IIHD is committed to an approach in responding to the tsunami which is centred on community participation - recognising the resilience and agency of communities and working together with them to support their future development. This includes seeking to understand people's experiences of the tsunami within the context of the broader social, political and historical dimensions of their lives. This strategy was integrated into the programme's development from its initiation: One member of the IIHD team travelled to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in January 2004 to meet with colleagues in the psychosocial field and contacts in the local governments to explore how IIHD could best support them. Partnership, then, is another core strategy; IIHD is working alongside with both old and new partners in these countries in order to support local health and social development.

A key focus of these collaborations is research. This focus is motivated by IIHD's observation that "there is still much debate about the definition of 'psychosocial'; a lack of research into broader aspects of policy discourse and decision making; and crucially a lack of knowledge about how the tsunami and subsequent psychosocial interventions were experienced by different people and communities". For example, in Sri Lanka, IIHD is working with colleagues to coordinate the psychosocial response in the aftermath of the tsunami by developing a new centre for psychosocial research and evaluation. In Indonesia, IIHD will participate in longer-term work to conduct research to support community mental health. This research initially focused on Aceh, but will also seek to draw out learning, resources, and expertise from the broader area to help inform developments of community mental health plans in other parts of the country.

IIHD is emphasising capacity building in an effort to equip organisations carrying out psychosocial interventions with relevant knowledge and tools. IIHD has been in dialogue with other agencies and coordinating groups about establishing a practitioners' network that would promote learning between organisations and the academic community. IIHD has also been in the process of planning a joint programme of research that would involve a series of studentships for Sri Lankan researchers in the psychosocial field. Along these lines, in addition to MSc programmes in International Health, Social Development and Health and Population and Reproductive Health and an MRes (International Health), IIHD offers a number of short courses which are thought to be relevant to practitioners in the post-tsunami context, including: "Policy and practice in complex emergencies", "Psychosocial interventions with war affected populations, displaced persons and refugees" (available by distance), "Project design and management", and "Participatory appraisal and evaluation".

Emergency, Health.

The IIHD (Formerly the Centre for International Health Studies) works in a global context to facilitate learning (including by distance and in-country delivery), to conduct research, and to provide consultancy services related to the impact of social and organisational issues in international health and social development.