Healing-Centered Peacebuilding – An Approach to PVE

What does informal community-initiated care look like for P/CVE work? Here is a recent thought piece written for USAID on a healing-centered approach based on existing from the Green String Network programs in both Kenya and Somalia.

ConnexUs Summary:

Community-based trauma healing practices are increasingly being used to prevent and combat violent extremism (P/CVE) and peacebuilding. These practices, which go by different labels and names, involve mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), trauma healing, trauma-wise peacebuilding, psychosocial wellbeing, trauma-informed and responsive peacebuilding, and healing-centered peacebuilding. There is tension between mental health experts and peacebuilding practitioners about their roles, but the latter are more focused on a holistic approach to healing from trauma that involves culture, spirituality, civic action, and collective healing. This paper will focus on the role of informal community care in P/CVE and how a healing-centered peacebuilding approach tackles violent extremism by enriching social bonds, building resilience, and developing agency, particularly for young people at risk of being recruited by extremist groups or engaging in communal violence. It will also share several case studies of personal and communal transformation due to the use of the healing-centered approach.