Community-based sociotherapy was introduced in Rwanda in 2005 in order to contribute to the healing of social worlds that were severely damaged by war and genocide. People who participate in sociotherapy perceive this intervention as medicine for their troubled hearts. Each sociotherapy group, averaging twelve people, holds fifteen weekly meetings. Two facilitators guide the group through six different phases: safety, trust, care, respect, new rules, and memory.

As frontiers close and migration is increasingly criminalized, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement strives for a ‘response without distinction’ to legal status and relief along the perilous path

BACKGROUND: The UN Millennium Development Goals call for substantial reductions in maternal and child mortality, to be achieved through reductions in morbidity and mortality during pregnancy, delivery, postpartum and early childhood. The MaiMwana Project aims to test community-based interventions that tackle maternal and child health problems through increasing awareness and local action.METHODS/DESIGN: This study uses a two-by-two factorial cluster-randomised controlled trial design to test the impact of two interventions.

Rwanda experienced extreme violence and genocide during a three month period starting in April 1994. In the northern regions, there had been ongoing violence since 1990. Many inhabitants still suffer emotionally from the consequences of this era. We performed a quantitative study to measure the effectiveness of sociotherapy; a community based psychosocial intervention carried out in northern Rwanda.