Consultant – MHPSS Awareness-raising, Key Messages, and Training Developer - Beirut

Background Of Project

International Rescue Committee

 The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. In more than 40 countries and over 20 U.S. cities, IRC teams provide clean water, shelter, health care, education and empowerment support to refugees and displaced people.

The IRC has operated in Lebanon since 2012, delivering lifesaving care and life-changing assistance projects to vulnerable population in the education, early childhood development, protection and rule of law, women’s protection and empowerment, child protection, livelihoods, and health programming.

IRC’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Integration into Other IRC Programs

Since its set-up, IRC’s Health program has been working on mainstreaming and integrating MHPSS into other IRC programs such as Women Protection and Empowerment (WPE), Early Childhood Development (ECD), and Education. A lot of efforts have been and are being made towards achieving this goal through close collaboration and coordination between different programs, exchange of technical expertise, and capacity-building.

Description of the Consultancy

Under the BPRM project, IRC’s health program aims to integrate MHPSS activities into the ECD and Education programs. To ensure a smooth integration, IRC’s health program will be targeting three different groups, 1) children, 2) caregivers, and 3) teachers. They will be targeted through age-specific, culturally appropriate, and contextualized awareness-raising activities. The awareness-raising activities will be delivered by outreach volunteers (OVs). Thus, awareness activities must be developed in a way that can be delivered by non-specialized staff. Developing MHPSS key messages for wider public dissemination will be another activity under this grant. This consultancy additionally entails the development of training modules that target teachers. The training modules will be delivered by a specialist and must be designed accordingly. IRC will support the selected consultant by providing guidance materials and documents to orient and facilitate the development of the requested deliverables. The consultant must refer to humanitarian guidelines and technical documents developed by the IASC, UN Agencies (WHO, UNICEF…), or local/ international NGOs in addition to the use of recent academic literature.

The main tasks and responsibilities of the consultant will be to:

• Develop awareness-raising sessions that are evidence-based and respond to IRC’s set topics for each population of interest (children, caregivers, and teachers).
• Develop a clear guide and other supporting documents for each awareness-raising session in the form of a detailed guide to support the OVs in delivering them.
• Develop MHPSS key messages to be disseminated at a public level.
• Develop training modules that target teachers.
• Develop a clear guide and other supporting documents for each training module that will facilitate the task of OVs in delivering them.

Deliverables

The consultant, when selected, is expected to:

• Develop 4 awareness-raising sessions (ARSs) that are age-appropriate for children aged between 8 and 14. The ARSs aim to promote good mental health, cover risky behaviors and substance use, and how to safely access MHPSS services.
• Develop 3 ARSs that target caregivers of children aged 3 to 6 and children between 8 and 14. The ARSs must focus on early detection of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral warning signs in children and adults, support for people with mental health problems, how to safely access MHPSS services.
• Develop 4 ARSs that target teachers of children aged between 3 and 6 and children between 8 and 14. The ARSs must sensitize teachers on neurotypical childhood development, promote mental health in the classroom, address mental health problems in classroom, and promote teacher wellness.

The development of all ARSs must include for every session the following:

• ARSs content and additional materials used,
• a clear guide that includes the duration of each session, the methodology of delivering the ARSs, points of attention/ concern, dos and don’ts, and detailed description of any recreational activities that may be included in the ARSs,
• supporting materials that can be of use such as illustrations, videos…
• and a list of recent and evidence-based references used.

Overall, the ARSs must be simple, adapted to the different target groups (duration, content, activities), creative and engaging, based on international humanitarian guidelines and academic literature with strong evidence, and can be delivered by non-technical MHPSS staff, namely OVs.

• Develop 12 MHPSS key messages that are culturally appropriate and contextualized. The developed key messages must be clear and concise. In addition, the choice of each message must be rationalized and supported by evidence such as needs assessments or reports. The messages may include ideas and suggestions for IEC material designs.
• Adapt one training module on Emotional Crisis Management (ECM). The training should be based on the NMHP’s ECM Protocol. It must be straightforward and relevant to frontliners from different humanitarian sectors (health, education, protection…). The duration of the module should not exceed four hours.
• Adapt one training module on Basic Psychosocial Skills and Self-care. The training should be based on recent publications by WHO and the NMHP’s Self-care Manual for Front-line Workers. It must be straightforward and relevant to frontliners from different humanitarian sectors (health, education, protection…). The duration of the module should not exceed four hours The development of both training modules must include per module:
  • the training content and materials,
  • agenda and pre- and post-assessments to measure increase in knowledge,
  • a clear guide that includes duration per training, the methodology of delivering the training, points of attention/ concern, dos and don’ts, and detailed description of any activities that may be included in the training,
  • supporting materials that can be of use such as illustrations, videos…
  • and a list of recent and evidence-based references used.

Overall, the training modules must be simple, creative, engaging, and based on international humanitarian guidelines and academic literature with strong evidence.

Requirements of the Consultant

The consultant should have the following characteristics:

• Be a specialist in mental health and psychosocial support (psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, public mental health professional...).
• Have extensive experience in designing, developing, and implementing innovative and engaging awareness-raising sessions/ curricula in humanitarian settings and proven skills and record in MH promotion and community MH supported by a portfolio of developed materials.
• Have experience in working with the specified age groups and in ECD and Education sectors.

The consultant is expected to deliver the requested deliverables within 15 working days following signature.

Language of the Material

All the materials must be in Arabic and English with the references in APA style 7th edition.