments, donors, NGOs, faith-based organizations, and practitioners to design high quality programs, measure impact, train practitioners, and pursue national-level systemic change in support of integration. The Guidelines provide a framework for anyone seeking to ensure family care for children. They build upon a solid evidence base, developed through extensive desk-based research which explored good practice in the reintegration of separated children in emergencies, former child soldiers, street children, institutionalised children, migrant children, and children who have been trafficked. The guidelines call for: (1) support for children and families at all stages of the process for proper preparation and follow-up; (2) a holistic package including economic strengthening, access to basic services, therapeutic support, and efforts to address violence and abuse in families; (3) work to enable communities to monitor and assist reintegrating children, and to reduce stigma and discrimination and (4) strengthening of child protection systems to create an environment which promotes effective reintegration.

Girl Safety Toolkit: A Resource for Practitioners

The Girl Safety Toolkit: A Resource for Practitioners is aimed to support organizations in creating and expanding safe opportunities for girls. It provides an array of tools for the programme designer on how to assess a situation, design the programme, implement the programme, and then monitor and evaluate. Each section provides tools, information, games, and checklists to ensure that those working to promote girl safety have a strong reserve to aid them in the field.

Child Protection in Humanitarian Action Frontliner Getting Started Learning Package

The CPHA (Child Protection in Humanitarian Action) Frontliners' Getting Started Learning Package is a resource package that has been developed to rapidly onboard new team members in the wake of a new emergency or crisis and aims to ensure that frontline workers are introduced to the minimum competencies to work in a safe, effective, accountable, and professional way with children, families, and communities. It includes a facilitator's guide, a participant handbook and a self-assessment tool and has been designed to be delivered in modules through both face-to-face and remote facilitation. In face-to-face settings, the content can be covered in three consecutive days or the modules can be split over more weeks depending on availability. In remotely facilitated settings, it is recommend to deliver the course in a series of half-day sessions. This learning package has been developed primarily for team managers/coordinators to be able to facilitate a learning process with their frontline teams. External facilitators might also deliver this training if they are adequately familiar with the organisation’s systems and programmes. It is envisioned for the learning package to go through a contextualisation process prior to its use.

A Toolkit for Integrating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Design, Monitoring and Evaluation

The Toolkit for Integrating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Design, Monitoring and Evaluation provides guidance and tools to support staff in integrating the Gender Equality and Social Inclusio (GESI) perspectives in all stages of project. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) is integral to achieving global sustainable development goals, and child well-being objectives. GESI advances World Vision’s core values to promote human transformation by reaching the most vulnerable children and adults and challenging the root causes of vulnerability that sustain gender inequality and social exclusion, such as restrictive socio-cultural norms, unequal power relations and disempowering systems. The toolkit is based on a review of existing DME tools and approaches. It can be relevant to all who collaborate on gender equality and social inclusion goals which lays in to achieve sustained, transformational change at individual, household, community and societal levels so that all persons can enjoy fullness of life. It may be a useful resource for implementing partners and government stakeholders, as they collaborate on gender equality and social inclusion goals. Both individuals and organizations can use this toolkit to apply a GESI lens in all stages of project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation (DME).

Tips for Working with Children: A Pocket Guide for Border Patrol Agents

The Pocket Guide for Border Patrol Agents provides tips for taking a child-sensitive approach which allows agents to carry out their work and communicate in a way that support children’s safety and well-being, while minimizing harm. It can also be used by others than border patrol agents, who meet children at the border or on the move.

Engaged and Heard! Guidelines on Adolescent Participation and Civic Engagement

The ENGAGED AND HEARD! Guidelines on Adolescent Participation and Civic Engagement was developed to enhance systematic programming and advocacy to realize adolescents’ right to be heard in matters affecting them. The guidelines provide information on the ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how-to’ of participation and civic engagement, with a specific focus on adolescents. The main sections include guidance on: Conceptual understanding, Main strategies and key interventions , Organizational commitment and processes, and Monitoring and evaluation. The appendices provide sector-specific guidelines for adolescent participation in: Health, WASH, Nutrition and HIV; Education; Child protection, care and justice; Disaster risk reduction, climate change and environmental protection; and Peacebuilding and humanitarian response.

Fun, Safe, Inclusive: A Half-Day Training Module on Facilitating Skills

The Fun, Safe, Inclusive manual is a half-day training module on facilitation skills that can be used across sectors, for programmes at all levels, to provide a short training on facilitating programmes for children. It can be used as a stand-alone training tool or as part of a comprehensive training on psychosocial and resilience-promoting activities for children, adults and families. The module focuses on facilitation skills promoting fun, safety and inclusion. It draws on new insights about the importance of play from neuroscience, giving ideas for activities designed to alleviate the long-term impact of toxic stress on children’s brains and development.

Including Children with Disabilities in Humanitarian Settings

The Including Children with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action pack consists of six guidance booklets that aim to strengthen the inclusion of children and women with disabilities, and their families, in emergency preparedness, response and early recovery, and recovery and reconstruction. This series of booklets provides insight into the situation of children with disabilities in humanitarian contexts, highlights the ways in which they are excluded from humanitarian action, and offers practical actions and tips to better include children and adolescents with disabilities in all stages of humanitarian action. The booklets were created in response to UNICEF colleagues in the field expressing a need for a practical resource to guide their work. The information and recommendations are based on evidence and good practices gathered from literature and field staff experiences. The six booklets on how to include children and adolescents with disabilities in humanitarian programmes focus on: 1) general guidance; 2) child protection; 3) education; 4) health and HIV/AIDS; 5) nutrition; 6) water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

Child Safe Programming and Safeguarding in Interim Centres

The Child Safe Programming and Safeguarding in Interim Centres outlines some of the potential safeguarding risks children face in Interim Care Centres. The guidance note identifies three main ways that children can be harmed: by people, by programmes and processes, and by the physical environment. The guidance note provides information on safeguarding from sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH), and other risks to children's well-being including neglect, emotional abuse and unsafe environments. There are also suggestions for how these risks can be mitigated to ensure that children are as safe as possible.

Global Multi Sectoral Operational Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Across Settings [Field Demonstration version]

UNICEF’s Global Multi Sectoral Operational Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Across Settings [Field Demonstration version] aims to guide MHPSS programme development and integration of MHPSS into all sectors that influence children, adolescents, families and caregivers mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. The framework can be used in development contexts, humanitarian contexts and within the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. There is emphasis on engaging actors in the health, social welfare and child protection and education sectors at all levels of society to design, implement and evaluate MHPSS strategies that are locally relevant, comprehensive and sustainable. The framework can be used by all persons involved in assessing needs; designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes for children, adolescents and caregivers; and those involved in advocating for support children, adolescents and caregivers.

General Support Group Curriculum

The General Support Group Curriculum. developed by the Global Child Protection Area of Responsibility, is a guidance and orientation package focusing on support group interventions for children, adolescents, and families who require basic emotional and practical support to address psychosocial challenges that disrupt their sense of safety, security, and hope. Support groups can help group members to process difficult memories and grieve multiple losses as needed for full psychosocial recovery and stabilization. There is emphasis on encouraging mutual support among group members and linking with wider community supports. This guidance can be used as a basis for training and orienting resource persons who will work with children in small groups. The approach used integrates the IASC pyramid layer three of interventions into child protection activities.

Photovoice Guidance 10 Simple Steps to Involve Children in Needs Assessment

The Photovoice Guidance 10 Simple Steps to Involve Children in Needs Assessment is primarily aimed at country-level Save the Children staff and partners responsible for implementing development or humanitarian programmes. It brings together practical and tested ‘how-to’ guidance from colleagues in Bangladesh. Photovoice is a participatory action research methodology that was coined by Caroline Wang in the 1990s. She describes Photovoice as a methodology that enables people to identify, represent and enhance their community and life circumstances through photography. Photovoice projects aim to make voices heard and support the self-development of participants. Photovoice can be used as a needs assessment tool and to develop a more contextual understanding of the context in which a programme is embedded. In addition to understanding children’s needs, this might include an analysis of children’s coping strategies, giving you an insight into the innate resources and support structures that you will need to strengthen. Obtaining children’s voices at the planning stage, can effectively ensure a programme targets the articulated needs of children and resonates with their lived realities. Photovoice can also be used at to re-define what success and impact looks like, transforming monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

Working with Other Sectors to Enhance Outcomes of MHPSS of Child Protection: An Introductory Guide for Child Protection Practitioners (Field Test Version 1.0)

The Working with Other Sectors to Enhance Outcomes of MHPSS of Child Protection guide is intended to help child protection practitioners to advocate for the best interests of the child in all arenas and seek out ways in which all sectors can contribute to the protection and well-being of children. The guide is a helpful tool for facilitating productive conversations with colleagues from different sectors and may also be useful for case managers faced with the challenge of navigating between sectors to find the best solution for individual children and families. The guide links child protection to Camp Coordination and Camp Management, Education in Emergencies, Gender-based violence, Health, Mine Action, Nutrition and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Settings

The Guidelines for Community Based MHPSS in Humanitarian Settings: Three-tiered support for children and families aim to protect and promote children’s wellbeing and full participation within the family and community systems that surround and support them. The guidelines offer practical information and tools to implement a range of MHPSS interventions to rapidly address the protection and psychosocial support needs of children and families, in parallel with tailored mental health interventions for those most in need. They are intended for UNICEF staff, partners and other agencies in humanitarian settings to help effectively embed MHPSS programmes for child and family wellbeing in communities. They are especially relevant for partners working in child protection, health and nutrition, education, camp management and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to better understand the MHPSS needs of people facing or recovering from adversity. A deeper understanding of the guidelines in the field will help to improve coordination across sectors, facilitate referrals to ensure that MHPSS needs are met, and enhance coordinated implementation of effective and culturally sound humanitarian interventions that reduce the potential for further harm. The compendium of resources supplements the global guidance through providing a set of resources that can be used in different field settings.

Comfort, Listen, Empower:Psycholgical FIrst Aid for Children During a Crisis

The Comfort, Listen, Empower:Psycholgical FIrst Aid for Children During a Crisis resource set is developed by Save the Children Sweden's Centre for Support and Treatment. It includes includes a guide on Psychologocal First Aid and a leaflet to give parents and one to give to children. It focuses on how adults can support children after critical incidents and during emergencies affecting society as a whole, both in the initial emergency phase and some time after. It refers to difficult events that affect many children – for example terrorist attacks, forest fires, collapse of buildings, or a shooting where many are injured or otherwise affected. It has guidance on what to do first, how to promote a feeling of security, a feeling of calm, a sense of belonging, a feeling of self-confidence, trust in society and promote a sense of hope.

UNICEF Innovations: Adolescent Kit

Adolescent Kit for Expression and Innovation is a package of guidance, tools and supplies to support country programmes to reach and engage adolescents ages 10-18 affected by conflict and other crises. The Kit aims to bring about positive change in adolescents’ lives through arts and innovation. The activities offer adolescents the chance to express themselves, experiment, solve real problems, and explore new ideas. In the process, adolescent girls and boys develop key competencies and new skills that help them to cope with stressful circumstances, build healthy relationships, and engage positively with their communities. The Kit promotes the Adolescent Circles approach, which involves bringing groups of girls and boys ages 10-18 together in a safe space on a regular basis to have fun, cope with difficult experiences, learn, and work together. It draws from good programmatic approaches in psychosocial support, life skills education, child protection, social cohesion and peacebuilding. The Kit can be used by anyone involved in managing programmes or working directly with adolescents in humanitarian and vulnerable development contexts, including staff across different sectors, teachers, Child Friendly Space facilitators, youth facilitators and community volunteers. All or part of the Kit can be integrated into programmes for adolescents in areas such as child protection, education and youth development.

Listen and Learn Participatory Assessment with Children and Adolescents

The Listen and Learn Participatory Assessment with Children and Adolescent tool presents an approach to participatory assessments for children and adolescents. It provides guidance on how to run participatory assessments ethically and inclusively. After tips on preparation, the tool describes a range of participatory workshop methods that can be used by humantarian actors, culminating in a sample workshop module. The tool encourages monitoring and evaluation teams to use varied activities, instead of only focus group discussions. The annex contains a number of practical tools to assist in planning and conducting participatory assessments. There is specific guidance on how to hold structured dialogues with refugee men and women, girls and boys of all ages and backgrounds about their particular protection needs and risks. The tool can be used to ensure that children are at the centre of decision-making concerning their protection and well-being.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Technical Note

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Technical Note synthesizes information on UNICEF’s approach to MHPSS, and references existing MHPSS operational guidance and standards that are detailed across sectors. It has been developed for UNICEF staff and explains : • WHAT Mental Health and MHPSS is, • WHY MHPSS needs to be included and delivered across sectors, and • HOW to deliver effective, multi-sectoral MHPSS in both development and humanitarian contexts. It gives an overview of guidance, evidence-based interventions, standards, resources, and examples of successful MHPSS programs. It also provides practical suggestions to further strengthen UNICEF’s approach to inclusion for people of all ages, genders, abilities, ethnicities and living situations. Children and adolescents are particularly prioritized, and all sectors are encouraged to incorporate MHPSS approaches to support children and family’s mental health and well-being.

Manual For The Integration Of Child Care Practices And Mental Health Into Nutrition Programs

Manual For The Integration Of Child Care Practices And Mental Health Into Nutrition Programs was developed to promote the integration of mental health and child care practices within nutrition. This technical guide offers a set of concrete actions and practical orientations to combine focus on prevention and treatment of severe malnutrition with mental health and child care practices. Everyone are encouraged to apply these practices in the Therapeutic Feeding Centre (TFCs) during admissions, playtime or mealtime, and during outpatient treatment. This document can help nutrition program experts to implement child care practices through simple actions. It is presented as a step-by-step tool-kit.

Mainstreaming Psychosocial Care and Support through Child Participation

The Mainstreaming Psychosocial Care and Support through Child Participation was developed for programmes working with children and families affected by HIV and AIDS, poverty and conflict. Child participation is an inspiring approach to addressing the needs of children and families affected by HIV and AIDS, conflict and poverty. It brings new perspectives, energy and creativity to development programmes, while contributing directly to the psychosocial wellbeing of all involved. These guidelines are written for individuals working in or funding programmes working with vulnerable children. This resources is useful for project managers, trainers/counsellors, fieldworkers, donors, children involved in a development projec. The guidelines may be used as a training tool for organisations wishing to increase their focus on child participation.

"Journey of Life" Community Workshops to Support Caregivers and Children in Need

The Journey of Life community workshops to support caregivers and children in need' is designed for communities wishing to support children in need and their caregivers. Using picture codes, personal testimonies and role plays, the workshops stimulate reflection, dialogue and action among participants. By taking them through their own life journey they are better able to understand the problems facing children in their care and in their community. Pictures and posters, a core feature of the resource, are designed to facilitate dialogue. Resource mapping and action plans provide communities with an opportunity to identify their capacities and begin to act on their collective responsibility towards these children. The Journey of Life comes with a variety of M&E tools, including forms for committee information, individual attitudinal changes, household changes, and workshop evaluations. GUIDES FOR PARTICIPANTS Main Workshop: Community Implementation Guide (includes Action Workshops 1, 2 and 3 on community parenting, supporting grieving children and teaching life skills to children) Action Workshops 4–7 at synergos.org Action Workshop 8: Ending human trafficking Action Workshop 9: Protecting our children from abuse GUIDES FOR FACILITATORS Main Workshop: Facilitator Training Guide (includes Action Workshops 1, 2 and 3 on community parenting, supporting grieving children and teaching life skills to children) Action Workshops 4-7 at synergos.org Action Workshop 8: Ending human trafficking Action Workshop 9: Protecting our children from abuse MONITORING AND EVALUATION CRS also aided in providing monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools to help facilitators measure the change in attitudes and actions by the people who participated in their ""Journey of Life"" workshops. Though the workshops are designed for groups who work on child trafficking and child labor issues, the tools below can be adapted for other settings as well.

INSPIRE Handbook: Action for Implementing the Seven Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children

The INSPIRE Handbook: Action for Implementing the Seven Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children is a technical package of selected strategies based on the best available evidence to help countries and communities intensify their focus on the prevention programmes and services with the greatest potential to reduce violence against children explains in detail how to choose and implement interventions that will fit your needs and context. The seven strategy-specific chapters address the Implementation and enforcement of laws; Norms and values; Safe environments; Parent and caregiver support; Income and economic strengthening; Response and support services; and Education and life skills. The handbook concludes with a summary of INSPIRE’s implementation and impact indicators, drawn from the companion INSPIRE indicator guidance and results framework. The INSPIRE Handbook is a resource for all stakeholders working to end violence against children.

Parenting and Adolescent Life Skills Programme

The Plan International’s global Parenting and Adolescent Life Skills (PALS) programme is developed for humanitarian teams who support adolescents and their caregivers in emergency and protracted crisis settings. The programme aims to equip adolescents aged 10 to 19 years and their caregivers with essential information, skills and resources to support adolescent health, safety and wellbeing in times of crisis. The programme has been developed in close collaboration with adolescents and caregivers in Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Tanzania. Through local consultations held between May and July 2019, adolescents and their caregivers shared valuable insights about their needs and priorities in relation to their wellbeing, and their existing resources and capacities to cope with crisis situations. In August 2019, the first life skills and parenting sessions were tested in Northeast Nigeria together with younger adolescents (10 to 14 years), older adolescents (15 to 19 years) and their parents/caregivers, supported by frontline staff. The complete PALS programme package includes the following resources: Life Skills curriculum: 13 Life Skills Session plans including facilitation notes Parenting curriculum: 10 Parenting Session plans including facilitation notes Resources for the facilitator to use in the sessions Monitoring and evaluation tools for the facilitator to use before, during and after the sessions Laughter and Play Manual with the games and creative exercises Implementation guide Tools to support implementation Training package with online and in-person learning modules

Girl Shine

The Girl Shine is a program model and resource package that seeks to support, protect, and empower adolescent girls in humanitarian settings. Girl Shine has been designed to help contribute to the improved prevention of and response to violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings by providing them with skills and knowledge to identify types of GBV and seek support services if they experience or are at risk of GBV. The Girl Shine program model and resource package can be used in multiple humanitarian settings, including conflict and natural disasters, as well as within the various phases of emergency response. It has been adapted to reflect the latest research findings on the experiences of adolescent girls in humanitarian settings, and the nature of GBV against adolescent girls. Included in the resource package are the following: Girl Shine: Advancing the field–designing girl-driven gender based violence programming in Humanitarian settings (Part 1) Girl Shine: Life skills curriculum (Part 2) Girl Shine: Caregiver curriculum (Part 3) Girl Shine: Mentor and facilitator training manual (Part 4)

Child Protection in Emergency Shelters for Refugees: A checklist for temporary accommodation for children and families

The Child Protection in Emergency Shelters for Refugees: A checklist for temporary accommodation for children and families presents the most important protection requirements for refugee children, young people and their families and ensures these are met, based on tried and tested quality assessment tool, “the children’s rights check”. This checklist is intended to help operators and staff to determine the situation regarding children’s rights in a shelter, and if necessary, to quickly initiate measures to improve the situation. For this purpose, five quality areas were chosen: Protection, health, participation and the cross-cutting areas of human resources and infrastructure. To check how well you are positioned to meet the needs of children, young people and their families, we translated these categories into everyday observations. Tick off the things that are already going well and highlight the areas where you still need to make adjustments. This will allow you to recognise those areas that require further action. The check list is aimed at shelters where people stay for approximately 24 to 48 hours.

Child Protection Issue Brief: Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children

The Child Protection Issue Brief: Mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children presents recommendations for strong collaboration between specialists and sectors to ensure a holistic and child-centered response that fosters the well-being of displaced and refugee children. It aims to preserve and improve the well-being of displaced and refugee children by mainstreaming psychosocial support in all aspects of its work and implementing specific psychosocial support programmes. The mitigation of immediate and long-term risks and consequences for the mental health and psychosocial well-being of individuals, families and communities is a core part of UNHCR’s protection mandate.

Nurturing the Spiritual Development of Children

The Nurturing the Spiritual Development of Children Toolkit is designed to help equip faith actors to engage actively in the protection of children from violence in early childhood and the promotion of children’s holistic well-being by supporting parents, caregivers, educators and communities to nurture children’s spiritual development and take an active role in addressing violence in early childhood. The Toolkit is tailored for organizations — faith-based organizations, religious communities, or other civil society organizations interested in the spiritual development of children — and is designed to complement holistic development approaches and to be integrated in existing parenting, education and/ or ECD programs. The Toolkit presents a Learning Program for Adults as well as Activities for Children. The Learning Program for Adults is designed for use with the following types of people: • Faith actors who work directly with families and children or in daycare centers, early learning settings, etc.; • Parents and caregivers of children up to 8 years; and • Educators and other community members involved in early childhood care and learning. The Toolkit is comprised of the Introduction & Rationale, 7 Booklets and a Flipbook, including a Learning Program for Adults, Activities for Children, Guides for Organizations, Trainers and Facilitators to support systematic implementation into already existing programs for early childhood and a Guide for Religious and Spiritual Leaders.

The Right of Children to Participate in Public Decision-Making Processes

The Right of Children to Participate in Public Decision-Making Processes is a report commissioned by the Child Rights Governance team at Save the Children and was undertaken by the Centre for Children’s Rights and Family Law at University College Cork and the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast. It brings together the research literature and the experience of civil society organisations working around the world to promote effective engagement with and participation by children and young people in decisions by national and local governments. Drawing on examples from a variety of countries representing diverse economic, social, political and cultural circumstances, it identifies the building blocks that are conducive to the effective participation of children in public decision-making.

Disability-inclusive Child Safeguarding Guidelines and Toolkit

The Disability-inclusive Child Safeguarding Guidelines and Toolkit have been developed to respond to an existing gap in child safeguarding practices, which often fail to recognize the specific requirements and adaptations needed to ensure the safety of children with disabilities. The guidelines build on consultations with children and youth with disabilities as well as experience from over 20 organisations. They serve to build knowledge and frame the rationale supporting the relevance and necessity of Disability-Inclusive Child Safeguarding. Through the guidelines, you will find information about best practices, as well as practical tools and helpful recommendations. The different chapters are useful for both organising for disability-inclusive child safeguarding and for making each step of the child safeguarding cycle disability-inclusive. The toolkit provides helpful solutions for organisations and practitioners working across development and humanitarian sectors on how to plan for disability-inclusive child safeguarding programmes. Each tool provided shows how to include children with disabilities within programmes, this is important as it is essential we identify, monitor, and build into our programme design risks that children with disabilities may experience as a result of engaging in activities or programmes.

Now I’m Stronger: Focused Activities for Children's Emotions (FACE)

Now I’m Stronger Focused Activities for Children's Emotions (FACE) is a 10 session curriculum adapted for 6-17 year olds developed by the International Rescue Committee in Lebanon. It aims to promote two main characteristics: active participation and the development of life skills to support positive coping and resilience capacities of children.

Safeguarding in Sport and Sport for Development: A Practitioner’s Guide from Policy to Action

The Safeguarding in Sport and Sport for Development: A Practitioner’s Guide from Policy to Action provides a useful guide on how governments, sports confederations, organisations, clubs and individuals working in sport and Sport for Development can develop policies, guidelines and implement measures designed to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. The Safeguarding in Sport practitioner’s resource is a toolbox for organisations, facilitators - those who teach, coach or lead sporting activities, for parents and guardians and communities in Africa. It provides comprehensive guidance on developing safeguarding policies and practice in sport and sport for development contexts and is an important training resource for athletes, coaches and sports officials. Sport and Sport for Development is not just about the games. Sporting activities are used as a tool to engage target populations in programmes that work towards development goals such as peace promotion, gender equity, education, inclusion and health. To achieve this, effective safeguarding measures are essential to ensure that the right to participation in sport and physical activity in a safe and harm free environment for enjoyment – regardless of age, gender, origin or ability is fulfilled. This practitioner’s guide on Safeguarding in Sport and Sport for Development (S4D) Contexts is a product of an intensive and inclusive process that comprised a wide range of stakeholders. It has been developed in accordance with recognised best practice but with the African context in mind.

Storybook: Big Journey, Big Feelings Child Protection

The Storybook: Big Journey, Big Feelings Child Protection was developed for Ukrainian children who have left their country will be or are experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and significant stress on their mental health. This social story has been designed to be given to Ukrainian children to help them process intense feelings and questions during an incredibly difficult time.

Storybooks: Heroes Cry Too and Meeting a Hero

The Meeting a Hero and the Heroes Cry Too are two colouring book for children created by Alicja Safarzyńska-Płatos, a designer with a background in psychology, in consultation with psychologists in Poland, Ksenia Potępa (Illustrator), Ewa Jankowska (Translator), and others. The Meeting a Hero storybook is developed for children dealing with the fears linked to the war in Ukraine. The Heroes Cry Too storybook is designed to be used with children who are a part of host communities and may interact with children who have fled Ukraine. Both storybooks can also be used as a colouring book.