The Democratic Initiatives Incubator NGO, in cooperation with the EENCE Working Group “Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach in Civic Education,” is launching the international project “Co-creating and Implementing Trauma-Informed Tools for Civic Education in Eastern Partnership Countries.”
The project aims to strengthen the capacity of civic education providers to apply a trauma-informed approach in their practice through the co-creation, testing, and refinement of practical tools based on real-life case studies from Eastern Partnership countries.
Countries across the region continue to face serious social, political, and humanitarian challenges, including war, forced migration, and discrimination. An increasing number of participants in educational programmes have experienced traumatic events, which affect their engagement in learning and civic life. At the same time, educators often lack practical tools to effectively work in such contexts.
The project builds on the previous work of the EENCE Working Group “Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach in Civic Education,” which developed the graphic guide “Applying a Trauma-Informed Approach in Citizenship Education” and the handbook “Teaching, supporting, inspiring: applying a trauma-informed approach to civic education.” These resources helped raise awareness of the impact of trauma on learning processes and civic participation while providing a methodological foundation for integrating trauma-informed principles into civic education. At the same time, experience gained from using these materials has demonstrated the need for additional practical tools that can support educators in applying this approach in their everyday work. Therefore, the new project focuses on the co-creation, testing, and refinement of practical checklists, case studies, and recommendations based on the real-life experiences of practitioners from Eastern Partnership countries.
The project will consist of several interconnected stages. First, a series of six open online sessions in the format of an “educational clinic” will be organised, providing participants with an opportunity to discuss real-life situations from their professional practice related to working with people who have experienced trauma. Based on these case studies, a two-day in-person workshop will be organised, where participants will collaboratively develop practical tools and checklists for civic education.
The developed materials will then undergo a pilot testing phase in real educational settings. Educators, trainers, and facilitators will have the opportunity to use the tools in their own activities and provide feedback. Based on the testing results, the materials will be refined and compiled into a practical digital toolkit containing checklists and case studies for applying a trauma-informed approach.
The project aims to collect and analyse at least 10 real-life case studies, engage at least 10 participants in the in-person workshop, and support the testing of the developed tools by at least five civic education providers. The project’s results are expected to reach at least 1,000 people through the EENCE network, partner organisations, and online dissemination channels.
A distinctive feature of the project is its collaborative and community-driven approach. Participants will not only gain new knowledge but will also become co-creators of tools that can later be used by civil society organisations, educational institutions, trainers, and facilitators working on civic education, human rights, war-related issues, forced migration, and social inclusion.
The project “Co-creating and Implementing Trauma-Informed Tools for Civic Education in Eastern Partnership Countries” is implemented by the Democratic Initiatives Incubator NGO (Ukraine). The project is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) in collaboration with the Eastern European Network for Citizenship Education (EENCE).