IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2021

This Technical Note on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Practical Tools, Approaches and Case Studies was developed to assist humanitarian aid, development and disaster risk management organizations, national and local governments and community actors within and across sectors with the delivery of a priority set of actions to reduce suffering and improve mental health and psychosocial well-being through integration with risk management perspectives and approaches that link prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Additionally, it was designed to assist governmental actors, domestic sources of financing and donors in understanding and supporting activities focused on MHPSS as part of DRR and sectoral programmes. It was developed in concordance with and was inspired by WHO’s Health EDRM Framework and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)’s Words into Action (WiA) guidelines for the many aspects of implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. Further guidance on implementing DRR as part of humanitarian action can be found in the UNDRR Recommendations for the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (UNDRR, 2020).