Building Brighter Futures
Inspiring Bright futures program with partners Laimondai Fund (training of trainers in community) in Huye district genocide survivors and perpetrators who finished their prison sentence and back to the villages.
Witness remarkable transformations in psychological well-being both immediately after intervention and four months later. The study demonstrates sustained improvements over a remarkable four-year period, particularly noteworthy in low-resource areas with large populations facing extreme stress.
The evaluation of the FGA Approach reveals its adaptability to diverse trauma histories and levels of distress, underscoring its efficacy in fostering self-care, resilience, and community cohesion. Equally impactful in both small and large groups, the FGA Approach proves its potential for swift deployment in low-resource adverse settings.
The encouraging outcomes prompted LemonAid Fund to join forces with YOUR WELLBEING CENTER. This collaboration resulted in the development of a comprehensive initiative named Inspiring Bright Futures (IBF), with the FGA Approach as its cornerstone. The initiative commenced with a pilot FGA training in November 2019. Subsequently, in February 2020, LemonAid Fund and YOUR WELLBEING CENTER initiated the trainer-of-trainers program for the national strategy of IBF.
Scope of Work
This was an evaluation of the IBF FGA Approach conducted in Rugango, Rwanda. We explored both short-term results of the FGA workshops conducted in November 2019 and February 2020 and then long-term results in April 2021 during the annual Genocide against the Tutsi’s Remembrance time. Participants included those who attended the trainings and a number from the Rugango community.
METHOD: This was a 2-Event evaluation research study (see Figure 1) during November 2019, February 2020 and May 2021. The Event 1 occurred during the IBF FGA trainings with YOUR WELLBEING CENTER led by Dr. Nancy Peddle. The second event was led by Jeanne Muhawehimana and YOUR WELLBEING CENTER. The data was collected from the participants of the workshop as well as a select group of those in the community who did not participate in the IBF FGA Approach workshops.
Other Initiatives
Event 1
Event 1 is the FGA Workshop which was conducted in both November 2019 and 2020. The Workshop has the data collection tools imbedded in it which is the same as every FGA (Forgiveness, Gratitude & Attitude) workshop conducted worldwide for consistency and cultural relevance.
The Second Event, 1-year post FGA training used the same translator/psychologist, organization (YBC) and survey questions as LemonAid Fund used in previous events.
Participants
On 4 November, 2019 a one day FGA Workshop was conducted for 21 people. The participants were selected by YBC with the criteria that they had experienced the genocide against the Tutsi’s firsthand. All participants were from Rugango, Rwanda.
The participants included both survivors and perpetrators of the genocide against the Tutsi. All but 1 of these people had gone through a 6 month psychosocial/reconciliation program conducted by the Catholic Church in Rugango.
Event 2
During the month of April 2021 10 ToT’s and 25 Trainees were selected from those who participated in Event 1 to fill out a survey and given testimony regarding the FGA Training.
We used a convenience sampling of people who were able and willing to participate in the follow-up. We had to take into consideration COVID practices of mask wearing and social distancing.