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Psychosocial Community of Practice

Learn more about the work of the Global and Regional Psychosocial Communities of Practice and how to get in touch with these.

The Psychosocial Community of Practice (PS CoP) is, together with several other thematically diverse Communities of Practice, tied to the structure of ACT Alliance. The PS CoP enables ACT Alliance members to collaborate on issues of common interest and concern to themselves and the ACT Alliance in relation to Community-Based Psychosocial Support.

ACT Alliance in relation to Community-Based Psychosocial Support.

The PS CoP serves the purpose to generate knowledge and promote learning as a key asset to the ACT Alliance and for members to establish themselves as learning organisations. Accordingly, the goal of the PS CoP is to gain knowledge, share best practices and develop competence to strengthen the psychosocial support capacity of ACT Alliance members and forums at global and regional level in order to enhance resilience and local capacity of affected populations. Specifically, this includes, for example, the production and dissemination of documents and guidelines, strengthening of ACT Alliance regional and national forums by working with CBPS mainstreaming, as well as contributing to global policy debates on MHPSS. 

Five Regional Community of Practices

The PS CoP is structured into five Regional Community of Practices (Latin America and the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, MENA, and Southeast Asia) which each having their own chair, and a Global Community of Practice consisting of representatives from INGOs and the chairs from its regional counterparts. The PS CoP is self-governed by the chairing member organisations regarding administration, logistics, responsiveness and the general strategic direction. Down below you can find a list of member organisations and contact information.

Memberorganisations Regional & Global PS CoP*

Regional

  • Latin America PS CoP: CEDEPCA (Guatemala),   CREDHO, ALFALIT, SLS, LWF (Salvador), CASM (Honduras), CIEETS, CEPAD (Nicaragua), Iglesia Luterana Costarricense (Costa Rica),  
  • CIC (Cuba),  C-AID, SIDD (Dominican Republic La Hora de Obrar (Argentina), CREAS (Bolivia), LFD (Brasil), CREAS (Chile), PREDES e Iglesia Metodista (Perú).  
  • Additionally 5 independent consultants with 1 in each of the following countries: Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, and USA. 
  • Middle East and North Africa (MENA) PS CoP: NCA ( Iraq), NCA (Jordan, ART (Armenia), EFUND (Armenia) MECC (Lebanon) BLESS (Egypt), ELCJHL (Palestine), ELCJHL (Jordan), ACT Palestine Forum (Palestine), ACT MENA (Jordan), IOCC (Jordan), HEKS EPER (Palestine), DSPR (Jordan) LWF (Jordan), LWF (Iraq), LWF (Syria), EJ YMCA ( Palestine), WCC Armenia Round Table Foundation.  
  • Southern Africa: LDS Zimbabwe, ELCSA South Africa, ELCSA HIV Swaziland, CARD Malawi, ELDS Malawi, CHAM Malawi. DCA (Zimbabwe), CA (Zimbabwe), CCM (Mozambique), MeDRA (Zimbabwe) Healing of Memories (South Africa). 
  • Southeast Asia PS CoP: YAKKUM Emergency Unit (Indonesia); YAKKUM Rehabilitation Center (Indonesia); Church World Service (Indonesia), NCA, (Vietnam); NCCP (Philippines), HEKS (Cambodia), LWF/ACT Alliance (Nepal). 
  • East Africa PS CoP: EOC-DICAC/RRAD, LWF (Kenya and Ethiopia, DASSC (Ethiopia), FCA (South Sudan), CDSS (South Sudan), GWED-G (Gulu-Uganda).

Global

  • Church of Sweden (CoS), Finnish Evangelical Mission (FELM), Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS), Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), DanChurchAid (DCA), Bread for the World 

*as of 2020

Examples of Community-Based Psychosocial Support Good Practice

Support For School Children After Earthquake - Nepal

The 2015 earthquake in Nepal heavily disrupted the learning environment and psychosocial wellbeing of students. In this project, the CBPS approach was integrated at various school related levels.

Strengthening Community Support - Guatemala

A remote village in Guatemala had been heavily affected by floods and earthquakes, causing emotional distress. In response, a project was initiated which included CBPS related activities in order to address the emotional crises.

Gardens For Life - Zimbabwe

Poor harvest due to flash floods and drought in the Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe has increased need for food assistance and negatively impacted psychosocial wellbeing. This project focused strongly on supporting the local community in an CBPS approach.

We used to watch the news and cry - Iraq

Years of conflict in Iraq and Syria has led to a high number of IDPs and refugees in settlements in the Northeast of Iraq. As a response three community centres were established as part of a psychosocial programme.