Starting in April this year the Red Cross of Serbia has started with implementation of a new project: Psychological First Aid and Psychosocial Support in Complex Emergencies. The project is financially supported by European Union, through ECHO – European Civil protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Directorate General. The project is coordinated by Austrian Red Cross with implementing partners including: the Red Cross of Serbia, Macedonian Red Cross, Croatian Red Cross, Italian Red Cross, Slovenian Red Cross and University of Innsbruck, Austria.

During the kick-off meeting organised in Vienna on 3 and 4 April the partners talked about the project contents and the concrete activities, discussed their expectations but also the actual value of project such as this in the context of the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe. They agreed on the initial activities related to the desk research and review of the existing materials on psychological first aid and psychosocial support in the partner National Societies, as well as to developing training curriculum for volunteers and staff and the training of trainers in each of the project countries.  In this process, the University of Innsbruck will provide expertise as well as deliver the training.

Starting in May 2017 the first workshops in the project will be taking place where the relevant national actors in crisis management in each of the project countries will be exchanging their experiences in a structured way as well as strive to improve coordination and build capacity to provide psychological first aid and psychosocial support. Later in the year a transnational workshop will be organised so that national partners will have opportunity to exchange their experiences from their national context in a structured way and discuss optimum solutions that can be replicated across the region.

This document covers humanitarian aid activities implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of the European Union, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.