Review meeting of psychosocial support centers

A review meeting of psychosocial support centers was held at The Entrance Café on 26 and 27 March, 2018. The psychosocial support centers are being operated by women cooperatives promoted by District Women and Children Office. TPO Nepal had provided technical support to these psychosocial support centers with the financial support of UNICEF Nepal from 15 June 2016 to 31 December 2017 as part of the project titled “Support Women and Children office to establish 16 Community Based Psychosocial support centers in Nuwakot, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Okhaldhunga, Rasuwa, Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk”. TPO Nepal implemented this project in 7 districts while CVICT Nepal implemented it in 5 districts. The objective of this review was to share the experiences of all the psychosocial support centers, provide feedback and discuss about the way forward.

Programmatic presentation was given by psychosocial counselors from each psychosocial support centers while financial presentation was given by the chairperson of each women’s cooperatives. The presentations focused on activities, achievement, challenges and financial transaction. The findings of a research titled “Effectiveness of psychosocial support centers” was also presented in the meeting by Mr. Suraj Koirala, Executive Manager of TPO Nepal.

The event was concluded by highlighting the need of advocacy for the integration of psychosocial support centers in the local level, as the federal structure of our country has already been initiated. Mr. Naresh Kumar Chapagain, Director General of Department of Women and Children, expressed that the need to continue this wonderful work as per the new structure of the country was imminent. He also added that the local level needs to prioritize and invest in this area as there is a great need of psychosocial counseling in the community.