hidaya project overview

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1. The Need

The psychosocial effects of conflict, civil strife, and war are usually acknowledged but seldom effectively addressed on a large scale, especially in developing countries. Innocent people, caught up in the violence happening around them, become psychologically scarred, distraught, angry and suspicious of others. There is widespread post-traumatic stress disorder, the disempowerment of individuals, families, and communities, and efforts at conflict-resolution and peace building become extremely difficult. Increasingly the world is witnessing this large-scale psychological and emotional damage in the PalestinianTerr itories and countries such as Bosnia, Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, and Sudan.

Consequently, there is an urgent humanitarian need to address at scale the psychosocial consequences of conflict and war in developing countries. Fortunately, the Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBM) has developed a low cost educational intervention that has been used effectively to address the psychological trauma of conflict and war on a large scale.

These include participation in clinically supervised trauma healing self-care and peer support programs, and trust and tolerance-building educational activities.

What needs to be done now is to bring together tested trauma and tolerance models, develop an integrated curriculum and test the effectiveness of this new model that can be used on a population wide level in conflict and post-conflict countries. Through scientific assessment of the outcomes of the model, we, the project implementers, will provide the data that will stimulate funding of significantly larger projects in the Middle East and other areas of conflict.

During the process of trauma healing, people come to realize that their emotions are a normal response to an abnormal situation. Once they learn how to ‘self-regulate’ their moods and behavior – through techniques of self-expression and self-care – then they regain their self-esteem and their ability to again access their inner sources of strength and become effective members of their community.

In addition, by integrating these techniques of self-expression into an intensive group process, they are able to experience the humanity of the ‘other’.

The tolerance portion builds directly on the trauma portion of the model. When people are able to retain some control over their physiology and their feelings, this opens a door for them to experience empathy for the other. This helps them to develop a deeper understanding of the differences and commonalities that exist between them and to find ways to move into a more collaborative and productive relationships at school and work and through community outreach and education programs.

A successful clinical trial of trauma healing and tolerance building interventions in conflict countries will lead to the mobilization of larger amounts of funding for these activities. Such a clinical trial will build on evidence-based studies that document the successful use of these interventions in post-conflict settings. It will give interested foundations and government donors the confidence they need to feel that an investment is worthwhile.

2. The Proposed Solution

The core formula to address violence and promote peace came from Hisham Kullab, a Muslim community leader living in Khan Yunis, Gaza. He has been a peace worker for 15 years in Gaza. In his own transformation process stimulated by studies in trauma and resilience in the US he became convinced that only through dealing with trauma first can his fellow Palestinians move beyond personal trauma induced anger and hatred to embrace genuine tolerance and peacebuilding.

With private support, Paul Sully and Ron Israel of the Education Development Center, who had already launched a successful youth-focused program based in Ramallah, began developing a program model with Hisham. Dr James Gordon, Founder and Director of the Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBM), and his staff joined the effort to develop this innovative program known as “Hidaya”. (Hidaya means “guidance” in Arabic). Importantly, CMBM’s successful trauma reduction work in Gaza and Israel helped inform the technical approach captured in the design of the project.

Hidaya will train local professionals how to work with a group of 160 Palestinian female and male youth and adults, whose psychological profile is created, in part, by the violence happening around them. They will include those who are psychologically scarred, distraught, angry and suspicious of others. Many will suffer from anxiety, depression, anti-social behavior, and other characteristics of war-induced trauma.

Over two 12-week intervention periods Hidaya will demonstrate, using a randomized control group, a marked reduction in the incidence and severity of post-traumatic stress (and “continuing” trauma) disorder in this population, and an increase in the ability of participants to positively interact with others and better contribute to the well being of their families and communities.

3. The Implementing Organizations

Hidaya is a project of two US non-profits with operating presence in Gaza: the Education Development Center and the Center for Mind Body Medicine.

Education Development Center Inc. (EDC) is a 50-year old non-profit educational research and development organization based in the United States with more than 335 projects in over 50 countries. EDC is dedicated to enhancing learning, promoting health, and fostering a deeper understanding of the world. EDC provides formal and non-formal educational services and technical assistance to U.S. and foreign corporations, government agencies, private foundations, nonprofit organizations, and universities.

See also: www.edc.org

Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBM) Established in 1991, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM) is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization located in Washington>, DC, founded on the principle of teaching and empowering people to help themselves through personal crises. This program has guided more than a thousand health and mental health professionals, teachers and community leaders who are living and working in devastated areas to deal with their own stress and trauma, as well as teaching them how to provide effective group support and then to disseminate what they have learned throughout their communities.

See also: www.cmbm.org

Education Development Center Inc. (EDC) Relevant EDC work includes training youth leaders in Haiti , formation of a national Palestinian youth forum for dialogue and action in the West Bank, nurturing youth club development in Afghanistan, creating a global curriculum on humanitarian law, development of innovative youth focus group tools for needs assessment work, and coordination of a youth service and learning community among several countries.

EDC has over three decades of experience in building the leadership capacity of youth and young adults. We have developed tools, processes, and materials that engage young people in leadership activities, provide them with new skills, and enhance their ability to provide leadership at the community and national level. EDC’s youth programs demonstrate our ability to achieve citizenship goals, such as strengthen democratic processes; improve the quality of basic and post secondary education, including teacher training curriculum content, community empowerment, and digital readiness; promote the development of employable skills; and provide access and opportunity to women in an effort to enhance their marketable skills and gain economic independence

Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBM) The CMBM’s Global Outreach Program is designed to provide safe, effective, humane and easily accessible mental health help to populations in crisis—those suffering from stress, anxiety, and/or depression, during or after wars, violence, or natural disasters. The CMBM model, initially developed in programs for inner city (primarily Black and Hispanic) youth in Washington, D.C. and for university medical students and faculty and people with life-threatening illness, has for ten years, been used with psychological trauma on a population-wide level. CMBM’s Global Outreach Program began in post-war Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia<. This program has been active in Israel and Gaza since 2002 as well as in post-Katrina New Orleans and it was used with New York City firefighters and their families after 9/11.

The CMBM’s work has been demonstrated in scientific investigations to be powerfully effective in reducing stress, improving mood and enhancing the competence and optimism of professional trainees and in helping children to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

As a training of trainers’ model, the Global Outreach Program has helped tens of thousands of people suffering from psychological trauma and stress.

5. Key Areas to Accomplish Through Hidaya

• Engage religious, civic and community leaders in Gaza to support the project.


• Complete the Hidaya curriculum.


• Choose appropriate measurement instruments.


• Train Palestinian trainers in methodology.


• Deliver the Hidaya training to 160 female and male, youth and adult Gazans using randomized control trials.


• Measure and evaluate changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors for project participants.


• Write articles on the program for publication in professional journals that address trauma, conflict, tolerance and peacebuilding.


• Present findings to policy specialists, practitioners, program mangers, donors in governments, and public and private entities interested in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in the Middle East and elsewhere.

6. The Opportunities

The Hidaya Project’s significance extends beyond Gaza. Hidaya will generate the measurement and intervention data and information that are needed to increase support to address some of the root causes of political violence and intolerance in conflict countries around the world.