Project Name: Evaluation of Gender Based Violence Program in South Kivu
Principal Investigator: Debra Kaysen, PhD
Grant Title: Evaluation of Gender Based Violence Program in South Kivu
Sponsor: Social Fund of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Project Period: 7/1/2015-10/31/2015
Grant Number: H980-ZR
The broader mission objectives are to improve psychosocial care for Gender Based Sexual Violence survivors through expansion of access to Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for mental health care. Currently CPT has been found to be effective for improving depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as improving functioning for women in the Democratic Republic of Congo following gender-based sexual violence. The objective of this contract was to (i) prepare a planning workshop for the support to the mental health program through the project by the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins and Vivo, (ii) put in place a workshop of 3 days in Bukavu with their counterparts of the project, including Social Fund of the Congolese government, provincial Divisions of the health of the North and South Kivu, Heal Africa and Panzi, (iii) develop a detailed methodology and a work plan for the implementation of the CPT and NET at community level and of the health system in the Kivus, and (iv) to meet with the key stakeholders in Goma, North Kivu and Bukavu, South Kivu.