Follow the Money: Global funding of child and family MHPSS activities in development and humanitarian assistance

The study shows that whilst a positive trend in donors’ policy on child and family MHPSS led to a relative increase in funding for the area, the proportion of child and family MHPSS funding as part of wider ODA and private sector funding remains a drop in the ocean compared to the growing needs.

Key findings from the report include:

• The share of spending allocated to CF MHPSS over total ODA grants is estimated at only 0.24% in 2018 and 0.31% in 2019.
• Just 5 donor countries provide 75% of the total ODA funding to child and family MHPSS.
• The role of the private sector is increasing, with private sector funding now representing 12% of the funding tracked in this study. However, the top 5 private sector donors represent 85% of the private sector funding for CF MHPSS.
• This study is also the first attempt at identifying in which sectors CF MHPSS is most integrated, and it showed that education is a main entry point for CF MHPSS funding, representing 36% of total child and family MHPSS funding during 2018 and 2019.

Based on these findings, the report makes these main recommendations to urgently address the funding gap for child and family MHPSS and ensure better efficiency and accountability:

• Systematically track funding to child and family MHPSS, through donors reporting it as a separate category and ensuring MHPSS funding is tracked through OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service
• Provide greater investment, through longer term and flexible funding and encourage more donor governments and private sector actors to invest in child and family MHPSS
• Develop a minimum funding target to address child and family MHPSS needs globally and across sectors
• Support the integration of child and family MHPSS across sectors
• Increase funding to and facilitate the participation of local MHPSS actors