Children and youth continue to bear the brunt of ongoing conflicts. Displacement disrupts access to education and essential services, hindering healthy physical, emotional, and psychological development. Without appropriate support, prolonged exposure to high stress can cause lasting harm to their well-being.
As demand for effective psychosocial support (PSS) grows, many international and national education partners have approached NRC to use the Better Learning Programme (BLP). Originally launched as Trauma Education: Fighting Nightmares and Sleeping, BLP helped learners understand trauma and regain the ability to learn.
To meet growing needs, NRC developed this innovation to scale access, maintain quality, and foster a broader, more sustainable partnership network around PSS in education. This evolution is shaping the transition from the Right to Wellbeing 2025 (RtW25) to the Together for Wellbeing 2030 (TfW30) initiative. TfW30 responds strategically to global demand for BLP by equipping implementers with tools and resources to ensure children and youth receive effective, sustainable PSS through education.
A key component of the Together for Wellbeing 2030 initiative is the White Label Approach (WLA), which complements traditional partnerships. It enables international and national actors to integrate Better Learning Programme (BLP) methodologies into their existing education programs. By adapting BLP’s evidence-based methods, the WLA enhances contextual relevance and strengthens local ownership while ensuring quality psychosocial support (PSS) for children and youth affected by crisis.
The WLA allows NRC to scale its impact through strategic collaboration, providing partners with multiple benefits:
• Tailored Ownership: Partners rebrand and align the program with their strategies, boosting
local buy-in.
• Capacity Strengthening: NRC and partners exchange technical expertise and field
experience to enhance institutional and implementation capacity.
• Credibility: Using a globally recognized framework enhances partners' profiles with donors
and communities.
• Sustainability: The WLA offers a structure to continue BLP delivery beyond NRC contracts,
under copyright held by NRC and the Arctic University of Norway (UiT).
• Scalability: Partners can grow the program across regions and link it with complementary
efforts.
• Networking: A global community supports joint learning, advocacy, research, and fundraising.
The Better Learning Programme (BLP) was developed in 2006 by Professor Jon-Håkon Schultz (UiT) in collaboration with NRC and the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies. It was first piloted in eight UNRWA schools in Gaza in 2012. Following successful results, the programme was scaled across vulnerable schools in Gaza and the West Bank.
Between 2018 and 2019, BLP expanded across the MENA region, where NRC supports formal education systems to institutionalize BLP within Ministries of Education. Demand for BLP grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the urgent need for structured psychosocial support in education settings, and supported by randomized control trials and evaluations showing strong outcomes.
A key step toward external institutionalization has been NRC’s own internal institutionalization of the BLP—embedding it into policies, systems, and standard implementation processes. NRC’s global education strategy now aims to integrate PSS, including the BLP, across all Education in Emergencies (EiE) programmes.
Since then, BLP has continued to spread globally, and is now active in 34 conflict-affected countries through NRC’s education programming and partnerships with national and international actors.
The Better Learning Programme (BLP) is a multi-tiered, evidence-based psychosocial support (PSS) programme designed for crisis-affected settings. It can be implemented by trained teachers or counsellors, without requiring a specialized mental health background.
BLP includes three core components:
• BLP-1: A general, classroom-based PSS approach for all learners, integrated into everyday teaching.
• BLP-2: A targeted small-group intervention to support resilience and improve academic performance among struggling students.
• BLP-3: A specialised intervention addressing recurring nightmares—a common symptom of traumatic stress in children.
Together, these components offer flexible, scalable support to meet varying needs of children and youth affected by crisis. An infographic summarising the three tiers of BLP is included on the next page.
NRC has implemented BLP for over nine years. Each component has been reviewed, researched, and evaluated, generating a robust evidence base. Extensive monitoring data, academic research, and evaluations are available to support adaptation and implementation.
To explore implementation or partnership opportunities, interested actors can contact NRC’s global education or PSS team for further guidance and access to resources.
