Berita CWS

Poso – Psychosocial intervention is critical in post-conflict areas like Poso District, Central Sulawesi. According to the baseline survey Church World Service conducted in 2008, community members, especially children and women, still suffered from trauma after the community-based violence that occurred several years ago. With the support from the United States Agency for International Development or USAID, CWS conducted Psychosocial Support for Peace and Conflict Mitigation in several sub-districts in Poso District.   

The project aimed to foster reconciliation by increasing access and opportunity for community members, including children and youth, to interact,. The program also provided women with psycho-education. 

Several activities have been conducted to achieve the goal: classroom based interventions in school, basic counseling training for psychosocial caregivers, counseling, psychosocial education, training for trainers, and information, education and communication material distribution.

In Classroom based intervention training for trainer, participants are drawing to express themselves and what they hope for their village
(CWS Indonesia)

The project was completed in January 2010. More than a thousand students (1055) who had experienced trauma benefitted from the classroom based intervention or CBI. CBI helped the children to be more confident and open, to concentrate better in school, and not to act aggressively and violently. CWS has provided 49 clients with counseling and psychosocial support. Ten facilitators have been trained to support counseling activities. Furthermore, psychosocial education has benefited 2.257 members of society; especially women. The education was delivered through 23 information sessions and a series of radio talk show.  In this project, CWS also involved government and religious leaders, both Christian and Islamic, by inviting them to attend psychosocial training. Finally, CWS distributed two editions of psychosocial comics: “Fear Protects You” and “Assertive Communication,” leaflet on how to manage stress, and a poster on assertive communication.

Primary school students gathered reading the psychosocial comics
(CWS Indonesia)

[IS/03/2010]