Emergency Child Protection and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) responses for girls, boys and families most affected by the escalation of violence in Gaza Save the Children (SC) is proposing an integrated protection and mental health and psychosocial (MHPSS) response to mitigate the impact of conflict, trauma, and child rights violations i on boys, girls and caregivers’ mental health and psychosocial wellbeing through ensuring access to a continuum of MHPSS and protection services. In partnership with Ma’an Development Centre, SC will deliver age-sensitive and gender responsive CP and MHPSS services to address the complex vulnerabilities of 4,950 individuals, of which 3,450 are children impacted by the August 2022 escalation of violence in Gaza. An estimated 5% of targeted beneficiaries are people and children with disabilities, and 50% are women and girls.
Services will include comprehensive child protection assessments, case management and individualized intervention plans, individual and group counselling. The services will also include, depending on the needs of the boys, girls, men and women, other structured MHPSS support, recreational activities, referral to specialized mental health and protection services, individual and group counselling for caregivers, including positive parenting activities, as well as selfcare and stress management for CP and MHPSS frontline staff to enable them to continue supporting children and caregivers. The project will prioritize the most vulnerable children, including those who are displaced, live in insecure shelters, suffer from injuries, have lost one or both parents, and those who are affected by domestic violence. 
Immediate protection and psychological assistance will be delivered through the Governorate Protection Focal Points (GPFP), a tried-and-tested child protection and psychosocial emergency response system established in Gaza. SC will use Child Friendly Space/CFSs as an entry point for MHPSS interventions, including the identification and referral of unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) and sexual. Additionally, the project will provide child protection case management and psychosocial support (PSS) to children affected by violence and their caregivers. The project will draw on SC’s evidence-based approaches and expertise including structured home-based MHPSS interventions for children affected by conflict, group MHPSS programs, positive parenting sessions and its resilience program. The project will strengthen parental care and support and build upon the capacity of local organizations with extensive experience delivering protection services in the target communities.

Governorate Child Protection Focal Points are mobilized by SCI, MAAN and CP/MHPSS WG in Gaza in response to political and social emergencies, particularly when children are affected. The Focal Points main functions are to provide Psychological First Aid during an adverse event and work with the aim to re-stabilize children and their families and to re-establish the social support networks between members of the community. They further conduct a rapid needs assessment to develop a full response plan. Children counselling group sessions, case management and caregivers’ sensitization sessions are offered and referral services are facilitated based on the needs assessed.

PFA Case management and GPFP roles and responsibilities: The Governorate Protection focal points are part of the emergency preparedness mechanism in place in Gaza. They visit injured children to assess their situation and provide them with Psychological First Aid,and link them up to specialist service providers. Additionally, they would support the activation of Government Designated Emergency Shelters (DES) Protection Committees, undertake situation monitoring activities outside designated shelters, collate situation monitoring data and prepare reports, coordinate field level assessment initiatives and response, and support protection referrals.