Over the last 10 to 15 years, there has been more knowledge sharing on MHPSS than ever before. However, there is still room for improvement in organising development projects and humanitarian responses more consciously and deliberately. To make it a cross-cutting issue and to further strengthen mainstreaming, UTSA will look forward to work making sense of the points below:
- Awareness of the MHPSS
Humanitarian and development approaches to people’s physical wellbeing always also have effects on their mental and psychosocial wellbeing, either positive or negative. Development projects and response programmes and workers should be aware of this and, at a minimum, avoid doing harm.
- Approaching people’s mental health needs as primary needs
MHPSS saves lives. It must be part of the first wave of humanitarian response, and be included in prevention and resilience programmes. People who already have mental health conditions like dementia or schizophrenia must be able to rely on continuity of care.
- Ensuring a minimum service package
Several key organisations are have joint to develop a set of essential activities and services, methods and tools that constitute an acceptable minimum MHPSS package and can be implemented in many different contexts at a reasonable cost. This will make MHPSS more predictable and consistent.
- Building scalable ‘surge capacity’
It is also important to develop a surge mechanism for MHPSS, including a pool of experts that can be rapidly deployed to emergency settings in order to promote coordination and to provide technical support to local and international actors. Similar mechanisms already exist for other humanitarian sectors.
- Continuous and rigorous evaluation
What works, what doesn’t and why? It’s important to keep collecting and comparing data, using consistent terminology. Evidence involves not only numbers but also stories. An inter-agency commission should put up quality standards for implementation of proven MHPSS approaches. It can be helpful to keep an international evaluation team on standby, to connect to humanitarian response whenever and wherever needed.
- Making MHPSS accountable
Humanitarian programmes must have one single person or body responsible for coordinating all MHPSS included. Further recognition of MHPSS as a cross-cutting issue will enable dedicated funding and help organisations monitor and understand what is being spent, where and how.
- A holistic approach to humanitarian response
Programmes for mental and physical health must be linked up with other forms of basic support like food, clean water, shelter and protection. This holistic approach relies on strong referral networks and investment at different levels and in complementary services. Combining various services, including legal consultation and education, in community centers makes MHPSS more accessible.