Trainings, Workshops, Seminars and Conferences

Trauma First Aid Refresher Training Conducted with
Mental Health Advisors trained in 2017 and 2018

In 2017 and 2018, 28 students from different faculties of PIASS have been trained as Trauma First Aiders/ Mental Health Advisors by CRASPD in collaboration with PIASS Peace Club to support people in emotional crisis after violent incidents and in commemoration events. We worked with local trauma counseling trainers and clinical psychologists who introduced basic concepts of trauma and healing as well as different methods of psychosocial support. In practice sessions, participants learnt to apply different techniques and exercises to support persons in emotional turmoil, under their supervision.

CRASPD, with support of the Japan Baptist Convention, organized a Trauma First Aid Refresher Training end of April 2019, for those trained Mental Health Advisors to renew and deepen what they learnt in their prior training. By strengthening their skills and confidence to help themselves and other people in situations of emotional crisis, we would like to contribute to a constructive way to deal with consequences of violence-induced traumatization in communities.

Mental Health Advisors who had been trained in Trauma First Aid in 2017 and 2018 joined the refresher training and,  in teams under supervision of our trainer and clinic psychologist Therese Uwitonze from MHDF (Mental Health Dignity Foundation) served as Mental Health Advisors during the PIASS Commemoration, in the commemoration with Umucyo Nyanza and in other events during the 2019 commemoration period,

Strategic Planning Workshop of CRASPD for the Cooperation of PIASS and GIZ CPS

The workshop had an objective of agreeing on the continuation of the cooperation of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) of GIZ (German Development Cooperation) with PIASS through the Center for Research and Action towards Sustainable Peace and Development (CRASPD). The workshop took place at Centre d’Accueil Ste Scholastique at Sovu in Huye District, for 2 days on March 25 – 26, 2019.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of PIASS, members of the Faculty and a volunteer serving at CRASPD under the program of Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) of the US Lutheran Church were in attendance, as well as the Coordinator of the GIZ Civil Peace Service Program Rwanda – Burundi – Eastern DRC.  The workshop was facilitated by Esther Tidjani, International Peace Advisor who is the assigned expert for organizational development in the regional program of GIZ Civil Peace Service.

In the workshop, the participants reviewed the cooperation between PIASS and GIZ CPS, its history, achievements, challenges and lessons learnt. They then identified the priorities of CRASPD in 2019 around three aspects: networking, joint research and community outreach.

Then, they looked at the outcomes of the regional program of GIZ CPS and identified possibilities of future cooperation. By the end of the workshop, three objectives were formulated for the cooperation of PIASS/ CRASPD with GIZ CPS in the period between 2019 and 2022 as follow:

1) Research-informed knowledge useful for peace and development policy makers and practitioners is generated and shared, 2) Peace-building actors in the region have increased sustainable initiatives and collaboration (capacity development and networking as means on how to achieve it), and 3) Peace-building practitioners and communities have access to a training and resource center in the region.

Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) – Online Introduction

CRASPD, in cooperation with the HROC (Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities) Center in Musanze, held a second online introduction of the HROC approach, which was open to members of all partner organizations in the Regional GIZ Civil Peace Service program and other interested peace practitioners. This time, we conducted the introduction in English with French translation French in the chat. Four HROC facilitators from Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya gave an overview of HROC and its historical background. They also explained how an international HROC facilitator’s training works and how ‘Healing Companions’ trained there can be instrumental to support a path to joint healing after intercommunal violence in the communities from which they come. Fourteen staff and members of different organizations signed up for the introduction, but unfortunately, due to network connection issues, many dropped out for some time or completely. This seems to be more frequent during the rainy season, as heavy clouds and rain disturb internet connectivity. Those who took part expressed gratitude for learning more about HROC

Critical Thinking Facilitators
Refresher Training and Online Discussion

An online Refresher Training for Critical Thinking Facilitators on October 1-2, 2020 was organized on Zoom as universities were still closed at that time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which did not allow facilitators, mainly PIASS students, to gather together at PIASS. Twelve participants, who had been trained as facilitators in 2018 or 2019, took part in the training (six females and six males).

The overall purpose of the training was to review the skills learnt from past experiences and to prepare at least two discussions before the end of October. On the first day, the session consisted of sharing facilitation skills, discussing expectations of the training (topics for the second day) as well as some reviewing of the inputs learnt during the critical thinking training of facilitators.

In the discussion on the way forward, two ‘critical thinking discussions’ were planned and recommendations were made for the sustainability of the critical thinking facilitation. Regarding the sustainability of critical thinking facilitation in COVID-times, participants shared that there can be online sessions, refresher trainings and continuity with the WhatsApp group of facilitators.

Restorative Dialogue Refresher Training, March 12-13, 2020

The Refresher Training was a follow-up activity to the Restorative Dialogue Training with Duke Duchscherer—CNVC (Center for Nonviolent Communication, http://www.cnvc.org) certified Trainer of Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Dialogue Facilitator—at PIASS in October 2019. Restorative Dialogue came from efforts of installing restorative justice after violence happened, originally from indigenous communities around the world. For them, it was often important to repair relationships in the community when someone had done something that caused harm to someone in the community so that the community harmony would be restored.  Restorative Dialogue uses the technique of restorative circles as an approach to dealing with community violence. It was created by Dominic Barter when he was living and working in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro do Brasil where a lot of gang violence happens and many people are killed in community violence every year. He developed it further together with the people there and took it to other places, together with other trainers of Nonviolent Communication. Restorative Dialogue (RD) is usually organized in three phases: a pre-circle where RD facilitators explore the readiness of potential participants and their understanding of the process, the restorative circle itself in which all concerned are participating and identifying restorative steps to commit to, and a post-circle, reviewing how the outcomes of the process are affecting the participants and what next steps they would like to take to restore the harmony in their community.

During the Refresher Training, the participants shared experiences of having used different techniques of Restorative Dialogue, reviewed the content of pre-circles, facilitators’ pre-circles, restorative circles and post-circles, and reviewed the ‘live’ Restorative Dialogue that had been taking place in November 2019 in a community near Huye under Duke’s supervision.

The focus was much on practice: We practiced in pairs, in triads and in larger groups, as well as in a full circle. Developing the program over the course of two days, re-adjusting the program according to present needs and different participants facilitating various sessions ensured that everyone actively participated and brought immense learning opportunities to everyone. We certainly did not manage to do the perfect ‘restorative circle’, but we supported each other on our journey of learning the practical steps to develop the following skills: 1) listening to each other, 2) giving and receiving support to hear what a painful, scary or sad experience means to one, 3) to acknowledge our parts in what happened and our agency to contribute to our healing in a community. An interesting exchange unfolded about the ‘live’ Restorative Dialogue that had been conducted in November in collaboration with Association Modeste et Innocent (AMI). Forty local community members participated, half of them victims of Genocide crimes, and the other half people who had been in prison under charges of having committed Genocide crimes in the same community. One participant questioned whether the participants took part on a voluntary basis and voiced concerns that the sharing of painful truths and feelings of pain and suffering would bring back traumatic experiences and lead to emotional crises that could not be well-handled by a Restorative Dialogue team. The team responded that the two groups had been prepared and informed about their choices separately and reassured that their participation was voluntary. When participants would be overcome by emotions, Therese and Joseph from the Mental Health Dignity Foundation, who were members of the team, took care of them and supported them to reconnect.

Restorative Dialogue Training October 20 – 24, 2019

The Restorative Dialogue Training was conducted from October 20 to October 24, 2019 at the PIASS Main Educational Building. Its purpose was to introduce an approach to build bridges between people who are suffering due to violence that occurred in their community, like the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, and that was, to our knowledge, not yet known in the region.

In the training, twenty-seven participants (14 male and 13 female) were introduced to the Restorative Dialogue process which is based on Nonviolent Communication where a facilitator supports reflective listening to achieve a mutual understanding that contributes to healing the wounds of harm done. The participants came from different countries (Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa) and different professional, educational and peacebuilding backgrounds (several AVP facilitators, academicians, HROC trainers, clinical psychologists, social workers, development workers and international as well as local peace advisors).

A few of the participants, lead and mentored by the trainer, co-facilitated a Restorative Dialogue in a community in Huye District, one week after the training, in collaboration with Association Modeste et Innocent (AMI). Fourty local community members participated.

The report of the training can be downloaded here:

REPORT_Restor_Dialogue_Training_X_2019

Healing for Peace Conference October 27 – 29, 2019

The Healing for Peace Conference was organized by PIASS through its Center for Research and Action towards Sustainable Peace and Development (CRASPD). The conference, which took on October 27-29, 2019 at PIASS Conference Hall, brought together approximately 50 national and international actors from around 15 organizations and institutions working in peacebuilding, psychosocial support and/or development.