Preliminary Programme
2nd Research Carnival on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)
23-25 September 2026 at hotel The Boma Nairobi, Kenya
Theme: Reimagining Wellbeing – Indigenous Knowledge and Approaches and Protection of Humanitarian Workers
Hosted by: Kenya Red Cross Society
Organised by: Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, Kenya Red Cross Society, British Red Cross, Swiss Red Cross
In partnership with: Protect Humanitarians (Belgium) and McGill University (Canada)
Day 1 – Wednesday, 23 September 2026
Time | Session |
08:30–09:00 | Registration and Welcome |
09:00–09:30 | Opening Plenary |
09:30–10:45 | Session 1 – Decolonizing and Localizing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support |
10:45–11:00 | Coffee Break |
11:00–12:15 | Session 2 – Children, Adolescents and Youth Wellbeing |
12:15–13:15 | Lunch Break |
13:15–14:30 | Session 3 – Community Mental Health and Social Determinants of Wellbeing |
14:30–14:45 | Coffee Break |
14:45–16:15 | Workshop 1 – Applying the Red Cross Red Crescent Mapping Project to Understand and Build Integrated Climate and MHPSS Programming |
16:15-17:00 | Networking Session |
Day 2 – Thursday, 24 September 2026
Time | Session |
09:00-09:30 | Session 4 – Protection of humanitarian workers: Keynote Lecture |
09:30–10:50 | Session 5 – Protection of humanitarian workers: Organizational Responsibility, Duty of Care and Preparedness |
10:50–11:20 | Coffee Break |
11:20–12:50 | Session 6 – Protection of humanitarian workers: Psychological Impacts, Peer Support and Care Responses |
12:50–13:50 | Lunch Break |
13:50–15:20 | Session 7 – Parallel Panels: · Session 7A: CoCreate Humanity’s Mental Health Humanitarian Peer Support Model: A Decolonial MHPSS Practice and Critical Perspective on Dominant MHPSS Frameworks · Session 7B: Organisational approaches to staff care, safety, and wellbeing in humanitarian settings |
15:20–15:40 | Coffee Break |
15:40–17:40 | Parallel Workshops · Workshop 2: Reimagining Duty of Care Beyond the Payroll: Protecting Spontaneous Volunteers and Informal Frontline Responders · Workshop 3: Protecting Volunteers in Humanitarian Work: A Safeguarding & MHPSS Experiential Lab |
Day 3 – Friday, 25 September 2026
Time | Session |
09:00–10:30 | Session 8 – Supporting Humanitarian Workers and Responders |
10:30–10:50 | Coffee Break |
10:50–12:20 | Session 9 – Innovations for Wellbeing in Humanitarian Contexts |
12:20–13:20 | Lunch Break |
13:20–14:35 | Session 10 – INTIQAL: Collective Meaning-Making, Cultural Continuity, and Humanitarian Worker Wellbeing in Gaza |
14:40–15:00 | Closing Remarks |
Co-funded by the Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) of the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.
