The IASC MHPSS Minimum Service Package (MSP) informs humanitarian response planning. It offers an easy-to-follow guide to the highest priority MHPSS activities needed during a humanitarian crisis to address the mental health and psychosocial support needs of affected populations.
The MSP is a resource for humanitarian actors who plan, support, coordinate, implement and evaluate activities within and across sectors. These include government actors, MHPSS Technical Working Groups, national and international non-governmental organizations, civil society and other advocacy groups, Red Cross and Red Crescent networks, UN agencies, coordinators of sectors/clusters/AoRs and donors.
The MSP can be used to:
- Identify and address gaps in the MHPSS response
- Advocate and communicate about MHPSS needs and gaps
- Decide which programme activities to prioritize
- Obtain guidance on what actions to take when implementing each activity
- Estimate costs of MHPSS activities
- Decide which MHPSS to fund
The MSP includes activities that can be implemented by staff and volunteers with diverse backgrounds, qualifications and levels of experience. While standards, guidelines and tools for MHPSS have been developed, there is a recognized need for an intersectoral costed package to operationalize these guidelines and standards.
MSP associated tools (available here):
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- MSP Workshop Package
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- MSP Sector-Specific Quick-Start Guides
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- Multi-sectoral MHPSS Needs and Resources Assessments Toolkit
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- MSP Monitoring and Evaluation Bank
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- MSP Costing Tool
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- Recommended MHPSS Training Topics for those Implementing MSP Activities
The MSP Helpdesk is available to help you use the MSP to enhance the coordination, planning and implementation of MHPSS in humanitarian response. You can email the Helpdesk at mhpss.msp@gmail.com.