ReliefWeb

Foreword

Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world experience violent conflicts first hand. Violent conflicts interfere with youth development by disrupting everyday life, not only while the conflict is on-going, but also after the grenades and gunshots have fallen silent. Growing up surrounded by conflict and living in a post-conflict setting will have enormous impact on the lives of young people and their prospects as they grow into adulthood.

Over the years, Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers have provided support to young people in post-conflict situations through psychosocial activities. Providing this kind of help to vulnerable people can take many forms and requires trained staff and volunteers.

Psychosocial Support for Youth in Post-Conflict Situations: A trainer’s handbook is a joint initiative of the Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the PS Centre) and Danish Red Cross Youth. It uniquely combines a training programme in community-based psychosocial support for youth in post-conflict situations together with modules on facilitating training. The materials have been designed to develop staff and volunteers’ skills, either as a basic training in psychosocial support or as a training of trainers in psychosocial support.

The training can be delivered as a separate package or it can be included as a component of existing programmes, for example, in disaster preparedness, first aid or social welfare. Wherever it is delivered, this type of training seeks both to strengthen the quality of care for beneficiaries and to provide sound support for staff and volunteers.

Psychosocial Support for Youth in Post-Conflict Situations: A trainer’s handbook draws on the extensive range of psychosocial materials produced by the PS Centre as well as on the latest research on youth and youth development. Additional input, case studies and feedback from Uganda Red Cross Society, Liberian Red Cross Society and South Sudan Red Cross Society have also been included based upon the field test conducted in the respective National Societies.

We hope it will be a useful tool for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, as well as for other stakeholders in the field of psychosocial support.