Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Prisoners in Rwanda as Part of Trauma Healing

Rehabilitating and reintegrating prisoners remains a struggle in many countries and communities around the world, including Rwanda. In recent years, many Rwandan prisoners, especially those convicted of crimes related to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, have finished their terms and returned to their communities. Most individuals convicted of the most heinous genocide-related crimes and sentenced to between 20 and 30 years in jail are expected to be released within the next four to five years. According to Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) statistics, this number exceeds 20,000 people.

RCS has made remarkable efforts over the past several decades to improve the well-being of convicts, including the implementation of numerous rehabilitation and reintegration programmes. However, serious issues persisted. For instance, there was a lack of a national curriculum, particularly regarding the psychosocial preparation of soon-to-be-released inmates, as well as a strong coordination structure between the many actors involved in the rehabilitation process.

On July 20, 2022, RCS and Interpeace launched a comprehensive curriculum which is a 6-month certificate programme divided into eight key modules and each module focuses on the different themes. Those modules include interpersonal skills and conflict management; physical and mental wellness; career development and entrepreneurship; drug and substances abuse education; human rights and legal awareness; family dynamics; civic education and genocide ideology, and safe return and connection with family and society. It will be implemented in all 13 prisons across the country by RCS staff members in collaboration with RCS stakeholders. The curriculum was developed with technical assistance from Interpeace as part of the European Union-funded programme "Reinforcing community capacity for social cohesion and reconciliation through Societal Trauma Healing in Bugesera District." It will serve as guiding tool to correctional officers and partners to ensure effective psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates into their families and communities.

Studies have indicated that without an appropriate psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration programme, released convicts may continue to experience feelings of humiliation, worthlessness, guilt, sadness, and a skewed self-image, all of which may impact their social lives in the community. In most cases, ex-prisoners face rejection by their families and communities, especially by community members who are not ready to receive them due to their crimes. The dismissal and lack of community support drive some to relocate to other places where they are not known. This may exacerbate social tensions by triggering fear and anxiety, particularly among genocide survivors.

According to the baseline research conducted prior to the development of this curriculum, the existing programmes are predominantly informal and not uniformly implemented in all prisons. They are provided by a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and some governmental institutions rather than by RCS employed staff. The new curriculum consolidates and harmonizes existing initiatives and programmes and incorporates elements of relevant good practices identified from other contexts.

Frank Kayitare, the Country Representative of Interpeace in Rwanda, indicated that the research revealed the urgency of having a harmonized approach to prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration as part of trauma healing in the country.

"Re-integrating ex-prisoners for genocide-related crimes ranked among the highest challenges identified by families and communities in the survey. Difficulties for ex-prisoners and their immediate families to sufficiently reconnect, worsening anxiety among genocide survivors in the communities where these ex-genocide perpetrators are reintegrated; and the challenge of ex-prisoners adapting to a fundamentally changed society in many respects, including gender norms and family dynamics, are among the main issues that this curriculum is intended to help contribute to solve," said Kayitare.

The new curriculum combines and harmonizes existing initiatives and programmes with elements of relevant good practices identified in other contexts. It has also considered the psychological aspect of prisoner rehabilitation, which was lacking in existing initiatives. As a result, it will not only equip inmates with socio-emotional skills such as self-management and dealing with trauma stemming from a long life in prison, but also develop vocational and livelihood skills to make an independent living in the community after release.

During the curriculum’s validation, the Commissioner General of RCS, ACP Alex Bahizi Kimenyi, recognized the added value of the curriculum as it offers a well-structured and holistic approach to tackling challenges his institution has been facing on this matter. He called upon all actors to lend their hand in ensuring effective and efficient curriculum implementation.

"This curriculum will enable us to work in a well-harmonized and coordinated manner, which will improve the quality of our work. However, adopting this curriculum is not the end of the journey; it is rather the beginning. I call upon all our partners, including donors, government institutions, and communities, to support this initiative so its implementation can be fully effective."

Thibaut Moyer, Head of Cooperation at the Delegation of the EU to Rwanda, appreciates the partnership with Interpeace that has led to the development of this curriculum. He reiterates the EU’s commitment to support its effective implementation.

"With the anticipated tens of thousands of prisoners to be released in the upcoming years, the EU has set aside 7 million Euros that will be used to work with local organizations, the government and other stakeholders to ensure a peaceful transition back into the communities for these prisoners and continue to foster peace in Rwanda."

The curriculum will contribute content to the "Halfway Home" initiative, where prisoners about to be released will be transited. From there, they will be offered opportunities to meet their respective communities and have an open discussion with family and community members. The move aims to facilitate the reestablishment of relationships, acceptance, tolerance, and trust between prisoners and community members and foster social cohesion.

Strengthening the Political Elite of Tomorrow – Working With Students to Create Safer Environments in Côte D’Ivoire’s Universities

Since the 1990s, the universities in Côte d’Ivoire have been greatly impacted by violence, particularly during electoral periods. This has created conflicts and tensions, which have influenced the dynamics of young people attending different schools. A joint initiative by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Interpeace, in partnership with Indigo Côte d’Ivoire, aims to help prevent and better manage conflicts in the university environments through participatory mechanisms that would develop a model of positive leadership, which will ultimately influence social peace and governance.

The initiative is funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF) and is being piloted in three universities in Abidjan: Félix Houphouët-Boigny University, Nangui Abrogoua University and Alassane Ouattara University.

To better understand the sources of conflict and the dynamics of violence in these university spaces, Interpeace and Indigo Côte d’Ivoire facilitated a Participatory Action Research (PAR) process in 2021 with 1,366 students, teachers, members of administrative and technical staff from these universities. The consultations and dialogue sessions highlighted the resilience factors that can be collectively used to prevent and mitigate conflicts. Furthermore, the conclusions and recommendations from this participatory research process were used as a basis for the development of an action plan per university, which entails peace initiatives and the creation of a framework for inclusive exchange and dialogue between all university members.

In the beginning of August, a three-day workshop took place, where teachers, students and staff of the three universities came together to create a specific "road map" for the implementation of these initiatives that will foster safer and healthier environments on university campuses and strengthen the political elite of tomorrow. By supporting and strengthening students’ capacities to improve the prevention and management of conflict, the initiative will also contribute to reducing the factors that allow political parties to mobilize students for the purpose of political violence during electoral periods.

One of the student representatives at Alassane Ouattara University highlighted that the project had enabled participants to “improve consideration for certain actors”, who had previously been viewed negatively by students. A participant from Nangui Abrogoua University reflected on the significance of the project stating, "We are using words more than muscles". On the issue of strengthening ties and improving communication between university stakeholders, a professor highlighted the necessity for “collaboration between groups [stakeholders] that, so far, have not been speaking to one another”.

Indigo Côte d’Ivoire highlighted that this workshop “marked the first coming together of different university members from all three universities to collaborate and work towards a common goal”. UNFPA’s representative underlined that “the workshop was a significant step towards building and strengthening peace and cohesion on campuses through jointly designed and led actions”. Overall, participants warmly welcomed this opportunity and expressed their hopes to see considerable change take root on their campuses in the near future.

In order to build on the results of this workshop, Interpeace and Indigo Côte d’Ivoire will share the universities’ “road map” and detailed action plans with Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry for Higher Education and Scientific Research, and will strive to provide support at the highest level to ensure that these efforts help pave the way forward so that the universities’ can become a peaceful haven of research, innovation and excellence.

The African Union and Interpeace Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) to Strengthen Peacebuilding Efforts in Africa

Addis Ababa/Geneva, 2 September 2022. The African Union (AU) and Interpeace, an international organization for peacebuilding based in Geneva, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) confirming their mutual commitment to promote nationally-led peace processes to achieve sustainable peace, prevent violent conflict, and enhance resilient capacities for peace and development.

The signing ceremony took place on Friday, 2 September, at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa. The MoU was signed by the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union, H.E. Amb. Bankole Adeoye and by the Vice -President of Interpeace, Simon Gimson.

Aligned with the AU’s priorities and strategies, the MoU aims to support more inclusive and participatory peacebuilding approaches that are gender and youth responsive, as well as to promote the opportunity and potential of societies as agents of positive change to achieve stronger social cohesion and sustainable growth and development.

Within the framework of their shared mandates to advance conflict prevention and resolution, the AU and Interpeace will support each other particularly through political dialogues, joint programmatic activities and joint policy and advocacy initiatives. Interpeace will provide technical support on conflict sensitivity and peace responsiveness and will help to sustain the AU in its conflict prevention capabilities to help member states mitigate the root causes of conflict.

Anchored in Interpeace’s Peace Responsive approach, this joint programming aims to increase member states’ capacities to implement bottom-up, community-centred peacebuilding infrastructure, as well as inform their development programmes to contribute to peace.

The AU and Interpeace will also work together to strengthen evidence-based programming to increase the effectiveness of the AU’s coordination with member states and regional bodies and the AU’s peacebuilding capacities. More concretely, the two will seek to carry out peace indexes and analyse findings to identify relevant programming approaches with a focus on mental health and psychosocial support as well as sustainable livelihoods.

This partnership reaffirms the direction taken by the AU through its African Peace and Security Architecture, the AU Master Roadmap on Practical Steps for Silencing Guns by 2020, the Structural Conflict Prevention Framework, the AU Transitional Justice Policy and AU Post-Conflict Reconstruction Policy as the bedrock of the African Union’s approach.

“We are delighted to formalise and deepen our engagement with the African Union through this MoU,” said Interpeace Vice - President Simon Gimson. “The MoU affirms our joint commitment to increase AU member states’ capacity to foster more bottom-up, community-led approaches to peace.”

Interpeace

Interpeace is an international organization for peacebuilding. With over 25 years of experience, it has implemented a broad range of peacebuilding programmes in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Interpeace tailors its approach to each society and ensures that its work is locally designed and driven. Interpeace also assists the international community – especially the United Nations – to play a more effective role in peacebuilding, based on Interpeace’s expertise in field-based work at grassroots level. Interpeace is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has offices around the world. For more information, please visit our website: www.interpeace.org

Press contact

Luvini Ranasinghe
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ranasinghe@interpeace.org

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A Blueprint for Peace in an Era of Disruption and Conflict

We are delighted to share our 2021 Annual Report titled, “A blueprint for peace in an era of disruption and conflict.”

With conflict being the single greatest barrier to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the traditional blueprints for achieving peace evidently require adaptation, and new approaches must be developed to address today’s challenges. Peacebuilders have an opportunity to act creatively and assertively to strengthen multilateralism, and to reinforce positive linkages between national leaders and the communities whom they represent and serve.

Our report illustrates examples of Interpeace’s focus in our current five-year Strategy on building trust, strengthening social cohesion and resilience, and promoting inclusive and participatory approaches. All are critical to preventing violence, managing conflict, and fostering sustainable peace and development. We highlight key achievements both within communities and at the highest levels of policymaking – from successfully brokering a truce between groups in Kenya’s North Rift region to driving efforts to create the first-ever financial asset class of peace bonds.

In 2021 alone, we worked on 805 locally designed and led initiatives that contributed to the transformation of 162 conflicts. We supported six security reform initiatives and launched two new country programmes – in Yemen and Ethiopia. Through the ‘Principles for Peace’ initiative, which was conceived and continues to be incubated and hosted at Interpeace, we supported the creation and adoption in the year ahead, of principles that will reshape how peace processes are designed, implemented, and monitored. We established seven partnerships for human rights and peacebuilding work; deepened institutional partnerships with WHO, UNFPA, ILO, FAO, and IOM to strengthen the peace outcomes of their own technical interventions; and brought together champions from across seven UN agencies to further operationalise the Sustaining Peace Agenda and the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus.

Despite exceptional challenges in 2021, including the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the lives of millions and many of Interpeace’s face-to-face activities, we have made tangible progress and will continue to make the adjustments required to operate in a post-Covid-19 world.

We hope you enjoy reading our report. It is a taste of the great work recently undertaken by the Interpeace team with thanks to all those who support us; an insight into the way in which we are committed to changing positively the lives and communities worldwide of those whom we serve as peacebuilders; and a pointer to the challenges and work that we see ahead.

Go to our online 2021 Annual Report

Mobile Mental Health Clinic: Promoting Mental Health Resilience and Social Cohesion in Rwanda

Justin Mambo (this is a pseudo), 46, is a retired military officer and a father of four. He resides in Bugesera District, in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. He recognises having mental health issues, including chronic headaches, anger issues and depression stemming from his military career.

“I sometimes wake up with too much anger and rage. In some cases, I emotionally and physically harm my family members unwillingly because of my mental health problems,” said Mambo, adding that he has difficulty in getting along with his neighbors due to his illness.

Mambo is one of many Rwandans who continue to face very high levels of trauma and other psycho-social problems. The recent Rwanda Mental Health Survey (RMHS) conducted in 2018 revealed that the prevalence of several mental disorders is higher than the global average and is particularly elevated among the survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Roughly 25% of Rwandan citizens struggle with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and one in six people suffer from depression.

On 18 May 2022, Interpeace and the Government of Rwanda launched a Mental Health Mobile Clinic to support national efforts to strengthen a decentralised mental health system.

A customized and well-equipped clinic was handed over to ADEPR -Nyamata District Hospital and will be used across the Bugesera district to conduct regular screenings of individuals or groups in communities, health centers or public places such as markets and do referrals of special cases to Bugesera Referral Hospital. It will also help mental health professionals provide home-based care to patients.

“We have been facing two serious challenges. Not only is Bugesera Hospital located far from our home, but we also lack financial means to take my sister to a psychologist. Now that we have a mental health mobile clinic in Bugesera, it has renewed my hope that she will receive adequate treatment, “said Jeanne Uwayezu(this is a pseudo), a resident of Bugesera District whose sister has been struggling with mental health problems.

The RMHS indicates that the level of awareness toward mental health services offered stands at 61.7%, versus a 5.3% utilisation rate. The clinic will also be used to carry out mental health awareness campaigns across Bugesera District.

The launch of the clinic is in line with Interpeace’s programme entitled: ‘’Reinforcing community capacity for social cohesion and reconciliation through Societal Trauma Healing’’ in Bugesera District. Funded by the European Union (EU), the programme offers a holistic approach to simultaneously address mental health issues while promoting social cohesion and fostering sustainable livelihoods in this district.

With the support from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the programme has been expanded to five more districts in Rwanda, namely: Nyamagabe, Musanze, Nyabihu, Ngoma and Nyagatare. This clinic responds to the needs expressed by communities in Bugesera during the regular monitoring and evaluation process of the programme in the district.

“We have learned that mental health is an important aspect of social cohesion and reconciliation— trauma healing is an essential element in preparing communities to get together. We are happy that with this mobile clinic, it will be much easier for mental health professionals to reach the communities and do their work in a very professional manner,” said Ben Napnau, the Deputy Head of Mission of the European Union Delegation to Rwanda who added “This is one of our flagship projects that has proven to be highly relevant and effective. It is a model in a sense that we work with Interpeace, as an international organization but at the same time we build partnership with Rwandan organizations to be closer to communities. This is an essential element of a good cooperation.”

Dr Theodorus Hollander, Interpeace’s Senior Regional Representative for the East and Central Africa, highlighted the intrinsic link between peace and mental health. “Peace is not only about absence of violence, but peace is also about a sense of inner peace, it’s about mental resilience, it’s about the capacity of communities to interact with one other and the capacity to reconcile,” he said.

Hollander also appreciated how local authorities and the EU contributed to an initiative that strengthens long-term mental health resilience in the country.

The mental health mobile clinic is an innovative and unique solution that will support the implementation of the 2020-2024 National Mental Health Strategic Plan and contribute to the achievement of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) and Rwanda’s Development Vision 2050, which considers good health and well-being of the population as a national priority.

“After the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, we made one choice. The choice to live together as Rwandans and to reconcile. Interpeace’s trauma healing programme is helping us to strengthen that choice. We really appreciate this mobile clinic as it will help to strengthen mental health resilience as well as foster reconciliation process and socio-economic status of communities in Bugesera,” noted Commissioner General Emmanuel Gasana, the Governor of Eastern Province, and Guest of Honor at the launch of the mobile clinic.

The vehicle is equipped with a fixed workstation for at least one Doctor and one Nurse (seats and fixed tables), two fixed passenger seats, Wi-Fi internet connection, one foldable bed for use in emergencies (as an ambulance), two large waterproof tent extensions attached to the body of the vehicle, built-in silent generator for lighting and heating in case of power outage, solar panels for power backup in case it is operating in areas without access to power, as well as a built-in washroom.

Governor CG Gasana encouraged Bugesera District authorities, the management of ADEPR-Nyamata Hospital and the community members to ensure proper management and effective use of this mobile clinic.

Interpeace Welcomes Ambassador Méndez Escobar of Mexico to Its Advisory Council

We are honoured to welcome Ambassador Francisca Elizabeth Méndez Escobar, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations Office at Geneva, to our Advisory Council. Ambassador Méndez Escobar was officially welcomed at the Advisory Council meeting held on Tuesday, 10 May 2022, during which Council members discussed how lessons learned from other conflict-affected contexts can be of relevance to the crisis in Ukraine.

Selected governmental and intergovernmental representatives from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Latin America are part of Interpeace’s Advisory Council. Ambassador Méndez Escobar fills the seat of the Government of Mexico, which had remained vacant after the departure of previous Ambassador María del Socorro Flores Liera.

Interpeace is grateful to Ambassador Flores Liera for her valuable contributions during her tenure and is delighted that the Government of Mexico is continuing its membership in the Advisory Council.

Ambassador Francisca Elizabeth Méndez Escobar is the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations Office at Geneva. She brings with her a wealth of experience in diplomacy and international affairs. She joined the Mexican Foreign Service in 1991. Ms. Méndez’s previous assignments include postings in the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Romania, Costa Rica, Spain, and Italy. She has been Director General for American Regional Organizations, and Mexico's National Coordinator for the Pacific Alliance, the Ibero-American Summit and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

About the Interpeace’s Advisory Council

The Advisory Council is a high-level statutory body that provides the organization with key strategic advice and guidance on peacebuilding policy and practice. It has played a crucial role in helping Interpeace strengthen its positioning on key international policy agendas as well as our transformative work of assisting humanitarian and development agencies to become more conflict sensitive and peace responsive.