Supporting Trauma Recovery, Healing, and Peacebuilding With the Alternatives to Violence Project

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a peace education program in prisons, educational institutions and various community settings in over 50 countries. AVP has been shown to lead to positive outcomes in developing nonviolent conflict resolution skills and for supporting trauma recovery, healing, and broader peacebuilding. Some studies of AVP show its effectiveness in promoting prosocial outcomes of self-esteem, empathy and trust, and in reducing anger and stress. Some of these studies used standardized instruments and longitudinal designs. Additional support is found in an even larger body of qualitative studies. AVP and its derivative programs have reported success in healing and rebuilding community cohesion in post-conflict contexts like Rwanda and Burundi. In some countries, AVP supports the integration of refugees. Facilitators working with war veterans and prison inmates, have reported positive outcomes from AVP workshops. AVP facilitators make up a diverse community of peace educators and include some health professionals. Many have created mutually beneficial relationships between their AVP and professional practices. The AVP literature includes some impact of the program on direct violence, although studies involving control groups are much less common. AVP has devoted less attention to structural violence. However, in this article, attempts to explore AVP' s contributions to addressing systemic problems like gender-based violence will be discussed.