Rwanda

Abstract: Restorative justice, when trauma informed, has a great potential to effectively contribute to sustainable peace in post conflict settings. An evidence based example of a programme illustrating such effect is community based sociotherapy in Rwanda. This article documents what this programme has achieved in terms of restorative justice, following the closure of Gacaca, the community based justice system that was in operation in Rwanda nationwide from 2005 to 2012.

Abstract: Integration of mental health care into primary care is a strategic priority of Rwanda's national mental health care programme and a central tenet of global mental health. In 2009, the international health care delivery organisation, Partners In Health, established a community based mental health programme to support national planning goals.

This paper describes the conceptual framework and application of a working model (‘EPSoCare’) for psychosocial intervention for refugees living in camps in low income countries. The intervention’s main objective is social re-integration of individuals with

Ten years after war and genocide in Rwanda took almost a million lives; trauma still exists on a large scale. This is especially true amongst adolescents where it hampers the process of reconciliation. As a result, crisis outbreaks frequently occur at secondary

Reconciliation in the aftermath of the history of violent conflict in Rwanda is approached as part of a set of deeply interrelated issues, such as individual and social suffering, justice, remembering and forgetting, truth-telling, accountability, forgiveness,

A community based sociotherapy programme was implemented in the North of Rwanda in 2005. This article describes the background of sociotherapy, explains its principles and application in therapy for refugees in the Netherlands, and gives a justification for the introduction of the approach in a particular setting in post war and post genocide Rwanda. It then focuses on the development of the programme in this setting and addresses recruitment criteria for facilitators.

This article focuses on the resilience of children facing extreme hardship and adversity. It is based on participatory research with children living in child headed households in Rwanda. It emphasizes the importance of listening to children's voices and recognizing their capacities when designing interventions to strengthen their psychosocial wellbeing.

Rwanda experienced extreme violence and genocide during a three month period starting in April 1994. In the northern regions, there had been ongoing violence since 1990. Many inhabitants still suffer emotionally from the consequences of this era. We performed a quantitative study to measure the effectiveness of sociotherapy; a community based psychosocial intervention carried out in northern Rwanda.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide subjected thousands of women to rape, many of whom became pregnant as a result. Although mothers and their children born as a result of those rapes are an at risk population, there is very little research or reported programmes addressing their needs. This paper describes a pilot community group counselling programme for these mothers. Quantitative and qualitative data show the groups to be effective. The results suggest that the groups helped the mothers connect with others in a similar situation.

Psychosocial interventions in many post conflict settings, including Rwanda, have failed to facilitate dialogue between members of conflicting groups while aiming to rebuild the broken social fabric that individuals and communities depend on for sustainable peace and development. Locally initiated programmes that do engage conflicting parties in dialogue are often overlooked, and therefore unable to inform interventions.