Community Based Sociotherapy Rwanda (CBS Rwanda), in collaboration with its partners, organizes the Community Based Sociotherapy Conference 2022 entitled: “Beyond trauma: Intergenerational healing and peacebuilding in the Great Lakes Region.” The three-day conference will take place from 6 to 8 December 2022 at Serena Hotel, Kigali, and is financially supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Rwanda (EKN) and the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC).

The objective of the conference is to exchange knowledge and experiences on themes related to the intergenerational legacies of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and other types of mass violence in the Great Lakes Region; the reintegration of ex-prisoners and ex-combatants who took part in collective violence; and localizing research. A cross-cutting theme of the conference is the linkage between mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and Peacebuilding (PB), which will be embedded in recent insights of trauma research. The conference will bring together 150 representatives from governmental institutions, international and national non-governmental organizations, and scientific institutions.

As part of the conference the outcomes of the “Mvura Nkuvure: Intergenerational healing and community reconciliation for sustainable peace” project, which is implemented by CBS Rwanda in partnership with the Anglican Church of Rwanda Byumba Diocese (EAR-D/Byumba), Duhumurizanye Iwacu Rwanda (DIR) and Prison Fellowship Rwanda (PFR), will be presented, in addition to experiences from the “Impacting Hearts, Heads and Hands” project, implemented by African Restoring Bridge Initiative (ARBI) and Paix et Développement Durable (PDD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and CBS Rwanda and the VU Amsteram.