GSN launched its first impact report “Growing Connection, Resiliency and Agency: The impact of community-led trauma-informed peacebuilding in response to violent extremism in Kenya” at the second annual Paris Peace Forum (12 November 2019).

Wellbeing and Resilience (WebR)

Green String Network developed the Wellbeing and Resilience (WebR) Framework which draws on the fields of neurobiology, psychology, restorative justice, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and traditional practices

The WebR Framework expands practices related to trauma, justice, peacebuilding, spirituality and security and shows the importance of integrating these concepts into the personal, community, structural and societal levels.


The framework examines how historical injustices and their present manifestations through the lens of trauma and identifies the mechanisms for the transmission of historical trauma: legacies and aftermaths. These are the beliefs and structures responsible for transmitting trauma responses and circumstances between generations.

The WebR Framework continues to strengthen its use of images and storytelling methodology to simplify the scientific content materials for community participants. In addition, the WebR Framework is now further distinguished in three ways:

  • Incorporation of dialogue as an essential foundation of social healing and reconciliation;
  • Intentionality of group facilitation in delivering learning modules and cultivate group dialogues; and
  • Development of specific context-based applications of trauma-informed capacity building for community facilitation, leadership and organizations.

Thus, people without a formal education but with rich life experiences move deeply in their understanding of how violence, the impact of traumatic events, and compounded stress affect decision making, community wellness, governance, and social healing.

  • Support leadership development for practitioners by giving them key training in the basic principles of trauma awareness, stress and healing, thus increasing their level of resilience and reducing the impact of trauma and compounded stress in the work they do;
  • Assess organizations, programs, projects, and interventions on the level of trauma-informed approaches in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;
  • Through this foundation, decrease domestic and community violence, and increase communities’ capacities to engage in meaningful dialogue, peace building and development activities.

The WebR framework supports people to enter deep conversations about grievances, injustices and their current or perceived inabilities to change the future of their lives, and their social interactions within and beyond their communities. The framework focuses on relationships and builds on existing community strengths.

Target users of the WebR framework include community practitioners and others implementing the “Kumekucha – It’s a new dawn” community healing program as well as organizations and projects that would like to begin to assess the level of trauma-informed approaches in their programs, projects or interventions during the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation phases of their projects.

Trauma-informed refers to ways in which leaders, programs and organizations infuse the impact of violence, trauma awareness, knowledge, and skills into their organizational and program cultures, practices, and policies.

However, practitioners understand and take into account the biological, psychological and social effects that violence, stress, and traumatic events have on human beings. Once practitioners have a common foundation for what they do, and clearly understand why they are doing what they are doing, they can easily design and develop more innovative and resilient interventions that best fit the needs of the target communities.

Participants graduated from a 12 week program for wellbeing and resilience in the face of traumatic circumstances.