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).