Emmanuel Sarabwe

Emmanuel Sarabwe has an MA degree of Social Work and Social administration from the Uganda Christian University in Kabale, Uganda, and a second MA degree of Human Rights Gender and Conflict in Social Justice Perspective from the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, The Netherlands. Since 2005, he has been working for successive programs of Community Based Sociotherapy (CBS Rwanda), supporting Rwandans to constructively deal with the consequences of the genocide against the Tutsi. He contributed to psychosocial healing interventions of community members in Burundians, Eastern Province of the Democratic Republic of Congolese and Congolese refugees in Uganda. He conducted applied research in the areas of family dynamism, psychosocial life, forgiveness and peacebuilding.

Since March 2026, Emmanuel is registered as PhD student at African Studies Centre Leiden with the research topic: Peacebuilding from below: Positionality of family and community members in restorative justice in post-genocide in Rwanda. The research will explore 1) whether and how the family and the community becoming agents of restoring peace during and/or after the genocide through resistance to the genocide, reparation, (un)forgiveness and reconciliation and what the outcomes of all this are; and 2) whether there are any lessons to learn from the families and communities’ actions, including those of the first and second generation, in the peacebuilding process. 

Publications
•    Rutayisire, T., A. Richters, C. Ingabire, E. Sarabwe, A. Jansen (2025). Living through extended liminality: Reintegration experiences of génocidaire ex-prisoners in Rwanda. Punishment and Society, January 2025.
•    Calia, C., A. Chakrabarti, E. Sarabwe, A. Chiumento (2022) Maximising impactful and locally relevant mental health research: Ethical considerations, Welcome Open Research 7(240: 1-16.
•    Stefan, J., J., Niyonsenga, C. M. Ingabire, A. J, E. Nzabonimpa, N. Ingabire, J. Kangabe, E. Sarabwe, A. Richters, T. Rutayisire, E. Nsabimana (2022) Evaluating the impact of community‑based sociotherapy on social dignity in post‑genocide Rwanda: Study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial, Trial, 23(1035): 1-12.
•    Sewimfura, T., E. Sarabwe, A. Richters (2022) Home away from home: Healing among Congolese refugees in Rwanda through community-based sociotherapy in J. Boyles, R. Ewart-Biggs, R. Horn, K. Lamb (Eds) Groupwork with Refugees and Survivors of Human Rights Abuses, Routledge, London, Pp 55-65.
•    Chiumento, A., T. Rutayisire, E. Sarabwe, M. Tasdik Hasan, R. Kasujja, R. Nabirinde, J. Mugarura, D. M. Kagabo, P. Bangirana, S. Jansen, P. Ventevoge, J. Robinson, R. G. White (2020) Exploring the mental health and psychosocial problems of Congolese refugees living in refugee settings in Rwanda and Uganda: A rapid qualitative study, Conflict and Health, 14(77):  1-21.
•    Sarabwe E., Richters A, Vysma M (2018) Marital conflict in the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda: An explorative study in the context of community-based sociotherapy', Intervention 16(1): 14-21.
•    Richters A, Sarabwe E (2014) Everyday partner violence in Rwanda: The contribution of community-based sociotherapy to peaceful family life, African Safety Promotion 12(1): 18-34.