MHPSS Collaborative

Case Study

Investment for Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

Overview

We partnered with the MHPSS Collaborative to support the development of a collective resource mobilisation approach for a complex, multi-stakeholder network.

Context

The MHPSS Collaborative brings together leading humanitarian, development, and mental health organisations working to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies, displacement, and fragile settings. In a field characterised by fragmented funding, short-term project cycles, and parallel initiatives, the Collaborative was established to improve coordination, learning, and collective impact.

Objective

While the network had strong technical credibility and a shared vision, it faced a familiar challenge for collaborative platforms: funding structures were largely designed for individual organisations rather than multi-actor partnerships. This created several constraints:

Limited access to funding for joint initiatives and shared infrastructure.
Donor preferences for single-agency grants rather than networked delivery.
A lack of clear mechanisms for financing coordination, learning, and systems change.
The Collaborative wanted to move beyond ad hoc project funding toward a more strategic, sustainable model that could resource collective priorities without undermining the independence of participating organisations.
Global Leaders Consulting was engaged to help design a resource mobilisation approach suited to a network rather than a single institution.

Our Approach

This engagement required a different kind of fundraising support: less about organisational positioning, and more about building a credible, fundable architecture for collaboration.

We began by analysing how mental health and psychosocial support is currently financed across humanitarian response, development assistance, and global health. This included:

Mapping key bilateral, multilateral, and philanthropic funders active in MHPSS, health systems, protection, and resilience.

Identifying gaps in funding for coordination, learning, and collective action.

Assessing where donor priorities were shifting toward systems-level impact, localisation, and partnership-based delivery.

This analysis clarified both the constraints the Collaborative was facing and the emerging opportunities for collective financing.
Working with the Collaborative’s leadership and member organisations, we helped define what a “fit-for-purpose” funding model could look like for a multi-actor platform. This involved:

Distinguishing between funding for individual organisational programmes and funding for shared priorities.

Exploring mechanisms such as pooled funds, joint proposals, and backbone support for coordination and learning.

Developing principles for how resources would be governed, allocated, and reported in ways that reinforced trust and accountability across the network.

The result was a strategic framework that treated fundraising as a tool for strengthening collaboration, not simply generating income.
A core part of our work focused on narrative: helping the Collaborative explain why a networked approach matters in a field often dominated by project-by-project interventions. Together, we developed a case that:

Positioned the Collaborative as a platform for alignment, quality, and learning across diverse actors.

Demonstrated how coordinated approaches could improve coverage, reduce duplication, and strengthen practice in crisis-affected contexts.

Made the argument that investment in shared infrastructure is essential to long-term impact in MHPSS.

This narrative became the foundation for donor engagement and proposal development.
Using our funder intelligence, we identified donors with a demonstrated interest in:

Systems change and collective action

Health and protection in humanitarian settings

Innovation, learning, and field-building

We supported the Collaborative to prioritise opportunities where a multi-partner approach was not only acceptable, but actively valued. This included shaping concept notes and funding approaches that foregrounded partnership, learning, and field-wide benefit.
Where appropriate, we provided hands-on support in developing proposals and partnership structures for joint initiatives. This included:

Advising on roles, responsibilities, and governance arrangements across partners.

Supporting the framing of budgets that reflected both delivery and coordination costs.

Ensuring that accountability to donors was balanced with flexibility for collaborative working.

This practical support helped translate strategy into fundable, implementable opportunities.

Outcomes

Through this engagement, the MHPSS Collaborative strengthened its ability to pursue funding that matched its purpose as a network:

A clearer, shared resource mobilisation strategy tailored to a multi-actor platform.
Improved positioning with donors interested in systems-level impact and collaboration.
Stronger narrative for collective action, articulating the value of coordination, learning, and field-building.
More structured approaches to joint proposals and pooled funding, enabling the Collaborative to move beyond fragmented project finance.

These outcomes supported the Collaborative’s transition from an informal coordination mechanism to a more strategically financed platform for collective impact.

Why It Mattered

In fields such as mental health and psychosocial support, where needs are complex, resources are limited, and crises are protracted, no single organisation can deliver lasting change alone. Progress depends on shared standards, coordinated action, and sustained investment in collective capacity.

By helping the MHPSS Collaborative design a funding model that supports partnership rather than competition, Global Leaders Consulting contributed to a more coherent, resilient ecosystem for MHPSS in humanitarian and development contexts.

This case reflects a distinctive strand of our practice: working with networks, coalitions, and alliances to build the financial structures that make collaboration viable, accountable, and durable over time.