Trauma-Informed Approaches to Development .

The Trauma-Informed Approaches to Development Toolkit is designed to support practitioners in seamlessly integrating trauma-informed approaches into the project stages of assessment, activity design implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and staff care and engagement.

Chemonics’ trauma-informed approach emphasizes a combined conceptual approach of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s six Trauma-Informed Principles, and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Intervention Pyramid to inform the practical activity recommendations and tools for each stage. With 28 unique tools and numerous other external tools included, this toolkit empowers practitioners to foster trauma-informed practices across job functions and sectors.  

Global mental health experts recognize that traumatic stress can dramatically affect progress toward the same outcomes Chemonics projects work toward each day, from educational achievement to economic productivity, social cohesion, positive communal relations, and overall health, global mental health experts highlight the urgency of trauma-informed approaches. Global pandemics, gender-based violence, armed conflict, natural disasters, political upheaval, historical marginalization, and poverty are among the factors increase the likelihood of trauma in the communities that international development practitioners operate. To empower Chemonics projects’ and the international development community’s response to individual and community trauma, our toolkit provides tangible actions rooted in academic and clinical research, coupled with real-world program experiences. The Trauma-Informed Approaches Toolkit can improve programming and centers community empowerment, ensuring sensitivity to trauma at every stage of the project cycle. 

Authored by Nada Raslan and Shauna Aron Caria from the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Team at Chemonics International.  

Many thanks to those that contributed their insights: Branden A. Ryan, Melissa Marland, Diya Chopra, Michelle Girard, Reham Jabbar, Jeta Pjaziti Doli, Kelly Brooks, Nikki Wood, Dima Al Shoura, Michelle Thompson, Nesrine Ben Slimen, Mayss Al Zoubi, Amanda Green, Margarett Lubin, Bilsana Bibic, and Dr. Tim Calvey.