BePrepared App Toolkit

The Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

This document sets out the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS). It gives background information on the intentions for developing the standards and their legal basis. It outlines ten principles. The standards are then ordered within four pillars: standards to ensure a quality child protection response, standards on child protection risks, standards to develop adequate strategies and standards to work across sectors.

I Support My Friends Resource Kit

The I Support My Friends resource kit has been developed to give facilitators a comprehensive package of tools and resources to best equip children and adolescents in safe and effective peer support, together with adult mentors. It provides guidance and tools for preparing, designing, and implementing trainings with children and adolescents in how to support a friend in distress. The resource kit also includes guidance for appropriate adult supervision to ensure the physical and emotional safety of child and adolescent helpers and the friends they support. The resource kit is comprised of: Theory and Implementation Guide: Presents an overview of key concepts and the theoretical foundation of I Support My Friends. It describes the ethical considerations and child-safeguarding actions that need to be in place to protect children’s best interests and their physical and emotional safety. It also outlines the roles and responsibilities and expected skills and competencies of trusted adults who mentor child and adolescent peer supporters. Training Manual: Outlines a three-day, step-by-step training in I Support My Friends, including case studies, stories and a list of required materials. The manual includes tools to support the preparation and implementation of the training. Some of the tools correspond to worksheets that participants will use during the training (these are marked with a footnote). Participants Workbook: Contains the worksheets to be used by participants in the training. Each participant should receive their own workbook, which contains information, activities and space for notes and drawings. Manual for Training of Facilitators and Focal Points: This is in progress currently and will include the materials needed to build the capacity of the adult facilitators and Focal Point(s) who will implement the training for children and adolescents. Once field tested, the package will include a training manual, agenda, PowerPoint slides and other guiding materials.

Caring for your child in crisis situation

The Caring for your Child in Crisis Situation booklet aims to help parents in crisis situations who are concerned about their children’s wellbeing, to support themselves and their children understand and cope with reactions, manage challenges they may be facing, and how to stay connected as a family. Examples of specific topics are safety, dealing with bereavement, providing warmth and support, giving praise, spending time together and talking, encouraging good behaviour, and dealing with fighting and aggression.

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.

Alternative care in emergencies toolkit

The Alternative Care in Emergencies (ACE) Toolkit is designed to facilitate interagency planning and implementation of alternative care and related services for children separated from or unable to live with their families during and after an emergency. There is no single type of care placement that will meet the needs of all children. Each emergency will have its own set of protection risks. Different societies will have their own unique norms for how children are looked after. Each family and community will have different levels of requirements and resources and, most importantly, each child will have individual needs, concerns and preferences. It is the responsibility of those implementing care and protection programmes to assess carefully what is appropriate and feasible, given the context, and to develop placement options that are rooted in community norms and that meet a minimum level of quality standards.

Young children in crisis settings 6: Why supporting caregivers’ mental health in crisis settings is essential for young children’s holistic development

It highlights the importance of supporting caregivers’ mental health in crisis settings to young children’s holistic development. It presents data on the severity of the global mental health crisis, which is being exacerbated by the lack of funding for psychosocial support for children, youth, and families. It focuses more on why caregivers’ mental health matters in crisis settings and why it is critical to invest in and prioritize caregivers’ well-being and support in conflict and crisis-affected areas. It shares Illustrative examples of evidence-based interventions, that adopt a whole family approach to promote the mental health and psychosocial well-being of caregivers, responsive caregiving, and early learning; and how humanitarian workers promote and protect the mental health and psychosocial well-being of caregivers.

Operational Guidance for Child Friendly Spaces in Humanitarian Settings

The toolkit provides a set of materials to assist managers and facilitators/animators in setting up and implementing quality 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.

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

UNICEF’s operational framework aims to help UNICEF staff and partners develop programmes across the social ecological model and the mental health continuum of prevention, promotion and treatment to improve the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adolescents and their caregivers globally. The strategies and approaches included in the framework will help in accelerating actions for children’s, adolescents’ and caregivers’ mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in national and regional development strategies. The framework can be used in development contexts, humanitarian contexts and within the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. This operational framework emphasizes 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.

Hopefully, Healthy and Happy Living Toolkit

The Hopeful, Healthy & Happy Living & Learning Toolkit consists of three manuals: A Parent-Caregiver Guide The guide takes the reader on a worldwide tour meeting different types of families living in very different circumstances. The reader is given a helping hand through the challenges of care-giving. Topics as supporting children with special needs, practicing positive parenting styles and help solve conflicts are some of the key themes. The manual also covers remote learning and how to protect children when they are online. At the end there is a useful check list for household to monitor how they are doing on their psychosocial well-being and behaviours. Activity Guide The guide contains 44 well-described Social Emotional Learning activities that cater to different age groups. They are divided into sections on self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. Teachers, caregivers and adolescents can pick up the guide and can, with ease, lead participants through the different activities. Questions for closing with a group learning session is included in each activity to ensure participants will reflect on their experiences and will be guided to bring new skills and knowledge into their everyday life. Guide for Teachers The guide has 16 sensorial-based themes that teachers, sport coaches, staff and volunteers in organizations can run as a series of sessions on life skills in and out of school. They can also pick and choose relevant themes or stand-alone exercises as needed. Beginning with themes such as I know about feelings, I help others to themes such as I am hopeful and I can relax.

Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming

This resource presents 16 Minimum Standards for GBV prevention and response programming in emergencies. As a whole, the 16 Minimum Standards define what agencies working on specialized GBV programming need to achieve to prevent and respond to GBV, and deliver multisectoral services. The resource includes 16 Standards on GBV Guiding Principles, Staff Care, Women’s and Girls’ Participation and Empowerment, Psychosocial Support, GBV Case Management, Women’s and Girls’ Safe Spaces, Health Care for GBV survivors, Referral Systems, Safety and Risk Mitigation, Justice and Legal Aid, Dignity Kits, Cash and Voucher Assistance, Economic Empowerment and Livelihoods, Transforming Systems and Social Norms, Collection and Use of GBV Survivor Data, GBV Coordination, Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation. Key actions, guidance notes, links to additional resources and indicators are included for each standard area in the document. The objective of the Minimum Standards is to establish a common understanding of what constitutes minimum GBV prevention and response programming in emergencies. This resource is designed to be useful for all GBV practitioners, including those who have limited experience in implementing GBV programming.

Handbook for Coordinating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Emergencies

This handbook is a quick-reference tool that provides practical, field-level guidance to establish and maintain a GBV sub-cluster in a humanitarian emergency. It provides the foundations for coordination. More in-depth information can be pursued through resources referenced in this handbook.

Field Handbook on Unaccompanied and Separated Children

This field handbook is a product of the Inter-agency Working Group on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (IAWG UASC). It was produced in conjunction with the Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children, 2017. In 2004, the Inter-agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children established the, at-the-time unique, core principles for working with such children. Subsequent emergencies have, however, highlighted the need for further technical guidance to support the implementation of these principles and to strengthen capacity building in programming for unaccompanied and separated children (UASC). This field handbook and the toolkit have been developed to meet this demand. The field handbook is a complementary tool to the still-relevant, guiding principles, providing operation guidance for child protection staff and all other actors involved in prevention and response to family separation in emergencies.

How to Support Survivors of Gender-Based Violence When GBV Actor is Not Available in Your Area – A Pocket Guide

A field-friendly resource for frontline practitioners in all humanitarian sectors. Includes a decision tree, Do's/Don'ts, sample scripts of what to say to a survivor and more.

Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action. Reducing risk, promoting resilience and aiding recovery

This Thematic Area Guide (TAG) is excerpted from the comprehensive Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action: Reducing risk, promoting resilience and aiding recovery (IASC, 2015). The purpose of this TAG is to assist water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) actors and communities affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions for the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence (GBV) across the WASH sector.