We created this innovation because teacher training in the DRC did not prepare future teachers for the realities they will face in schools shaped by conflict, displacement, trauma, poverty, and fragile governance. Existing pre-service programmes tend to be based on assumptions of stable, well-resourced classrooms and peaceful environments, yet these conditions do not reflect the daily experiences of teachers and learners in the DRC. As a result, new teachers entered the profession feeling unprepared, overwhelmed, and unsupported when confronted with violence, insecurity, or the complex needs of traumatised and marginalised students.
Our work with tutors, TTCs, schools, and student-teachers showed a deep demand for training that speaks to their context, identities, and challenges. Teachers themselves asked for tools to analyse conflict, manage crises, communicate non-violently, and create safe, inclusive classrooms. Communities also highlighted the need for teachers who can contribute to healing, trust-building, and social cohesion.
We created this module to close this gap: to build a contextually grounded, culturally relevant, trauma-sensitive, and conflict-aware approach to teacher preparation, co-developed with Congolese educators, rooted in local knowledge, and designed to strengthen both teacher wellbeing and the role of schools in supporting societal resilience.
In practice, the innovation is a hands-on training module delivered in teacher training colleges in the DRC. Tutors guide student-teachers through concrete tools for conflict analysis, non-violent communication, trauma-sensitive pedagogy, and strategies for creating inclusive, safe classrooms. Sessions use real scenarios from local schools, role-plays, community mapping, guided reflections, and discussions of lived experiences of conflict and displacement.
The module is taught by Congolese tutors who were trained through workshops hosted at ISP Bukavu and, more recently, at several ISP institutions across South Kivu. As highlighted in local media, these trainings bring together tutors, education authorities, and practicum supervisors to strengthen their capacity to respond to crises, manage school-based conflicts, and address the emotional and social needs of learners affected by trauma. Student-teachers practise de-escalation, group work methods, relationship-building, and strategies for supporting marginalised learners during their practicum.
The innovation also includes ongoing accompaniment: tutors adapt the manual to their subjects, student-teachers test approaches during school placements, and TTCs integrate elements of the module into their programmes. As it expands beyond Bukavu, the module is becoming part of a shared effort to embed peace education, crisis-responsive teaching, and trauma sensitivity within the wider teacher-education system in the DRC.
The innovation has been spreading gradually and organically through interest from teacher training colleges and provincial education actors. After the initial pilot at ISP Bukavu, tutors from other provinces asked to be trained, leading to capacity-building workshops in Kalemie (Tanganyika) and Tshikapa (Kasaï). These workshops brought together tutors, inspectors, practicum supervisors, and TTC leaders who began adapting the manual to their own linguistic and socio-political contexts.
The spread is happening through peer learning rather than top-down directives: tutors who experienced the module in Bukavu now facilitate sessions for colleagues, while TTCs share materials, examples, and adaptations. Provincial authorities have expressed interest, and student-teachers who used the tools during practicum have triggered demand from local schools to receive more trainees trained in crisis-responsive and trauma-sensitive pedagogy.
However, expansion is extremely challenging. Ongoing armed conflict, insecurity on key travel routes, displacement, and the collapse of basic infrastructure make coordination and mobility difficult. Internet connectivity is weak, TTCs operate with limited resources, and workshops require long travel through volatile areas. Despite these constraints, the innovation is spreading because tutors recognise its relevance and because communities and schools increasingly call for teachers prepared to work in crisis-affected environments.
The innovation has evolved through continuous collaboration with Congolese tutors and TTCs who sought to modernise and deepen existing peace education and conflict-resolution modules. Initially, many TTCs taught traditional civics or moral education focused on harmony, discipline, or national values, but these approaches did not address the lived realities of conflict, displacement, and trauma in eastern DRC. Through workshops, joint reflections, and co-writing sessions, we adapted these modules by integrating findings from education-in-emergencies research, experience from local schools, and trauma-sensitive pedagogies rooted in Congolese contexts.
Tutors helped reshape the content to include concrete tools such as conflict analysis, de-escalation strategies, crisis-responsive classroom management, inclusion of marginalised learners, and practices inspired by local knowledge, including Buuma Maisha’s work on trauma and taboo. We also simplified language, added role-plays and case studies from real schools, and tailored activities to crowded, low-resource classrooms.
As the innovation spread to Kalemie and Tshikapa, additional adaptations emerged: linguistic adjustments, examples reflecting local conflicts, and integration into different TTC subject streams. Each iteration has strengthened the module’s relevance, cultural grounding, and usability in fragile, high-risk school environments.
If you want to try the module, you can start small and gradually integrate it into your existing teacher training or professional development activities. The simplest entry point is to use one or two sessions from the manual and pilot them with a group of tutors or student-teachers. You do not need special equipment: the exercises work in low-resource classrooms and can be facilitated with basic materials.
We can share the manual, facilitator notes, and examples from TTCs in Bukavu, Kalemie, and Tshikapa. A short online or in-person orientation can help tutors understand the approach and adapt it to their own context. Many TTCs begin by integrating activities into existing peace-education, ethics, or pedagogy courses before expanding to a full module.
If you are an organisation or school, you can also test the strategies during teacher professional development or practicum accompaniment. The method is flexible, modular, and designed to be adapted. Simply contact the project team to access the materials, discuss training options, or learn from experiences in eastern DRC.
