About the program UNICEF

About the Program

This project is an initiative of iCALL, TISS in collaboration with UNICEF. It aims to strengthen the psychosocial support for children and adolescents by providing resources and enhancing the capacities of child protection functionaries such as the staff and counselors of the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and other partner organisations working with children and adolescents to provide psycho-social support during the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Maharashtra.

The outbreak of the pandemic impacted the psychosocial lives of many, especially those belonging to vulnerable groups. Children and adolescents constitute one such group, which has pre-existing vulnerabilities which were further aggravated during COVID-19 due to restrictions on physical mobility, social distancing, disrupted education, uncertainty, and lockdown. These children and adolescents are more likely to be exposed to psychosocial challenges such as forced child labour, child abuse, child marriage, and child trafficking (Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS, 2020). As a result of these pre-existing vulnerabilities, the pandemic’s impact on the mental health of children and adolescents in need of care and protection was adverse. Hence, to reduce the distress experienced and address their needs, children and adolescents needed psychosocial support, especially during the pandemic.

In order to respond to this need, UNICEF and iCALL initiated a partnership that consisted of the following:

1. Capacity Building Initiative

The capacity-building initiative aimed to equip stakeholders working with the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) from Maharashtra with resources and skills to provide psychosocial support to children and adolescents in need. Informed by a participatory and empowerment- oriented approach, a series of 15 sessions was conducted to address mental health and psychosocial needs, concerns, and suitable interventions for children and adolescents in the child protection system and vulnerable situations. Feedback received from the stakeholders showed that the series served as an important step towards building capacities of key services to strengthen the network of psychosocial support for children and adolescents. Furthermore, additional sessions that aimed to provide psychosocial support to children and adolescents were also conducted with other partner organizations of UNICEF. Additional support was provided in the form of handouts, relevant knowledge, and reference material for stakeholders.

Objective of the capacity building initiative:

1. To build an understanding of the specific psychosocial issues of children and adolescents in institutions, under care and protection and those in conflict with the law
2. To help stakeholders (counsellors and staff of DCPU, CWC, and JJB) provide psychosocial support and suitable strength-based interventions to children and adolescents in need.
3. To enhance the ability of the Child Welfare Committee members and the District Child Protection Unit functionaries to provide psychosocial support to children and adolescents in institutions especially in the context of COVID-19.
4. To equip counsellors (and staff of DCPU and CWC) within the child protection system with life skills for enhancing their personal and professional lives.
5. To build and enhance self-care practices in the stakeholders to address their own stressors & build resilience.
6. To build a curriculum that serves as a useful resource to provide psychosocial support to children and adolescents for child protection functionaries even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants: The participants in the capacity building initiative included counselors and members of the District Child Protection Unit, Child Welfare Committee, and Juvenile Justice System as well as Protection Officers and those working with children and adolescents in the states of Maharashtra.

Description of the capacity enhancement sessions: The sessions were delivered through webinars over the course of 6 months. Resource persons for the capacity building initiative included experts and counselors from iCALL as well as experts from the field of child welfare and protection. The methodology adopted included PowerPoint presentations, case discussions, reflective questions, and educational videos. The duration of each session was for 2 hours with a dedicated time slot for addressing participants’ questions and comments. The capacity-building series was developed based on the discussions with DCPU, DWCD, and UNICEF, with the regular feedback provided by the participants regarding specific areas of concern to adapt the session plan accordingly.

Each session was attended by approximately 200-400 stakeholders across Maharashtra.

Thematic Areas for the sessions:

Phase I:

1. Psychosocial impact of issues faced by children and adolescents
2. Adopting a child-centric approach while offering support to children in institutions
3. Frameworks for understanding child development and psychosocial impact of different kinds of vulnerabilities
4. Assessment and counselling for children and adolescents
5. Adopting a Psychosocial approach to counselling
6. Therapeutic interventions for addressing psychosocial concerns
7. Interventions for addressing severe distress, crisis and trauma
8. Aspects of psychosocial work beyond the individual
9. Methods of practising self-care for personal and professional wellbeing

Phase II:

1. Introduction to Art-based Therapy and Experiential Activity
2. Effective Counselling Skills: A Practitioner’s Guide to Facilitate Support
3. Addressing Behavioural Problems: Outgrown Behaviours, Violations, Conflict Management, Trauma Exposure
4. Interventions for Sexual and Reproductive Health
5. Introduction to Solution Focused Brief Therapy and Dance Movement Therapy
6. Psychosocial Support for Violence against Children and Adolescents

2. Development of Knowledge Resources

In addition to the capacity-building initiative, several knowledge resources were created that aimed to provide psychosocial support to children, adolescents, and society at large during the pandemic. These resources consisted of messages and videos that aimed to provide psychosocial support to the adversities especially experienced during the pandemic. The developed resources aimed to extend psychosocial support to individuals across age groups that have been put into vulnerable situations due to various factors. They catered to the psychosocial challenges and needs expressed by different age groups using easy and simple-to-understand language. Additionally, the knowledge resources were developed in English, Hindi, and Marathi for a wider regional-national reach and accessibility.

About the partners

iCALL

iCALL, a field action project of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has been working in the area of mental health and psychosocial wellbeing since 2012. TISS has a longstanding legacy of addressing issues of social justice, equality, health equity, discrimination, etc.

UNICEF

UNICEF is one of the leading UN agencies that aims to protect the rights of children and adolescents. Across more than 190 countries and territories, UNICEF provides aid for children to survive, thrive, and fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.