Continuing our series of articles from our Annual Report 2024/25, we outline here our work on our Counselling Enhanced Reach Project (CERP III).
Survivors Fund (SURF) has developed and delivered an array of mental health projects to support survivors over the past 20 years. With funding from Clifford Chance through the Cornerstone programme, the Counselling Extension Response Project (CERP II) enabled SURF, in collaboration with its partners, to provide access to phone-based counselling and supplementary support to vulnerable survivors of the genocide, and related vulnerable persons, from April 2021 through to October 2022.
The need and demand for counselling services made accessible through CERP II are greater than ever, in part due to the reduction in government funding for dedicated counselling services for survivors. The take-up and effectiveness of the helplines and peer counselling made possible by CERP II has proven to be more impactful than ever due to greater awareness of the support that is available and how to access it.
The Counselling Enhanced Reach Project (CERP III) is realising the ambition and potential of the project to ensure that survivors can continue to access the counselling support that they require, through to the 30th Anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi and then embed the model so that such support continues to be available beyond the end of Clifford Chance funding. The project commenced on 1st December 2022 and concluded on 31st October 2024.
During the period of Year 2 of CERP III, the main focus of the interventions has been to continue providing phone-based and peer counselling support to survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda across the country. Support also has been provided to related vulnerable persons, including the children born after the genocide and other members of the survivor’s household who have mental health issues affecting their well-being.
The counselling support has been particularly important during the commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi from April to July, as during this time many survivors experience acute trauma which can severely impact on their abilities to engage in any income generating activities.
Those who have benefited most from the counselling services are members of the local survivors’ organisations in partnership with Survivors Fund (SURF), which include AVEGA (National Association of Widows of the Genocide), GAERG (National Survivor’s Association of Graduate Students), AERG (National Student’s Association of Genocide Survivors) and IBUKA (National Association of Survivor’s Organisations).
The main objective of the project was to support all categories of survivors and related vulnerable persons who are facing mental health challenges across the country. But during the interventions, in particular the phone-based counselling, we have received as well non-survivors requesting mental health support.
The most significant number of callers to the helpline are elderly widows who are experiencing extreme trauma. There are many reasons for the difficulties that they are experiencing, but these are exacerbated often by their poor physical health, as many are suffering from chronic diseases related to their experience during the genocide.
Through CERP III, many genocide survivors received mental health support through phone-based counselling and peer support counsellors across the country. 41,827 calls were responded to by counsellors and peer support counsellors through the helplines. And 10,242 unique people called the helpline for the first time seeking support for mental health, especially during the commemoration period. These new callers had not heard about the project before hearing about it through our radio spots, which prompted them to call the helplines. Once they had started using the services they then recommended it to other vulnerable survivors in their communities. The project has helped Survivors Fund (SURF) and our partners to equip community volunteers with knowledge to keep helping their peer survivors in the communities.
We have extended training to 96 peer support counsellors (PSCs) who are the volunteers living in the same communities as peer survivors, and they have been equipped with knowledge and funding to provide assistance to 6,897 callers to the helpline in need of follow-up support through the project and enabling them to improve their well-being on mental health. This is a large number of people for peer counsellors to follow up, which is the reason for involving community health officers and community health workers to play a more leading role in providing peer support by delivering mental health services across different communities. Supervision of the peer support counsellors was also a key achievement of the project, since during the supervision it provides a safe, secure and supportive space for the PSCs to share the pressures with which they are dealing and gives them time to be able to express their feeling and present more complicated cases to the counsellors for guidance so that they can learn from each other.
At the end of the project, we conducted an endline survey, and amongst the key findings are the following:
- 100% of participants reported that they felt supported by having access to the phone-based counselling through the helpline, and they are ready to use it in the future.
- 98% reported that, online counselling support has contributed positively to contributing to their psychological needs as a result of the services made available through the program.
- 98% claim that the helpline was effective in helping to address the issues about which they called and through it they were able to access the services and support they needed.
- 100% of the participants have confirmed that they will use the same services again, due to the benefits of using it.
- 100% confirmed that they prefer phone-based counselling as the effective and economic way of accessing mental health support.
We are confident that the work of providing mental health services to the vulnerable genocide survivors after the project will continue. Sustainability was a key element we considered during the design and implementation of the project. Training of peer support counsellors who are based in the community, along with community health workers, was the main strategy to ensure that vulnerable survivors will be able to access mental health support beyond the end of the project. Our partner AVEGA has secured funding to recruit 30 psychologists to be based in each district. This is the results of the advocacy made possible by the project and is based on the findings of how vulnerable survivors are still in need of mental health services. Psychologists will undertake the work of helping to provide in-person counselling and will keep monitoring the peer support counsellors, as well as community health workers, trained through CERP III. These psychologists will focus on mental health awareness in the communities and keep promoting the use of the helpline in case of need for more immediate support, as the AVEGA Call Centre will continue to operate. We are confident that beyond the end of the project, this service of providing mental health support to the vulnerable survivors and related persons will continue, in particular as we have such a strong team in place to provide the support needed.
MP *
M.P is a 46-year-old married woman. She lives in Kiramuruzi sector in Gatsibo district of the Eastern Province of Rwanda. She has 6 children. The eldest of her children was born as a result of rape during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. She lives in conflict with her husband due to that child born from rape. She has suffered from back problems for a long time, resulting from being raped by many people while she was young.
“I lived in conflict with my husband due to the fact of having a child as a result of rape. Before marriage, my husband knew that I have a child born of rape, but once we were married, he started traumatising me. I attempted many times to kill myself but thank God it did not happen. Once, I heard on radio people talking about a helpline to call when you are living with trauma. I called the helpline and explained to the counsellor my problems. A counsellor helped me a lot over a number of sessions. As it was the first time for me to speak about these issued, it was not easy for me to speak about it. However, she kept building my trust in her, and over time I managed to open up to her.
“The main reason for call the helpline was the problem I had, but it was made a lot easier as there was no requirement of travel to meet the counsellor, nor did I have to buy airtime. I took my cell phone and made the call when it was convenient for me and received an exceptional service from the counsellor. Later she visited me at home with my family to discuss the main concern about my mental health. Personally, I did not know anything related to mental health and I had never heard of it during the past thirty years after the genocide. Though I lost my parents and relatives, I haven’t received any support related to mental health.
“As I speak now, the conflict has ended with my husband due to the visit of the counsellor. I cannot understand how it endured for so long, but I am now a very happy woman. I used to feel useless, having back pain and stomach aches but now I am a new creation. If I have any problems at home, I call the same helpline and get support from the counsellor. I believe this service will continue because it helps many survivors who are still struggling with mental health problems. Some of them, like me, do not know that the service is free of charge. My plan was to keep fighting with my husband until the end, but I found a better solution of receiving counselling sessions. Today we are a very happy family, and with all my children and husband we are now looking forward to a bright future together.”