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IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support,Save the Children Denmark
The Children’s Resilience Programme: Psychosocial support in and out of school was developed in 2010 by Save the Children Denmark and the Psychosocial Centre of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The programme is a nonclinical psychosocial and protection methodology that focuses on children’s positive coping and resilience. The Child Resilience Programme comprises 8-16 structured workshops for children 10-16 years old. The same 1-2 facilitators conduct the activities once or twice a week, for the same group of children. The programme can be implemented for children in and out of school, e.g. during or after disasters, in situations of armed conflict, for children affected by HIV, or as part of preventative social work.
The objectives of the workshops are to:
The programme uses techniques, which have been proven effective in building the resilience of children, creating a Fun, Safe and Inclusive environment conducive for this purpose.
A critical component of the programme design is that it works at multiple levels – with children, their caregivers and communities. The programme includes caregivers’ meetings, which build their skills and understanding of child wellbeing and protection. Alongside this, activities are undertaken to reduce risks and strengthen protective factors within the community, including strengthening the community referral mechanisms. The programme can also be linked with additional community activities, such as children’s clubs, child protection committees, advocacy initiatives or other community forums.
To date, Save the children has implemented the programme in 16 countries in a variety of contexts, including development and humanitarian settings as well as low, middle- and high-income countries: Haiti, OPT, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, CAR, Guinea, China, Bangladesh, Denmark.
A resource kit has been developed to provide guidance for designing and implementing the Children’s Resilience Programme:
Most of the materials can be used as stand-alone resources but as a full set, they enable a good understanding of how to implement the Children’s Resilience Programme.
Children and armed conflict
Sexual violence and abuse