Since June 2024, Conciliation Resources has been working with state and civil society partners in the Central African Republic (CAR) to implement a project aiming to integrate mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) into gender-sensitive peacebuilding programming.
The effect of conflict on mental health and gender stereotyping is profound and it was recognised that traumas that remain unaddressed and untreated can threaten security and peace in the longer term.
The workshop was part of an EU-funded project on Integrating Mental Health in Gender Responsive Peacebuilding in the Central African Republic, which runs for 18 months until November 2025. Participants explored how adopting a culturally grounded MHPSS approach to peacebuilding interventions could further advance peace and reconciliation efforts.
The workshop enabled the various stakeholders involved in MHPSS to reach a consensus on collaborative approaches to supporting people and communities affected by mental health problems. Together, they will contribute to peacebuilding and gender-sensitive community reconciliation.
Conciliation Resources is working with the CAR Ministry of Health, the University of Bangui’s Department of Psychology, and organisations such as Fracaritas, the Bossangoa-based Platforme des confessions religieuses de Centrafrique (PCRC), and local traditional healers to design the toolkit.
The participants and contributors recognised the importance of the toolkit, which will be used to empower local and national players in order to increase the number of people equipped with MHPSS and conflict resolution tools at all levels, and strengthen collaboration through a referral system for MHPSS.
Attendees included representatives of the key ministries responsible for mental health, gender, peace and reconciliation activities, as well as psychologists and clinicians from Central African government health institutions and civil society, the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support working group, traditional practitioners and religious leaders.
Dr Caleb Ketté, Psychiatrist, Head Physician of the Department of Psychiatry and National Coordinator of Mental Health in CAR developed a module on strengthening understanding of the MHPSS approach. He said: “The process of designing the toolkit is one of the rare opportunities for bringing together the various stakeholders to reflect on and identify common points for collaboration in order to contribute jointly to the improvement and promotion of mental health, which is now one of the Central African government's main concerns, and to the consolidation of peace and the ongoing reconciliation process in CAR.”
Experts from the Psychology Department of Bangui University, the NGO Fracaritas, the MHPSS working group and PCRC, with an intervention of a traditional practitioner from Bossangoa, focused their contributions on understanding the types of trauma and joint actions to be taken as first aid to strengthen collaborative links in mental health and peace and the understanding of traditional approaches.
The toolkit will support the work of practitioners in CAR to help people access mental health services and support referral systems. It aims to increase collaboration between different actors on MHPSS, and recognises the role of religious leaders and traditional healers in encouraging people to seek help.
Funded by the European Union
