Tree of Life

The Tree of Life Trust Zimbabwe is a non-governmental organisation whose vision is to create a healed and empowered society that puts its energy into processes of peace, recovery and reconciliation. We provide community-based mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) approaches that help people living with trauma to reconnect with self, nature, family and community. Tree of Life (ToL) works in 8 of the 10 provinces across Zimbabwe, largely through a network of seasoned Community-based Facilitators. ToL also collaborates with other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) by providing capacity building in Trauma Informed Care processes, as well as through the provision of Psychoeducation services.

Between 2003 and December 2022, we have reached over 200,000 people as follows:

Facilitated over 1,950 Trauma Healing and Empowerment workshops for over 17,000 trauma survivors
Trained over 500 Community-based Facilitators (CFs) across 8 Provinces,
Had direct collaborations with over 40 Civil Society Organisations
Trained 15 Regional Facilitators from Sub-Saharan Africa in Trauma Healing
Provided psychoeducation workshops for over 15,500 people, including community leaders, youth, women, communities and NGO staff
Facilitated thousands of referrals for further psychological support
Worked with youth since 2014, reaching over 10,000 young people with effective youth programming, livelihoods development and entrepreneurial mindset training
Reached 157,938 people with COVID-19 Psychosocial support and awareness
Been in consortiums led by: World Food Programme (WFP), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Childline, Trocaire and Welthungerhilfe (WHH)
Collaborated with over 40 other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and received funding from over 20 Donors, including direct donor funding since 2012.
Developed Training modules in: Psychosocial Awareness and Coping Skills (PACS); Psychosocial First Aid (PFA); Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Practices; Self-Care (SC); Covid-19, and Bereavement and Loss support; Training in Mentorship Skills for Mental Health

REPORTS AVAILABLE

Tree of Life - WFP Zambuko End of Project Evaluation Report 2022 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Tree of Life - WFP Zambuko Graphic Report_2022 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Download the Annual Report - 2022 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Download the Annual Report - 2021 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Download the Annual Report - 2020 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Download the Annual Report - 2019 (Click Report or see end of this page for a link)

Download a healing workshop brochure ( Click Brochure or see end of this page for a link)

2022 Overview of Achievements

Snapshot of Achievements for 2021

Snapshot of Achievements for 2020

Art Therapy Sessions for Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Survivors: 2020

Tree of Life Annual Report - 2022

Tree of Life Annual Report - 2021

Tree of Life Annual Report - 2020

Tree of Life Annual Report - 2019

Tree of Life Brochure

Tree of Life WFP Zambuko - End of Project Performance Evaluation 2022 by Q Partnership

Tree of Life WFP Zambuko - End of Project Graphic Report_2022

Recent Stories

“Social Cohesion” proves to be a necessary foundation for Resilience Building

Between March 2020 and June 2022, Tree of Life was an implementing partner in the World Food Programme (WFP) Zambuko Livelihoods project being conducted in ten wards across Masvingo and Mwenezi. Our role was to provide a complementary social cohesion component alongside important livelihoods development activities conducted by SNV, CIMMYT, AQUA and Mwenezi Development Training Center.

Despite the project running in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tree of Life were able to physically conduct 137 Psychosocial Awareness and Coping Skills (PACS) workshops for 6581 people. We also thoroughly trained 128 Community Cohesion Facilitators (CCFs) across the 10 Wards. Encouraged by the positive feedback from participating communities, ToL commissioned a seasoned external evaluation company, Q-Partnership, to conduct an end of project evaluation in June 2022.

Below are a few excerpts from the Executive Summary:

Tree of Life (ToL) demonstrated strong capacity in supporting development players to increase the core resilience capacities of the communities they serve. This was ably demonstrated through the facilitation of PACS workshops and conflict management for beneficiary communities selected to benefit from various livelihoods resilience support interventions. As an add on intervention, PACS training provided much needed mental health and stress management therapy, both fundamental building blocks for a resilient mindset….

…If the momentum generated by ToL is maintained, and its gains are sustained, communities could begin to become truly resilient in the face of shocks and stressors, with internal capacity for: -

Coping with stress and trauma at an individual, family and community level.
Community collaboration.
Adhering to their constitutions/operating guidelines.
Being aware of and managing their own barriers and enablers.
Constructing shared community visions.
Designing relevant community action plans, and

Actively reducing conflict as beneficiaries seek out mutual interests.

Our Principles

Do no harm
The ‘Circle’ is key
We work by invitation
Apolitical, non-partisan, inclusive
Balance competence and compassion
Always guard the integrity of the process
Be culturally appropriate, organic and adaptable
We work with humility, compassion, patience and respect
We are group-based, community-based and evidence-based
Work in the community, with the community for the community
We honour our interrelatedness and connectedness with each other and with nature

“A healed and empowered society that puts its energy into processes of peace, recovery and reconciliation”