MHPSS and EIE Toolkit

IASC Interim Briefing Note: Addressing MHPSS Aspects of COVID-19 - Version 1.5

This briefing was developed by the IASC Reference Group for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings and summarises key mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) considerations in relation to the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It covers general MHPSS guidelines; overarching principles for an MHPSS response to COVID-19 and globally recommended activities. Intervention 3 (page 10 and 11) contains messages and activities for helping children deal with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak.

My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19

This is a storybook written by the IASC Reference Group on MHPSS for children around the world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 'My Hero is You' should be read by an adult alongside a child or a small group of children. It is not encouraged for children to read this book alone without the support of a parent, caregiver or teacher. It includes information on hygiene and safety routines, and tips on how to deal with emotions. Adaptations of "My Hero is You!" and additional resources (films and audio versions in different languages), can be found at the Resource Documents section and an accompanying guide for caregivers in English can be found at the Linked Resources section.

Tips for Parents and Caregivers During COVID-19 School Closures: Supporting Children’s Wellbeing and Learning

These brief tips are for fathers, mothers or other caring adults supporting the wellbeing and learning of girls and boys affected by COVID-19 school closures. These messages focus on supporting parents and caregivers in order to improve wellbeing and learning outcomes for children. They are designed to complement government-developed distance learning materials, where available.

INEE Technical Note on Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is a technical guide for practitioners to support education during the COVID-19 pandemic in contexts that were fragile and/or crisis-affected before the pandemic. It provides guidance on how to respond to support wellbeing and learning opportunities during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic through planning new responses or modifying existing programmes. This technical note is structured around the INEE Minimum Standards for Education framework and links to suggested actions to help operationalise these. It includes five sections: take care of yourself; coordinate your work; analyse the context; develop your activity plan; and review progress and quality.

Framework for Reopening Schools

This framework provides practical, high-level guidance on how to reopen schools to inform the decision-making process, support national preparations and guide the implementation process. It is designed to be a flexible tool that can be adapted to each context and updated as the situation changes. The guidelines outline six key priorities to assess the readiness of schools and inform planning: policy, financing, safe operations, learning, reaching the most marginalized and wellbeing/protection. This framework has a linked supplementary document on emerging lessons for reopening schools (see linked resources section).

Basic Psychosocial Skills - A Guide for COVID-19 Responders

This guide aims to help people supporting the COVID-19 response integrate basic psychosocial support skills into their work, to support the well-being of people they come into contact with during the pandemic. The guide is for health and social workers; emergency responders; people working in food stores, public transport, funeral parlours and pharmacies; employers and managers; and people who are providing support to vulnerable family members or members of their community. The illustrated chapters provide practical advice for taking care of one’s own mental well-being, communicating with empathy, offering practical support and helping people suffering from stress or severe distress. Case studies and tips to remember are included throughout.

COVID-19 Wellbeing Activity Worksheets

This resource consists of four short activity worksheets. One about dealing with emotions, shows how to recognize, process, balance, and regulate emotions to improve overall wellbeing and facilitate healing. Another about mindful movement, helps children understand how movement increases overall health and sense of well-being, reduces stress and anxiety, enhances mood, and improves sleep. A third worksheet about breath work, describes a breathing exercise to lower stress to calm down and relax. Lastly, there is an emotional wellbeing check-in sheet to check off activities done.

Actions for Heroes A Guide for Heart-to-Heart Chats with Children to Accompany Reading of My Hero is You, How Kids Can Fight COVID-19!

This guide has been developed to accompany the children’s storybook My Hero is You, how kids can fight COVID-19 (see section 3.1.4). Actions for Heroes directs adults about how to have heart-to-heart chats with children and educate them about coping with COVID-19 related stressors and changes. It explains how adults can create safe spaces for children to openly share their feelings, including their fears and worries, about the coronavirus and frustrations at their changed daily lives. The guide also directs adults on how to promote positive actions that children can take to protect themselves and others. The storybook can be found at the Linked Resources section.

Technical Note on Measurement for Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This Technical Note intends to supplement version one of the INEE Technical Note on Education During COVID-19 (see linked resources). It specifically focuses on monitoring and evaluating distance education programs in light of the pandemic.

Supplement to Framework for Reopening Schools: Emerging Lessons from Country Experiences in Managing the Process of Reopening Schools

Education systems around the world continue to grapple with the complex decisions of when and how to reopen schools for in-person learning following widespread closures due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Many countries closed schools along with other widespread restrictions as an immediate response to the increased spread of COVID-19. But school closures have had increasingly clear negative impacts on child health, education and development, family income and the overall economy.As more countries are reopening schools, lessons are emerging on what is working. These lessons are shared in this supplement linked to the Framework for Reopening Schools (see linked resources section).

Loss and Grief During COVID-19

This document is a guide on how to support those who are experiencing loss and grief during COVID-19. It is divided seven sections: pandemics as major crisis events; loss; grief; loss and grief considerations for vulnerable groups; support to those who are experiencing loss and grief; caring for staff and volunteers during COVID-19; and further resources. A specific section for children and adolescents can be found on page 18.

Coronavirus and Kids: Resources from Save the Children

This online resource provides tips about school closure and education for parents and caregivers. In addition, it provides learning activities for children of two age groups: prenatal – 2 years and 3 – 5 years. Most resources available in Spanish.

COVID-19: 24/7 Parenting

Parenting for Lifelong Health provides open-source and evidence-based parenting resources to support parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. These resources focus on building positive parent-child relationships and reducing violence against children. They give tips on learning through play, reinforcing positive behaviours and managing difficult behaviours, creating structure and routines, talking about COVID-19, keeping children safe online, and reducing stress and conflict. Available in more than 100 languages.

Safe Back to School: A Practitioner’s Guide

The practitioner’s guide builds on the UN Framework for Reopening Schools (see linked resources section), and provides concrete actions that can be taken to operationalise these global policy recommendations for governments and school communities to build back better and strengthen the resilience of their education systems. It outlines the key steps needed for a coordinated, inclusive approach to school reopening and links to further guidance where appropriate.

COVID-19 Operational Guidance for Implementation and Adaptation of MHPSS Activities for Children, Adolescents, and Families

This guidance has been developed to better understand what aspects of MHPSS need to be included as part of the COVID-19 response, and to consider how we can deliver and adapt MHPSS activities in this evolving and challenging landscape. It is designed for global use and will be a living document that is updated on a regular basis as new resources and adaptations emerge and contexts change.

PLAY@ HOME Games for Health and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Outbreak

This is a collection of games that were developed to respond to needs arising in communities due to the COVID-19 crisis. Remote solutions were developed in order to deliver key messages and develop key skills that support children’s health and wellbeing, using a play-based approach. The games contained in this resource are focused specifically on developing life skills that support children to stay healthy, stay active, take care of themselves and take care of one another.

Learning Must Go On: Recommendations for Keeping Children Safe and Learning, During and After the COVID-19 Crisis

This inter-agency briefing highlights some of the potential impacts of school closures on children, with a focus on the most marginalised, including those already living in crisis and conflict contexts. It provides recommendations for governments and donors, together with partners, to ensure that safe, quality and inclusive learning reaches all children and that education systems are strengthened ready for the return to school. The key recommendations of this report are: continue learning; protect wellbeing; address needs of marginalized children and youth; support the specific needs of children and youth affected by conflict, humanitarian crises and forced displacement; support teachers and parents; strengthen education systems in preparation for school reopening; and maintain and increase financing.

Back in School after COVID-19

All over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected children’s daily lives. When welcoming children back into schools, clubs or other activities, it is important to be aware that they will have experienced different emotions and reactions during COVID-19. This guidance suggests sessions to facilitate the adjustment that will assist children in reflecting on their experiences of the pandemic and identifying the skills they acquired going through these experiences. The sessions are tailored to fit different age groups and there is the choice of carrying out full sessions or adapting them to the context.

Psychological First Aid Training for COVID-19 Additional Module: Loss and Grief

This basic training responds to the urgent need for training on how to support people in distress because of the COVID-19 outbreak. It can be used by trainers around the world. Run the interactive on-line training using the accompanying PowerPoints and participant’s worksheet or record the training for participants to follow when it fits their schedule.

Home Learning Support for Parents and Guardians

This resource bank was created as an early emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It compiles a list of learning resources in several languages to help guide parents, guardians and stakeholders. The resources are across subjects, interdisciplinary, engaging and do not require any technology to be implemented. The materials are divided in 4 sections: ages 4 to 7, ages 8 to 10, ages 10 to 14, and educator resources.

Remote Psychological First Aid During COVID-19

These IFRC guidelines are to support practitioners in setting up remote Psychosocial First Aid services for adults during a COVID-19 response. It gives detailed guidance on delivering PFA remotely including on how to handle calls.

Returning to Learning During Crises: Decision-Making and Planning Tools for Education Leaders

This toolkit is for national and local education officials, implementing partners, and administrators and managers of education institutions. It helps education planners plan and make key decisions on the return to learning during and after education disruptions caused by crises, such as COVID-19, in a way that is equitable, inclusive, and builds the resilience of education systems.

Caring for Caregivers during the COVID-19 Crisis

The Caring for the Caregiver (CFC) frontline worker training package is designed to support emotional wellbeing of caregivers/parents, with a focus on vulnerable caregivers, particularly adolescent mothers. CFC promotes emotional awareness, self-care, and self-efficacy, and encourages partner and family support, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills, particularly in contexts of high levels of adversity. This resource guides users with key messages which help advocate for emotional and practical support, and the use of coping strategies to deal with COVID-related caregiving stresses, responsibilities, fear, uncertainty, and isolation. It offers practical guidance and resources which encourage connection and communication to address isolation and disruption in daily routine.

Global Guidance on Reopening Early Childhood Education Settings

This guidance note outlines key principles and practical measures for decision-makers to consider before, during and after the transition from closure to reopening. It focuses on safe operations in early childhood education settings, staff training and support, child well-being and development, and parental communication and support.

Activities and Games for Children’s Well-Being in Times of Lockdown and School Closure

The booklet contains games and play-based activities to support children’s overall psychosocial well-being and raise awareness of key health behaviours with regards to the prevention of COVID-19. The games and activities are accessible, clear, inclusive and positively impact children’s development. All of the selected games/activities can be carried out in the home, either by the child alone or with siblings and/or parents.

Monitoring and Evaluation for MHPSS in COVID-19

This document is a monitoring and evaluation tool for MHPSS in COVID-19. It shows examples of interventions and programmes; output and outcome indicators and means of verification. It gives advice about who should collect the data.

Guidance on Distance Learning Modalities to Reach All Children and Youth during School Closures

This guidance on continuity of learning during school closures draws on the key lessons learned from the COVID-19 education response around the world. It was developed for government policymakers and education staff of national and international organizations involved in the education response during school closures. It covers low and no-tech offline modalities as well as high tech online modalities for distance learning, and looks at both self-learning and teacher-guided possibilities. It looks at how to reach children who are disadvantaged and marginalised.

COVID-19: Protocol for the Safe and Healthy Re-Opening of UNRWA Educational Institutions’ UNRWA-2020

This protocol provides clear and actionable guidance for the safe reopening of educational institutions. It details how protective measures of social distancing, hand hygiene and respiratory hygiene can be managed within the school environment. It gives detailed guidance on cleaning and disinfection. With regards to the safety of canteens in times of COVID-19, the protocol includes some instructions related to food services. It also discusses MHPSS needs, vulnerable children and how to manage suspected cases of COVID-19.

Hopeful, Healthy, and Happy Living and Learning Toolkit - Guide for Teachers

This Guide has been designed for teachers supporting children in their return to school in the wake of the pandemic. It opens with a set of general group-building exercises, followed by themed activities focussing on 16 key life skills supporting the personal, cognitive and interpersonal development of children. The exercises are suitable for a wide range of different age groups from pre-school to secondary school. The exercises could also be combined with sports and leisure activities in clubs or community centres, and in safe spaces for children in humanitarian settings.

Hopeful, Healthy, and Happy Living and Learning Toolkit - Parent - Caregiver Guide

The Parent-Caregiver Guide features six fictional families from different corners of the world who are facing challenges in their lives in the course of dealing with COVID-19. Positive messages to encourage parents and caregivers in the care of their children at this demanding time are given such as structuring the day, taking time to check in with one another, using positive discipline, talking about loss, dealing with stigma, and protecting children online. At the end of the guide, there is a useful checklist for the whole household to help everyone reflect on how they are doing as a family. There is also a set of prompts for families who wish to make a COVID-19 hero book.

Social Emotional Learning - Distance Learning Activity Pack

This pack of activities is intended to support distance learning opportunities for children who are currently out of school and have no, or limited, access to quality education. These materials can also be used as a complement to formal or non-formal education where social emotional learning (SEL) is not adequately covered by the curriculum. They are adapted from existing, vetted, Save the Children technical packages and the adaptation has focused on ensuring their suitability for distance learning modalities such as radio and audio broadcasts. Note: The Implementation Guide and the IRI SEL Script Matrix links are currently only available for Save the Children staff. Publicly accessible versions will be available soon.

Ready to Come Back: Teacher Preparedness Training Package

This training package provides practical, concise yet crucial information about the impact of COVID-19 on daily teaching practices as well as tips and suggestions to improve safety, well-being and learning, with students in face-to-face or remote settings. It includes quizzes and a self-evaluation and planning tool to help teachers reflect on what they learned.

Hopeful, Healthy, and Happy Living and Learning Toolkit - Activity Guide

This Guide for Teachers, Parents and Children features fun activities for children at home, in school or for remote use. In a home learning environment, for example, the activities could be done with a sibling group. Each activity is flagged as best done with a group or whether it may be adapted for use with a single child. The activities have been carefully designed to engage with children in relation to social and emotional learning around self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision-making.

Psychosocial Support for Children During COVID -19

This manual can be used by anyone supporting children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including parents and caregivers. It provides information on the potential implications of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing of children, and on the increased risk of violence and how to handle these. It provides resources to help engage children positively and effectively. The manual is activity-based and is focused on two age groups – 6 to 10, and 11 to 19.

Keeping Connected: How Teacher Outreach Calls can Support Student Wellbeing and Continuation of Learning during COVID-19 School Closures

This tip sheet provides information for teachers on the benefits of outreach calls to students. It also provides very practical advice on how to structure the call and what questions to ask.

Education on hold COVID-19: A generation of children in Latin America and the Caribbean are missing out on schooling

This report evidences how the COVID-19 pandemic is putting on hold the education of over 137 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean and has further widened the education gaps between rich and poor families. This document is divided in 5 sections: school closures in Latin American and the Caribbean region; risks associated with prolonged school closures; UNICEF education response; preparing for school reopening and a call to action.

Let’s Talk About It: Welcome Back Check-In Guidance

This is a guide to provide basic support to children to help them process their feelings and experiences, before adjusting back into regular social contact with peers and routine classes or activities. This tool is designed for use by adults – including classroom teachers - who facilitate activities with children after experiencing school closures, COVID 19 home isolation and physical distancing. This check-in session aims to help prevent longer-term negative impacts on psychosocial development.

PSS and Learning Kits for COVID-19 - Activities during Precautionary Measures (age group 6-13)

This toolkit contains materials for children from 6 to 13 years old including messages for caregivers and parents; descriptions about stories/comic books explaining COVID 19 and how to take precautionary measures; and a list of PSS and learning activities.

What have we learnt? Overview of findings from a survey of ministries of education on national responses to COVID-19

As part of the coordinated global education response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank conducted a survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures. This report, analyses the results of the first two rounds of data collection covering government responses to school closures from pre-primary to secondary education.

Learning in a COVID-19 World: The Unique Risks of Falling Behind for Children in Humanitarian Settings

This policy brief explores the knock-on effects of the virus on children and families in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and how the international community and national governments can meet evolving needs.

Impact of COVID-19 on Protection and Education Among Children in Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya September 2020

A study was conducted in three refugee camps in Dadaab in Kenya which explored the impact of COVID-19 on children’s education, young mothers’ livelihoods and gender-based violence. This study highlights programmatic adaptations made in response to COVID-19, identifying what has worked well or less well and considers practical recommendations for the sector. The research gathered views from children, young mothers, caregivers and key stakeholders working in child protection and education in the camp. This study underscores the need for continuous support to these communities.

Considerations for School Related Public Health Measures in the Context of COVID-19

This resource provides considerations for decision-makers and educators on public health and social measures in relation to schools in the context of COVID-19. School operations, including decisions regarding closing and opening schools, have important implications for children, parents or caregivers, teachers and other staff, communities, and society at large. This document was drafted based on a review of available literature, discussion with experts, regional partners and country examples.

Best Practices on Effective SEL/Soft Skills Interventions in Distance Learning

The purpose of this review is to provide evidence on effective, equitable, and inclusive SEL practices that can be delivered via distance learning modalities in USAID-recipient countries. The scope of this review includes formal and non-formal basic, secondary and higher education programs, as well as workforce development programs, in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and, to a lesser extent, North America and Europe. This review also presents important considerations for teams planning to create new distance learning SEL programs or to pivot existing in-person programs to distance learning modalities.

Pivoting to Inclusion: Leveraging lessons from the COVID-19 crisis for learners with disabilities

It highlights the need for disability inclusion to be considered in all interconnected sectors; education, health, social protection, and inclusion from the planning stage to delivery and recovery efforts. This report focuses on the following objectives: (1) addressing education, social needs, barriers, and issues for learners with disabilities at a global, regional, and country-level during the COVID-19 crisis; and (2) recommending practices for education and social inclusion, and reasonable accommodations utilizing the twin track approach and principles of universal design for learning. It highlights the need for disability inclusion to be considered in all interconnected sectors; education, health, social protection, and inclusion from the planning stage to delivery and recovery efforts.

Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools

This document provides clear and actionable guidance for prevention, early detection and control of COVID-19 in schools and other educational facilities. It has sections on key messages, actions and checklists both for school administrators, teachers and staff, and for parents and caregivers. It also has age-specific health education advice for children and students to help them to stay safe and to become advocates for disease prevention and control at home, in school and in their community.

My Hero is You 2021: How Kids Can Hope with COVID-19

The story-book is a sequel to the immensely successful ‘My Hero is You: How kids can fight COVID-19! The new story, aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years, sees the return of Ario, a fantasy creature who travels the world helping children find hope in the future and joy in simple pleasures. Together with old and new friends, Ario addresses the fears, frustrations and concerns faced by children during this phase of the pandemic and explores with them the various coping mechanisms that they can use when faced with difficult emotions like fear, grief, anger and sadness. Through the voices of the children that Ario meets on his travels, the book provides a vivid illustration of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of children.

Let’s break silos now! Achieving disability-inclusive education in a post-COVID world

This report describes the difficulties children with disabilities face in accessing education in the world’s poorest countries during COVID-19. It calls for action on disability-inclusive education. It provides priorities for action and recommendations for inclusive education in low- and middle-income countries.

Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools - Supplemental Content

This series of supplemental resources, including materials collated from different sources, accompanies the Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools (above), providing further guidance on key messages and actions regarding the following topics: - A. Cleaning and Supply Recommendations - B. Contextualization, Dissemination and Implementation - C. Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support - D. Child-Friendly Materials - E. Protection of Children in and out of school in the context of COVID-19 pandemic - F. Accelerated Education as COVID-19 Response - G. Recommended Resources

The Use of Schools During the COVID-19 Response - Policy Briefing

This briefing provides messaging and key recommendations for school communities, authorities, governments, donors and partners to address the use of schools for other purposes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It raises concerns about health and safety threats and threats to educational continuity, as well as concerns about military presence on school sites. It presents recommendations to address these threats and concerns, and to plan for safe school reopening.

How Learning Continued during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Lessons from Initiatives to Support Learners and Teachers

During the first wave of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the OECD, the World Bank, the Global Education Innovation Initiative at Harvard University and HundrED joined forces to document a variety of examples of what education stakeholders did to allow academic learning to continue. This report brings together a collection of 45 case studies that were initially published on the OECD and World Bank websites between May 2020 and March 2021 (Part II). The “education continuity stories” describe specific solutions implemented by government, non-governmental organisation or companies to support teachers and learners. Many of these solutions had a strong technology dimension. These stories describe the proposed solution in terms of objectives and implementation, but also reflect on the challenges and success factors, the replicability of the initiative in other contexts, and the evidence of success that was gathered (at the time of initial publication). While most initiatives focus on primary and secondary education, they cover all levels of education, and illustrate innovations that have been undertaken around the world, in countries with different contexts, culture and levels of income.

Policy Brief – COVID-19 and the Global Education Emergency: Planning Systems for Recovery and Resilience

COVID-19 has caused the largest education disruption in history and exposed the scale to which education systems were unprepared for crises. Country-wide school closures were a near-universal policy response deemed necessary in the first phase. However, they have serious negative effects and deepen inequities. This brief recommends crisis-sensitive educational planning with a strong equity focus to ensure education continuity and suggests actions for the G20 countries and donors to rebuild and support resilient education systems, moving from first response to recovery.

COVID-19 and Education in Emergencies

This fact sheet is about the impact of COVID-19 on the education of girls; refugees, displaced and migrant children; children and youth with disabilities; and young people affected by trauma or mental health issues. Additionally, it explains the role of ECW during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.