How we work
Children and War Foundation develops and disseminates effective psychological procedures for helping large numbers of traumatised children by teaching techniques to recover from trauma; training local people to help children cope better; developing new and better ways of helping; producing training materials, manuals and videos; providing advice and guidance to non-professionals working with children supporting and encouraging research.
We have developed methods and measures that enable us to reach out to large groups of children around the world. Our methods are explained by our experienced team member Masa Al-kurdi in this video.
Video production: Smau media
Video production: Smau media
Children are increasingly the victims of war and war-like events. Bombing and shelling, killings, and terrorist acts affect hundreds of thousands of children each year. Many children have fled these situations, and experience further danger as part of fleeing. As the number of affected children has risen over the years, professionals who work with children in war zones have sought new ways to help them. It is now recognised that early help for children in how to cope with the stresses of war and being a refugee can be beneficial and may prevent later problems from developing.
When whole countries and communities are affected, it is often a priority to provide assistance for large numbers of children as quickly as possible. Our aim is to do just that.
Our manuals are the result of years of direct experience of working with child survivors of war and disaster, their teachers and carers, in diverse cultures and across many faiths. It is designed to help you teach children in a step by step practical way skills and techniques which are helpful in coping with the psychological effects of disastrous events. It is intended for use by teachers, youth workers, pedagogues, psychologists, counsellors, community leaders or other childcare professionals, after some preliminary training. This is not a treatment manual but is designed to prevent the need for later treatment. Children who have learned and practised the techniques contained here will be less likely to need specialist treatment in the future. Nevertheless, some severely affected children will continue to need further help.
Our methods have proven very effective in reducing the effects of trauma following natural disasters such as earthquakes in Greece, Turkey, China and Iran, after the tsunami in SouthEast Asia, and in relation to conflicts in Africa, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Syria and Iraq to mention some.
We have also developed questionnaires that make it easy to identify high risk children soon after a traumatic event and measure the effect of the intervention. These measures are available for free.
Caw is administered by devoted professionals without fee, so we do not have to spend any of our resources on administration.