Xazulula Case Study

The Xazulula project seeks to support key stakeholders, leaders, and decision-makers in communities engaged in the Renewable Energy sector to identify and address challenges within community development through understanding the often-overlooked trauma and chronic stress affecting individuals, organisations, and systems.

These psychosocial challenges – rooted in community histories, practitioner burnout, toxic organisational culture, and dysfunctional systems – undermine the success of renewable energy projects and community development initiatives. By addressing these underlying factors, the project aims to enhance the sustainability, effectiveness, and long-term impact of interventions in the sector.

This project is grounded in the four key pillars of a trauma-informed approach, each guiding its objectives and implementation strategy:

Awareness / Realise
Raise awareness and deepen understanding of the nature, extent, and impact of trauma—both individual and collective—within communities and organisations engaged in renewable energy and community development.

Recognise
Build the capacity of leaders and practitioners to identify the multilayered manifestations of trauma and chronic stress, and understand how these dynamics affect the effectiveness and sustainability of programmes.

Respond
Equip stakeholders with practical tools and strategies to address and transform trauma within themselves, their teams, organisational systems, and the broader communities—enabling more impactful and responsive project delivery.

Avoid Re-Traumatisation
Support leaders and practitioners to design and implement interventions in ways that foster healing and avoid re-traumatising individuals and communities. This includes addressing patterns of trauma reenactment within organisational culture and leadership practices.

Over 6 months, the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership (CMWL) provided a capacity building intervention to a group of leaders associated with a wind farm community shareholding entity. The intervention aimed to address trauma, transform woundedness and equip community leaders with the knowledge and tools to transform the multi-layered trauma that was hindering successful community development.

INSPIRE and CMWL partnered to document the intervention content and outcomes.

The intervention covered 5 Modules:

1. Understanding Your Context
2. Digging into Ourselves
3. Intrapersonal Skills for Leadership in Wounded Contexts
4. Interpersonal Skills for Leadership in Wounded Contexts
5. Leadership

We invite you to download this comprehensive case study, pioneering the Trauma-Informed Approach to community development.