• 

18 October, 2021

Honorable Ministers and government representatives from Mozambique,

Distinguished representatives from various UN agencies here present,

Colleagues from Civil society organizations and partner NGOs

Esteemed youth and children representatives

The Board Chair and members of the REPSSI Board; Staff and management of REPSSI in all the countries wherever you are.

 

Ladies and gentlemen

 

I welcome you to the 6^th PSS Forum that REPSSI is co-hosting here in Maputo together with the government of Mozambique.

My name is Patrick Onyango Mangen and I work at REPSSI as the Chief Executive Officer.

 

It is a great honor for me to speak to you at this PSS Forum as part of the opening session. I cannot imagine that just a few weeks ago, we were very uncertain if this event would even take place. In planning for this event, we were faced with so many dilemmas and questions? From travel restrictions; the COVID19 risks which remain a major threat to many of our operations; to the logistics of convening such a massive event, virtually and in person across 13 countries.

 

It therefore fills me with a lot of pride to see that finally here we are today, convening to deliberate and share thoughts, in the field of mental health and psychosocial support in the midst of what has turned out to be the most complex pandemic of our time.

 

As many of you that are working in this sector may be aware, the timing for this forum, coincides with other very important events that have taken place in the past few weeks on the topic of mental health and psychosocial support. We are delighted to see that increasingly, mental health and psychosocial support is getting more attention on the global agenda.

 

Just last week, the 3^rd high level Mental health summit was convened by the government of France and drew very rich presentations from a cross-section of participants; in the same week the Alliance for Children Protection for Humanitarian settings held its annual symposium where emerging practices were shared; before that there was the WHO Global mental health Innovations seminar; and just two days ago we celebrated World Mental Health Day.

 

Distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen

The timing for the PSS Forum, is therefore favorable and accords us the opportunity to advance resolutions and actions arising from some of these global meetings. Over the course of the next 3 days, the Forum will draw on the minds of researchers, academics, policy makers and practitioners and we will collectively reflect on how actors in Sub Saharan Africa and elsewhere, can take forward some of these action points.

 

 

We will listen to innovations and promising practices, learn from emerging evidence and analyse how we can progressively increase the impact of mental health and psychosocial support services, particularly on impoverished, communities and families as well as populations affected by disaster and living in adversity.

 

The theme for this year’s conference is “Innovate. Integrate. Thrive”, the PSS Forum has adopted a hybrid model with a main physical Forum in Maputo, a virtual platform for our global audience and break away sessions in each of the other 12 countries where REPSSI has a presence. This approach was necessitated by restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to comply with WHO and Government of Mozambique protocols on gatherings and meetings. Prior to this Forum, we successfully held Children’s Forums across all 13 countries, drawing input from children and youth on issues affecting their psychosocial wellbeing. These youth are joining us in the main forum as well.

 

The COVID19 pandemic has caused untold suffering, weakened individual capacities and greatly debilitated community capacity for self-help. This Forum is therefore a time for us to share thoughts and ideas on how we can work together to rebuild community systems and capacities. We will listen and learn first-hand the transformational effects that low intensity, high impact, family focused psychosocial support interventions, have brought about to families; improving wellbeing and livelihoods; promoting co-existence and enhancing resilience to manage adversity.

 

 Distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen

As I wind up my remarks, let me in a special way appreciate all the REPSSI staff that have been involved in planning and organizing this Forum. You have done us proud! You have been working late, turning through turns of paper work and doing all you could to ensure the success of this Forum. Lynette, Brighton, our IT teams, finance and programme teams and every single one of our Country Directors and Country Representatives…. Thank you for your commitment and efforts. It is because of your tireless efforts that we are here today.

 

Lastly, hosting this Forum would not have been possible without the generous support of our donors and partners. We are therefore extend our gratitude to the government of Mozambique; our donors, development partners such as; SIDA ( the Swedish Development Agency), Conrad N Hilton Foundation, WHO, UNICEF, War Child Holland, Save the Children, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, tdh Germany, World Education Initiative, Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, RIATT ESA and MHPSS.net.  Other co-hosts, have directly supported the country level breakaway sessions and children’s forums and have been acknowledged accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We look forward to your active participation by either joining us online on the virtual platform; or by joining one of our virtual breakaway sessions or face to face at any one of the forum venues and apologise in advance for initial glitches that may be experienced connecting to different satellite sessions as well as plenary sessions. 

 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to our in country and regional office teams who will be on standby to provide delegates with support as and when required to make the Forum an enriching experience for you.

 

In closing, may I remind each and every one of us to stay safe by masking up, washing hands with soap regularly, sanitizing and social distancing.

 

I thank you.