Discussion

MHPSS Consultation - Europe & Central Asia Room

Lea Zoric
Lea Zoric • 27 September 2021
10 comments

Welcome to the Discussion Room for MHPSS in Europe and Central Asia

This room aims to facilitate the sharing of experiences, lessons learned, and good practices on integrating MHPSS into peacebuilding in the European and Central Asian region.

The room is open for any input you may want to share but to start the conversation it has been framed around two main themes with guiding questions. You can respond to one/more/none of these in your contributions, but please indicate on which of the themes/questions below you are sharing your insights. Kindly note that content translation is available on the top-right corner of the page, where you can choose among 100+ languages.

In your responses, please introduce yourself and tell us whether you have a self-care regime or whether your organization provides staff care to ensure your wellbeing. 

We propose the following guiding questions:

Theme 1: Your experiences 

  1. How do you/your projects integrate/partner/collaborate with the other field?
  2. What have been your successes and/or challenges in linking your work with the other field?
  3. What context/regionally specific elements are you considering and including in your programming on linking MHPSS and Peacebuilding?

Theme 2: Enhancing integration

  1. What resources would your organization need to be better able to work in a way that integrates MHPSS into peacebuilding?
  2. What are the regional and/or cultural considerations that need to be kept in mind when integrating MHPSS into peacebuilding?
  3. What recommendations would you like to make to UNDP regarding the integration of MHPSS into peacebuilding?

Disclaimer: Please note that the room will be open from 11 October to 9 November 2021. Access of UNDP externals to the rooms is based on pre-registration only.

Comments (10)

Friederike Bubenzer
Friederike Bubenzer • 2 years ago Moderator

Good morning friends around the world-we are delighted that you are interested in joining this online platform and would love to hear your thoughts on how to better link the fields of MHPSS and peacebuilding-all your comments are very (very) welcome.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Corinne Dietiker
Corinne Dietiker • 2 years ago

Dear Friederike and colleagues

My name is Corinne and I have a varied background with training in Business Administration, International Community Development and yoga. I currently pursue peacbuilding studies to complement better my practical work. I established my own brand called "Growth for Peace' to better link wellbeing, development and peace building ranging from individual to international level. In brief, I think it's key that we understand it's not one person or community to be focusing on with MHPSS but that we choose a more integrative approach to apply in peacebuilding.

I look forward to exchanging more with you.

Best wishes

Corinne

Babu Ayindo
Babu Ayindo • 2 years ago

Greetings everyone. Sorry, I am arriving late in these conversations. My name is Babu Ayindo. I currently serve as Peace & Conflict Advisor at Mercy Corps' Technical Support Unit. I look forward to productive conversations in this field. 

Inna Tarzhinskaya
Inna Tarzhinskaya • 2 years ago

Hello everyone, my name is Inna and I am based in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan.

In a resent years my understanding of importance of mental health and it’s crucial role in well being for civel society had led me to shifting from journalism and obtaining a second degree in psychology.  As a psychologist i’m in the beginning of my career, i proved free informative lectures about mental health and it’s importance for well being.

I’m glad to be on  board with you and share your experience.

At the point I am right now i can highlight some obvious challenges

  Challenges

  • Many people in Central Asia do not understand the importance of mental health, its benefits. ( still, it is not accepted by many traditionally raised people to recourse to psychologist)
  • Lack of professionaly trained people and organizations.
  • Lack of available information about existing mental health support centers, professionals, programs.
Yvonne Sliep
Yvonne Sliep • 2 years ago

Thank you Inna, have you thought about ways it can best be done in your context. Sounds like capacity building is an important issue. How do you think the content and approach would differ?

Guljahan Gochova
Guljahan Gochova • 2 years ago

Dear Inna and colleagues, 

I was really happy to read a message from Inna. I am a PVE project manager from Turkmenistan and we were working on incorporating MHPSS to our new project by developing capacity of PVE mentors. Thank you for creating this dialogue. It actually helped me to find a person right "next door" for me: ) .

Dear Inna, please reach out to me via [email protected]

Thank you!

 

Rita Angelini
Rita Angelini • 2 years ago

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your contributions so far. We are glad to inform you that the closure of the room has been extended to 9 November, in order to allow your widest participation possible.

As such, we encourage you to continue sharing your regional perspectives and experiences, and involve other colleagues if possible.

Warmly,

Rita

Inna Tarzhinskaya
Inna Tarzhinskaya • 2 years ago

Hello everyone

First of all i would like to thank you for the great experience and thoughts you have shared yesterday.

I am very sorry that due to poor internet connection i did not have a chance to fully participate in conversation.

But it is great that we have this chat and here are some thoughts I would like to share.

I was lucky to be born in the country that never participated in any military conflicts nor had civil wars. However, i had an experience of living abroad. During my life in Kyrgyzstan i was witness of civil revolution and observed the consequences of clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern of the country.

As a pacifist and a person who strongly believe in importance of mental health for humanity and wellbeing, i find this project a great step towards  strengthening of peacebealding.

During our zoom conference it was discussed about human rights, women, children, government involvements, donors understanding of the project in long term perspective - all of above are super important. Who i want to stress attention on are - people. People who suffered from conflict - victims.

As all what was discussed directed to improve humans well being, people should be ready and willing to accept this help.

What i mean is that it is impossible to force people to be treated if they do not accept themselves as traumatized. They might not just know what does it means and why somebody is trying to work with them to solve the problem that does not exist in their understanding.

The global awareness about mental health is on the different level. I do understand that this or any other project can not be universally applicable all over the world. However if this issue will be neglected a lot of people will be lose an opportunity of  better life changes.

In this terms agenda to raise information awareness among population concerning the role of mental health in peacebuilding is extremely important. Collaboration with existing social programs, researches should be done as the very first steps of implementation of the project in regions with low understanding /practicing mental health.

 

Thank you.

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