In July 2008, a mission was organized in Albania during which two partnership agreements were formed with local NGOs, Prinderimi and Independent Forum of Albanian Women, and programs were defined in the areas of mental health, child protection and developmental psychology.
In January 2009, the Albanian Ministry of Health approved a project for "increasing access to mental health services through decentralized responses to people in need", to be applied in the District of Berat, with consulting from the WHO Regional Office and in partnership with the local NGO "Independent Forum of Albanian Women " (download the project's concept note).
In November 2009, in collaboration with Arci Milan and other Italian and Albanian organizations, an agreement was formed to be submitted to the Municipality of Milan for the project " Albania, Italy, so close, so far, " including a section on the social inclusion of the mentally disabled. The project has been approved and funded and started in December 2010.
In Julay 2010, in collaboration with CELIM, Arci Milan and other Italian and Albanian organizations, an agreement was formed to be submitted to the Cariplo Foundation for the project "Albania tomorrow", including a section on mental health, training and the social inclusion of the mentally disabled. The project has been approved and funded and will start early 2011.
In October 2009, a partnership agreement was formed with the Lebanese NGO, PWHO (Palestinian Women's Humanitarian Organization), which works to foster the psychosocial well-being of women and children in Palestinian refugee camps, supporting families, educators and experts to address their economic and psychosocial situations (download agreement document).
In April 2010, a mission was started in Beirut by one of our representatives to define the "Healthy Kitchen" project which seeks to improve the socio-economic and psychosocial situations and quality of life of women in conditions of poverty and hardship in the Borj el Barajneh camp.
The project involves starting a community kitchen and initiating income-generating activities through training projects and financial support.
The project, undertaken in collaboration with PWHO, as a local partner, and ARCS and ARCI Milan, as Italian partners, was submitted in July 2010 to the Fondazione Cariplo to obtain co-financing.
After the January 14, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, our association took immediate action to raise funds in support of affected populations. In March 2010 a mission was undertaken in the area bordering the Dominican Republic to define interventions in collaboration with the Department of Mental Health of the Dominican Ministry of Health. (download agreement document in Spanish). The result was the "Espacio Esperanza" project to support a camp for displaced Haitians in Jimaní,, involving community mobilization and social activities for children and young people in the field (download the project description in Spanish). The project started in December 2010.
In July 2009 contacts were made to implement psychosocial interventions in Guinea Bissau in the areas of fighting AIDS/HIV and psychosocial support for vulnerable groups.
In November 2009 a partnership agreement was formed with “Ceu e Terras” Association located in Bissau, which runs a health center in Bissau specializing in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of AIDS/HIV. The partnership agreement
aims to define and implement psychosocial interventions in the fields of combating HIV/AIDS, providing psychological support to vulnerable groups, promoting psychosocial well-being and protecting mental health for the people of Guinea (download agreement document in Portuguese).
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Consulting and training in Chisinau, , for local players working on the "Artù's House" project by two of our representatives as part of the cooperation agreement formed with the Italy-Moldova Association.
Five missions were undertaken in by our consultants to provide evaluation and technical consulting on “Post Election Violence: Counseling and Conflict Recovery" for the Transnzoia project, headed by ‘Handicap International’ (HI) in Kitale, Kenya. The aim was to evaluate HI's psychosocial interventions and to help HI's Emergency Team develop an appropriate post-emergency response strategy (download latest report).
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Mission for consulting and evaluating the “Psychological care services for children, teenagers and families after the civil war in ” project led by Handicap International (HI) in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
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Consulting for the ‘Medecins Sans Frontieres’ – Spain NGO for recruitment and selection of psychologists for a health program in .
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Collaboration with the NGO ‘COOPI’, Milan, for the emergency program “Psychosocial support and rehabilitation of women victims of gender-based violence” in Manyema Province, : recruitment and selection of two psychologists and a monitoring mission in the field.
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Agreement with Nonceba Family Counseling Center in Cape Town, South Africa to support training for staff working in psychosocial, healthcare and education services (download agreement document).
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Agreement with the NGO “Handicap International”, located in Lyon, France, to develop theoretical and practical exchanges for promoting and improving psychosocial well-being and mental health in developing countries (download agreement document) .
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Agreement with UTAIM (Union d'Aide aux Insuffisants Mentaux) - Centre El Amel Association, located in Tataouine, Tunisia, to improve the quality of psychosocial assistance for children with physical disabilities (download agreement document).
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Official participation in the 2nd meeting of “Strengthening the mental health systems in low and middle income countries” organized in Rimini by the NGO “Cittadinanza” in collaboration with WHO.
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Presentation of the paper “Psychological support in program for combating HIV/AIDS in emergency settings” at the meeting “Universal access” organized by the ‘Association of Lombardy Region NGOs’.
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Organization of the international meeting “Protecting and Promoting Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-being in Emergency Settings”, Milan, November 26th, 2008, with the participation of WHO experts and representatives of Italian and international NGOs (download the flyer).
Organization of training course in human resource management for the ‘Don Gnocchi’ NGO staff.
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Organization of a training course for psychologists titled “The Psychology of Humanitarian Assistance and Development Cooperation”.
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