Report on the symposium: UNICEF, Government of the Netherlands, 2015
The Symposium Growing Up in Conflict: The impact on children’s mental health and well-being assembled experts on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS); practitioners, especially colleagues from agencies working in conflict-affected countries; academics; and representatives from United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations to review the state of field in terms of knowledge and evidence, share insights on current field practice and programming, and make recommendations for advancing knowledge and practice.
The Symposium was hosted by UNICEF in partnership with the Government of the Netherlands in the Hague and supported by UNICEF’s Learning for Peace Program. The Symposium highlighted six key messages that were subsequently submitted to the World Humanitarian Summit and aimed at the post-2015 development agenda:
- Achieve quality and scale in MHPSS interventions.
- Attain rigor in action research for community-based psychosocial support.
- Focus on resilience and social ecology for children, adolescents, and their families.
- Strengthen multi-layered, inter-sectoral approaches to children’s well-being.
- Clarify and strengthen links between MHPSS, social cohesion, and peacebuilding.
- Fund innovative approaches to MHPSS programme and research.
Download the full report:
Growing Up in Conflict: The impact on children’s mental health and psychosocial well-being. Report on the symposium.