We believe that it is essential to empower local people in supporting the needs of their community. This is the best way to ensure that the way the community are helped is sustainable and culturally appropriate. We visit areas affected by trauma or conflict in the first instance and invite local community leaders, front line staff who work with children and counsellors and potential partners (local NGO’s, charities etc.) to hear how we work and what we have to offer to gauge the level of interest. We then deliver a three day initial training course of children’s rights, trauma treatment and community building for children, young people and families.

Following the success of the delivered training we work with local partners to ensure that it is delivered in a culturally specific way and that we take initial feedback in to consideration. We then deliver a five day ‘Train the Trainers’ course to selected community leaders so that they can deliver the training annually to other front line staff with in the community and we support them on-line to overcome operational difficulties and ensure that the model is sustained.

Each year that we deliver the model to areas affected by conflict and trauma, we also work with one front line project which fits in to Luna aims, to try and support them in the work that they are doing with financial support and free consultancy/ online advice from our staff to ensure success with the projects that they are delivering.

Lake Kivu, on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo