by Venjie Cabrera
As part of EDUCO Philippines’ emergency response and early recovery efforts following the devastating impact of Super Typhoon Uwan, which severely affected the province of Catanduanes in November 2025, a partnership was established with UNICEF Philippines under the project “Contingency SPD-Humanitarian: Rapid Humanitarian Response in the Philippines.” The project aims to provide timely and appropriate Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services (MHPSS) to children in the four most heavily affected municipalities—Bagamanoc, Caramoran, Viga, and Panganiban. These municipalities were identified based on the Disaster Response Operations Management, Information and Communication (DROMIC) developed by the Provincial Government.
The primary objective of the intervention is to reach 2,000 children from Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centers and elementary schools, covering learners from Kindergarten to Grade 6, with particular attention given to children with disabilities (CWDs), Alternative Learning System (ALS) learners, and out-of-school youth (OSYs). Recognizing the urgency and complexity of addressing children’s psychosocial needs in post-disaster contexts, EDUCO and UNICEF worked closely with the Provincial Health Office (PHO) – MHPSS Community Care Unit to design an approach that would ensure both immediate response and longer-term sustainability.
Through a series of coordination meetings and technical discussions, the partners agreed that strengthening local capacity would be critical to effectively reaching children across the four municipalities. As a result, a core strategy of the project was to capacitate a pool of duty bearers at the municipal level. These included decision-makers and frontline actors such as Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers, Rural Health Unit officers, Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers, Public Schools District Supervisors, school heads, ECCD focal persons, municipal links, Community Development Workers, and VAWC desk officers, among others.
Two batches of intensive Training of Volunteers (TOV) on Psychological First Aid (PFA) were conducted, resulting in a total of 109 trained and evaluated PFA responders. The training equipped participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide appropriate psychosocial support to children affected by emergencies. This approach was intentionally designed to ensure contextual responsiveness at the municipal level and to promote sustainability beyond the project’s short implementation period of three months. Participants who successfully passed the evaluation process are now recognized as certified PFA responders.
Feedback from the Provincial Health Office highlighted the significance of this initiative, noting that the province previously had a limited number of certified PFA responders. Through this project, the newly trained responders will now serve under the PHO MHPSS Community Care Unit, functioning as municipal-level focal persons who can be rapidly mobilized should future emergencies arise. Following the completion of the two training batches, the certified PFA responders were scheduled to conduct PFA sessions for children, scheduled from the last week of January to the first week of February. During the training, participants also developed child-friendly PFA manuals tailored to three age groups: ECCD and Kindergarten, Grades 1–3, and Grades 4–6, ensuring age-appropriate psychosocial interventions.
In addition to the PFA training facilitated by the PHO, EDUCO conducted sessions on the Child Protection (CP) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) referral pathways. These sessions emphasized the importance of recognizing and responding to a wide range of child protection concerns that may arise before, during, or after emergencies. The referral pathway presented was originally developed by the province’s multidisciplinary team and aligned with the latest Department of Justice–endorsed referral mechanisms.
Overall, the collaboration between EDUCO, UNICEF, and the Provincial Health Office demonstrates a strong commitment to building a compassionate, responsive, and mentally healthy province—one that is better equipped to protect and support children and communities in the face of current and future emergencies.