Evaluating Trauma-Informed Emotional Resilience Programs and Peacebuilding Outcomes in Northern Ireland and Irish Border Counties

Internationally, resilience-building and trauma-informed approaches are widely recommended in post-conflict societies to address transgenerational trauma and support peacebuilding. These approaches help individuals and organizations understand, respond to, and recover from trauma while strengthening resilience. Within this paradigm, the current project delivered cross-community, cross-border programs promoting peace through emotional resilience across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. The study examined whether participation was associated with improvements across seven resilience and peacebuilding outcomes: Emotional Symptoms, Coping and Problem-solving, Empathy, Perspective-taking, Intergroup Contact, Intergroup Trust, and Outgroup Attitudes. Programs targeted one or more indicators across three participant groups: Children aged 11 and under ( N  = 3,044), Young People aged 11 years + ( N  = 4,003), and Key Contacts ( N  = 652). Findings showed significant improvements in Coping and Problem-solving across all groups. Young People demonstrated gains in Perspective-taking, Key Contacts in Empathy and Intergroup Trust, and Children in Intergroup Contact and Trust. The study demonstrates that trauma-informed peacebuilding programs targeting emotional resilience can produce measurable improvements across generations. Limitations and recommendations for future program design and evaluation are discussed.