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Tag: health outcomes

  • How practitioners in Ukraine and across Europe built a self-sustaining peer learning network to support children

    How practitioners in Ukraine and across Europe built a self-sustaining peer learning network to support children

    When military fathers started arriving at her centre in Bulgaria, sharing challenges they faced with their own children, Irina V. found herself drawing on lessons learned not from textbooks, but from conversations with fellow practitioners scattered across a war zone.

    “What I learned about providing psychological first aid (PFA) to children actually helped me in working with parents of children in crisis,” Irina explained during a recent video call with professionals across Europe supporting children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

    That call was the first annual meeting of an entirely volunteer-driven network of practitioners – some working within kilometres of active combat – who teach each other how to better support children. This network emerged from an innovative certificate peer learning programme supported by the European Union’s EU4Health programme, developed by The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

    An organization like “Everything will be fine Ukraine” maintains operations within 20 kilometres of active fighting while supporting 6,000 children across three eastern regions. During online peer learning activities, some participants manage air raid interruptions, power outages, and repeated displacement of both staff and families they serve.

    “The most powerful solutions often emerge when professionals can learn directly from each other’s experience,” TGLF’s Charlotte Mbuh noted. “But knowledge sharing and learning are necessary but insufficient. Through the ‘Accelerator’ mechanism, we showed that participation results in measurable improvements in children’s wellbeing.”

    Learning in crisis

    The programme that connected Irina to her peers has achieved something that aid organizations typically spend years trying to build. In less than a year, 331 organizations representing 10,000 staff and volunteers joined a peer learning network that now reaches over one million Ukrainian children. Ninety-one volunteers across 13 countries now serve as focal points, recruiting participants and adapting materials to local contexts. The cost per participant is 87 per cent lower than European training averages. And rather than winding down as initial funding expires, the network is expanding.

    Most remarkably, 76 per cent of participants are based in Ukraine itself—not in the European host countries the programme originally planned to serve.

    IFRC’s longstanding commitment to integrating mental health into humanitarian response created the institutional framework that made this achievement possible. Speaking at the  EU4Health final event in Brussels in June, IFRC Regional Director for Europe Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen called IFRC’s effort “the most ambitious targeted mental health and psychosocial support response in the history of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.”

    TGLF’s specific focus was to explore how online peer learning could support Red Cross staff and volunteers, together with other organizations and networks that support children.

    IFRC’s Panu Saaristo explains: “Peer learning creates a horizontal approach where practitioners facing similar challenges can support each other directly. This is really consistent with our community-led and volunteer-driven action led by local volunteers. When tools and approaches are shared peer-to-peer, we see solutions that are both more sustainable and more locally owned.”

    The power of learning from and supporting each other

    What makes this network different is its rejection of the traditional aid model, where experts tell local workers what to do. Instead, practitioners learn from and support each other.

    The approach addresses a fundamental problem in crisis response: conventional training cannot keep pace with rapidly evolving challenges on the ground. When a teacher in Poland encounters a child showing signs of distress linked to their experiences, she can connect within hours to a social worker in Ukraine who has dealt with similar cases.

    Katerina W., who worked with Ukrainian refugee students in Slovakia, described creating “safe corners” and “art corners” where children could communicate when trauma left them unable to speak. She shared these techniques not with a supervisor, but with hundreds of peers facing similar challenges across Europe.

    “The practical knowledge and real-life examples inspired me to adapt my methods and approach challenges with greater empathy and creativity,” said Jelena P., an education professional from Croatia who participated in the network.

    Jennifer R., who founded Teachers for Peace to provide free online lessons to war-affected Ukrainian children, explains the urgent need: “Many of my students show signs of distress that affected their learning. My challenge is to equip volunteer teachers with the right tools so they can feel confident and support the students beyond language learning.”

    Building something that lasts

    The network provides resources for what aid workers call “psychological first aid” or “PFA” for children—the immediate support provided to children experiencing crisis-related distress. This includes listening without pressure, addressing immediate needs, and connecting children with appropriate services.

    But the real innovation lies in how knowledge spreads and gets turned into action. Practitioners connect to share challenges and problem-solve solutions. The agenda emerges from their actual needs, not predetermined curricula.

    “At traditional training, we acquire knowledge and practice skills to get diplomas or certificates,” explained Anna Nyzkodubova, a Ukrainian PFA leader who became a facilitator to support her colleagues. “But here, when we learn through peer-to-peer principles, we grow professionally and make our contribution to solving real cases and real challenges.”

    This peer learning model has proven so effective that the Geneva Learning Foundation announced in August it would continue the programme for five additional years. 

    “We saw that amongst those we had reached, this included practitioners working close to the front lines of armed conflict, working in very difficult conditions,” said Reda Sadki, Executive Director of The Geneva Learning Foundation, which coordinates the network. “Rather than limiting effectiveness, these challenging conditions revealed significant demand for peer learning. This is why we decided to continue these activities.”

    Scale through connection

    The network’s growth defies conventional wisdom about aid work. Rather than adding overhead, the growing size of the network enhances learning by providing more diverse experiences and perspectives. A social worker in eastern Ukraine might develop an approach that helps a teacher in Croatia facing similar challenges.

    Participants access six different types of activities, from short self-guided modules in multiple languages to intensive month-long programs where they implement specific projects and document results. The variety accommodates practitioners with different schedules and experience levels while maintaining quality through peer review and a strong child protection and mutual support framework.

    A different kind of aid

    The programme represents a broader shift in how international assistance might work. Rather than extracting knowledge from affected communities to inform distant decision-makers, it amplifies local expertise and creates connections between practitioners facing similar challenges.

    For Irina, working with Ukrainian refugees far from her home country, the network provided something invaluable: the knowledge that she was not alone, and that solutions existed within her professional community.

    “I realized the importance of separating psychotherapeutic long-term assistance and psychological first aid, especially when working with children who may be at risk of harming themselves,” she said, describing an insight that emerged from group discussions about recognizing when cases require specialist referral.

    As the programme enters its next phase, its founders are proposing additional innovations, including apps where practitioners can log experiences and reflect on challenges while building evidence of what works across different contexts.

    The model suggests a fundamental reimagining of how knowledge can strengthen local action in crisis response—not from experts to recipients, but between peers who understand each other’s reality because they live it every day. If properly supported, this model could reinforce its importance in the blueprint for future humanitarian action.

    References

    1. Sadki, R., 2025. How practitioners in Ukraine and across Europe built a self-sustaining peer learning network to support children. https://doi.org/10.59350/25pa2-ddt80
    2. Sadki, R., 2025. PFA Accelerator: across Europe, practitioners learn from each other to strengthen support to children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.59350/redasadki.21155
    3. Sadki, R., 2025. Peer learning for Psychological First Aid: New ways to strengthen support for Ukrainian children. https://doi.org/10.59350/dgpff-n9d63
    4. Sadki, R., 2024. Support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Bridging practice and learning through the sharing of experience. https://doi.org/10.59350/zbb4v-hay69
    5. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2025. Діти у кризових ситуаціях, спільноти підтримки – Застосування першої психологічної допомоги для підтримки дітей, які постраждали від гуманітарної кризи в україні. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14901474
    6. The Geneva Learning Foundation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2025. Children in Crisis, Communities of Care – Psychological first aid for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14732092
    7. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2024. Перша психологічна допомога дітям, які постраждали внаслідок гуманітарної кризи в Україні – Досвід дітей, опікунів та помічників. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.13730132
    8. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2024. Psychological first aid in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Experiences of children, caregivers, and helpers. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.13618862

    The initial development and implementation of this programme (2023-2025) was funded by the European Union through a project partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). All ongoing activities, content, and their delivery from 1 September 2025 are the sole responsibility of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF).

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

  • What is The Geneva Learning Foundation’s Impact Accelerator?

    What is The Geneva Learning Foundation’s Impact Accelerator?

    Imagine a social worker in Ukraine supporting children affected by the humanitarian crisis. Thousands of kilometers away, a radiation specialist in Japan is trying to find effective ways to communicate with local communities. In Nigeria, a health worker is tackling how to increase immunization coverage in their remote village. These professionals face very different challenges in very different places. Yet when they joined their first “Impact Accelerator”, something remarkable happened. They all found a way forward. They all made real progress. They all discovered they are not alone.

    The Impact Accelerator is a simple, practical method developed by The Geneva Learning Foundation that helps professionals turn intent into action, results, and outcomes. It has worked equally well in every country where it has been tried. It has helped people – whatever their knowledge domain or context – strengthen action and accelerate progress to improve health outcomes. Each time, in each place, whatever the challenge, it has produced the same powerful results.

    The social worker joins other professionals facing similar challenges. The radiation specialist connects with safety experts dealing with comparable concerns. The health worker collaborates with others working to improve immunization. Each group shares a common purpose.

    What makes the Impact Accelerator different?

    Most training programs teach you something and then send you away. You return to your workplace full of ideas but face the same obstacles. You have new knowledge but struggle to apply it. (Some people call this “knowledge transfer” but it is not only about knowledge. Others call this the “applicability problem”.) You feel alone with your challenges.

    The Impact Accelerator works differently. It stays with you as you implement change. It connects you with others facing similar challenges. It helps you take small, concrete steps each week toward your bigger goal.

    Each Impact Accelerator brings together professionals working on the same type of challenge. Social workers who support children join with others who do the same – but the group may also include teachers and psychologists they do not usually work with. Safety specialists connect with safety specialists, but also people in other job roles. It is their shared purpose that makes this diversity productive:  every discussion, every shared experience, every piece of advice directly applies to their work.

    Think of it like learning to ride a bicycle. Traditional training is like someone explaining how bicycles work. The Impact Accelerator is like having someone run alongside you, keeping you steady as you pedal, cheering when you succeed, and helping you get back on when you fall. Everyone learns to ride, together. And everyone is going somewhere.

    How does the Impact Accelerator work?

    The Impact Accelerator follows a simple weekly rhythm that fits into daily work. It is learning-based work and work-based learning.

    Monday: Set your goal

    Every Monday, you decide on one specific action you will complete by Friday. Not a vague hope or a grand plan. One concrete thing you can actually do.

    For example:

    • “I will create a safe space activity for five children showing signs of trauma.”
    • “I will develop a visual guide for the new radiation monitoring procedures.”
    • “I will meet with three community leaders to discuss vaccine concerns.”

    You share this goal with others in the Accelerator. This creates accountability. You know that on Friday, your peers will ask how it turned out.

    Wednesday: Check in with peers

    Midweek, you connect with others in your group who face the same type of challenges. You share what is working, what is difficult, and what you are learning.

    This is where magic happens. Someone else tried something that failed. Now you know to try differently. Another person found a creative solution. Now you can adapt it for your situation. You realize you are part of something bigger than yourself.

    Friday: Report and reflect

    On Friday, you report on your progress. Did you achieve your goal? What happened when you tried? What did you learn?

    This is not about judging success or failure. Sometimes the most valuable learning comes from things that did not work as expected. The important thing is that you took action, you reflected on what happened, and you are ready to try again next week.

    Monday again: Build on what you learned

    The next Monday, you set a new goal. But now you are not starting from zero. You have the experience from last week. You have ideas from your peers. You have momentum.

    Week by week, action by action, you make progress toward your larger goal.

    The power of structured support in the Impact Accelerator

    The Impact Accelerator provides several types of support to help you succeed.

    Peer learning networks

    You join a community of professionals who understand your challenges because they face similar ones. 

    Each Impact Accelerator brings together people working on the same type of challenge. This shared purpose means that every suggestion, every idea, every lesson learned is likely to be relevant to your work. The learning comes not from distant experts but from people doing the same work you do. Their solutions are practical and tested in real conditions like yours.

    Guided structure

    While you choose your own goals and actions, the Accelerator provides a framework that keeps you moving forward. The weekly rhythm creates momentum. The reporting requirements ensure reflection. The peer connections prevent isolation.

    This structure is like the banks of a river. The water (your energy and creativity) flows freely, but the banks keep it moving in a productive direction.

    Expert guidance when needed

    Sometimes you need specific technical input or help with a particular challenge. The Accelerator provides “guides on the side” – experts who offer targeted support without taking over your process. They help you think through problems and connect you with resources, but you remain in charge of your own change effort.

    What participants achieve

    Across different countries and different challenges, Impact Accelerator participants report similar outcomes.

    Increased confidence

    “Before, I knew what should be done but felt overwhelmed about how to start. Now I take one step at a time and see real progress.” This confidence comes from successfully completing weekly actions and seeing their impact.

    Tangible progress

    Participants do not just learn about change; they create it. A vaccination program reaches new communities. Safety procedures actually get implemented. Children receive support when they need it. The changes may start small, but they are real and they grow.

    Expanded networks

    “I used to feel like I was the only one facing these problems. Now I have colleagues across my country who understand and support me.” These networks last beyond the Accelerator, providing ongoing support and collaboration.

    Enhanced problem-solving

    Through weekly practice and peer exchange, participants develop stronger skills for analyzing challenges and developing solutions. They learn to break big problems into manageable actions and to adapt based on results.

    Resilience in facing obstacles

    Every change effort faces barriers. The Accelerator helps participants expect these obstacles and work through them with peer support rather than giving up when things get difficult.

    How can the same methodology work everywhere?

    The Impact Accelerator has succeeded across vastly different contexts – from supporting children in Ukrainian cities to enhancing radiation safety in Japanese facilities to improving immunization in Nigerian villages. Each Accelerator focuses on one specific challenge area, bringing together professionals who share that common purpose. Why does the same approach work for such different challenges?

    The answer lies in focusing on universal elements of successful change:

    • Breaking big goals into weekly actions;
    • Learning from peers who understand your specific context and challenges;
    • Reflecting on what works and what does not;
    • Building momentum through consistent progress; and
    • Creating accountability through a community united by shared purpose.

    Each group focuses on their specific challenge and context, but the process of creating change remains remarkably similar.

    A typical participant journey in the Impact Accelerator

    Let us follow Yuliia, a social worker in Ukraine helping children affected by the humanitarian crisis.

    Week 1: Getting started

    Yuliia joins the Impact Accelerator after developing her action plan. Her big goal: establish effective psychological support for 50 displaced children in her community center within three months.

    On Monday, she sets her first weekly goal: “During daily activities, I will observe and document how 10 children are affected.”

    By Friday, she has detailed observations. She notices that loud noises sometimes cause reactions in most children, and several withdraw completely during group activities. This gives her concrete starting points.

    Week 2: Building on learning

    Based on her observations, Yuliia sets a new goal: “I will create a quiet corner with calming materials and test it with three children who are withdrawn.”

    During the Wednesday check-in, another social worker shares how she uses art therapy for non-verbal expression with traumatized children. A colleague working in a different city describes success with sensory materials. Yuliia incorporates both ideas into her quiet corner.

    The quiet corner proves successful – two of the three children spend time there and begin to engage with the materials. One child draws for the first time since arriving at the center.

    Week 3: Creative solutions

    Yuliia’s new goal: “I will develop a simple ‘feelings chart’ with visual cues and introduce it during morning circle time.”

    Her peers from Ukraine and all over Europe – all working with children – help refine the idea. A psychologist from another region shares that abstract emotions are hard for traumatized children to identify. She suggests using colors and weather symbols instead of facial expressions. Another colleague recommends making the chart interactive rather than static.

    The feelings chart becomes a breakthrough tool. Children who never spoke about their emotions begin pointing to images. Yuliia’s colleagues can better understand and respond to children’s needs.

    Week 4: Scaling what works

    Energized by success, Yuliia aims higher: “I will train two other staff members to use the quiet corner and feelings chart, and create a simple guide for these tools.”

    By now, Yuliia has concrete evidence that these approaches work. She documents specific examples of children’s progress. Her guide is so practical that the center director wants to share it with other locations.

    The ripple effect

    Yuliia’s tools spread throughout the network of centers supporting displaced children. Through the Accelerator network, colleagues adapt her approaches for different age groups and settings. Soon, hundreds of children across Ukraine benefit from these simple but effective interventions.

    The evidence of impact

    The true test of any approach is whether it creates lasting change. Impact Accelerator participants consistently report:

    • Specific improvements in their work that they can measure and document;
    • Sustained changes that continue after the Accelerator ends;
    • Solutions that others adopt and spread;
    • Professional growth that enhances all their future work; and
    • Networks that provide ongoing support and learning.

    These outcomes appear whether participants work on mental health support in Ukraine, radiation safety in Japan, or immunization in Nigeria. The challenges differ, but the pattern of success remains consistent.

    How we prove the Accelerator makes a difference

    In global health, the biggest challenge is proving that your intervention actually caused the improvements you see. This is called “attribution.” How do we know that better health outcomes happened because of the Impact Accelerator and not for other reasons?

    The Geneva Learning Foundation solves this challenge through a three-step process that connects the dots between learning, action, and results.

    Step 1: Measuring where we start

    Before participants begin taking action, they document their baseline – the current situation they want to improve. For example:

    • A social worker records how many children show severe trauma symptoms.
    • A radiation specialist documents current safety incident rates.
    • A health worker notes the vaccination coverage in their area.

    These starting numbers give us a clear picture of where improvement begins.

    Step 2: Tracking progress and actions

    Every week, participants complete “acceleration reports” that capture two things:

    • The specific actions they took; and
    • Any changes they observe in their measurements.

    This creates a detailed record connecting what participants do to what happens as a result. Week by week, the picture becomes clearer.

    Step 3: Proving the connection

    Here is where the Impact Accelerator becomes special. When participants see improvements, they must answer a crucial question: “How much of this change happened because of what you learned and did through the Accelerator?”

    But they cannot just claim credit. They must prove it to their peers by showing:

    • Exactly which actions led to which results;
    • Why the changes would not have happened without their intervention; and
    • Evidence that their specific approach made the difference.

    This peer review process is powerful. Your colleagues understand your context. They know what is realistic. They can spot when claims are too bold or when someone is being too modest. They ask tough questions that help clarify what really caused the improvements.

    After the first-ever Accelerator in 2019, we compared the implementation progress after six months between those who joined this final stage and a control group that also developed action plans, but did not join.

    Why this method works

    This approach solves several problems that make attribution difficult:

    1. Traditional studies often cannot capture the complexity of real-world change. The Impact Accelerator’s method shows not just that change happened, but how and why it happened.
    2. Self-reporting can be unreliable when people work alone. But when you must convince peers who understand your work, the reports become more accurate and honest.
    3. Numbers alone do not tell the whole story. By combining measurements with detailed descriptions of actions and peer validation, we get a complete picture of how change happens.

    The invitation to act

    Around the world, professionals like you are transforming their work through the Impact Accelerator. They start with the same doubts you might have: “Can I really create change? Will this work in my context? Do I have time for this?”

    Week by week, action by action, they discover the answer is yes. Yes, they can create change. Yes, it works in their context. Yes, they can find time because the Accelerator fits into their real work rather than adding to it.

    The Impact Accelerator does not promise overnight transformation. It offers something better: a proven process for creating real, sustainable change through your own efforts, supported by peers who understand your journey.

    If you work in a field where you seek to make a difference, the Impact Accelerator can help you move from good intentions to meaningful impact. The same process can work for you.

    The question is not whether the Impact Accelerator can help you create change. The question is: What change do you want to create?

    Your journey can begin Monday.

    Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025