The I Support My Friends resource kit has been developed to give facilitators a comprehensive package of tools and resources to best equip children and adolescents in safe and effective peer support, together with adult mentors. It provides guidance and tools for preparing, designing, and implementing trainings with children and adolescents in how to support a friend in distress. The resource kit also includes guidance for appropriate adult supervision to ensure the physical and emotional safety of child and adolescent helpers and the friends they support.

El paquete de recursos Yo apoyo a mis amigos ha sido desarrollado para ofrecer a los facilitadores un paquete completo de herramientas y recursos para equipar mejor a los niños, niñas y adolescentes en el apoyo seguro y eficaz entre iguales, junto con mentores adultos. Proporciona orientación y herramientas para preparar, diseñar y poner en práctica formaciones con niños, niñas y adolescentes sobre cómo apoyar a un amigo en apuros. El kit de recursos también incluye orientación para una supervisión adulta adecuada que garantice la seguridad física y emocional de los niños, niñas y adolescentes ayudantes y de los amigos a los que apoyan.

In this Field Note, Fabiola A. Lara examines how the rollout of Save the Children’s Toxic Stress Mitigation Model in El Salvador addressed the needs and wellbeing of caregivers, as well as those of children, and engaged fathers and grandfathers in children’s early development in innovative ways.

In this Field Note, authors Erum Mariam, Jahanara Ahmad, and Sarwat Sarah Sarwar argue that community participation in the design of ECD centers has led to the creation of learning spaces that foster a sense of belonging and cultural pride for displaced children in Cox’s Bazar, thus supporting their psychosocial wellbeing.

In this Field Note, author Samier Mansur discusses No Limit Generation’s innovative video training platform for aid workers, ECD professionals, educators, and caregivers, and suggests that the scale and accessibility technology-supported capacity-building is a sustainable way to support ECD in humanitarian settings.

In this Commentary, authors Bernadette Daelmans, Mahalakshmi Nair, Fahmy Hanna, Ornella Lincetto, Tarun Dua, and Xanthe Hunt bring attention to the cascading effects of caregivers’ mental health for children’s development and outline an agenda for interagency priority-setting and research to support mothers’ and newborns’ mental wellbeing.

The toolkit is a set of materials directed towards children, parents, caregivers and teachers in various settings, which promote psychosocial wellbeing and link with key life skills to strengthen social and emotional learning.