The project is focused on strengthening psychosocial assistance for communities in need, making this form of caremore accessible and acceptable. The project provides psychosocial services to victims of the conflict, which help to alleviate psychological suffering, facilitate the community’s active participation in social reconstruction, strengthen capacities, abilities and tools that improve the participants’ lives, and instructs in actions to cope with difficulties.

The project uses the Training of Trainers Program (ToT), which includes five modules in which the trainers respond to the participants’ emerging needs and so they can practice the new skills learned in the training. ToT is designed based on particular characteristics of the population such as disability, mental health, psychosocial support, and considering the health system situation in rural areas.

The project is led by the Society for Psychological Assistance (SPA) and will have the support of the National Training Service (SENA).

The project contributes to point 1 of the Peace Agreement through the implementation of ToT, which creates psychosocial conditions of well-being and dignified living for the rural population affected by the conflict. The project promotes equality and contributes to ensuring the full enjoyment of citizens’ rights.

The project contributes to point 3.2 of the Peace Agreement, providing psychosocial services that alleviate the victims’ psychological suffering, facilitating their reincorporation process and empowering them to be active community subjects in social reconstruction. In addition, the project provides institutional strengthening since the project’s special psychosocial focus  represents an important technical contribution to the interventions implemented by the Government of Colombia and the Ministry of Health.

The project has three specific results:

• The first result is the design, preparation, and development of ToT.  ToT is intended as a tool for trainers to receive knowledge, skills, and tools that allow them to become new trainers under a “cascade training” model.
• The second result is the implementation of ToT in which the five training modules are implemented in four different regions, integrating approximately 160 participants.
• The third result is that the  ToT implementation results are analyzed and the replicability strategy is presented.

With these results, the project fulfills its objective of increasing the number of trainers instructing others to provide psychosocial support, strengthens the professionals competencies, strengthens SENA's institutional capacity, and achieves knowledge exchange.

1. Arq Psychotrauma Expert Group

2. Servicio Nacional de Capacitación - Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA).