Free starting points for educators, caregivers and people supporting children and young people.
Practical guidance for caregivers, educators and community partners. These original GCI summaries draw on the seven CASEL references supplied for this project.
Choose a topic below and open the suggested activity. Adapt each practice to children’s age, the Rwandan context and safeguarding needs.
Reflect on a supportive adult, define how learners should feel, and connect the five SEL competencies to safe, belonging-rich learning settings.
Try it: ask educators to identify one trusted adult, one welcoming routine, and one skill children need to practise this week.
Source adapted from: Introduction to SEL — Workbook (CASEL, provided reference). CASEL Guide ↗
Plan a group session around clear outcomes, relevance and participant needs. Use a welcoming activity, reflection and a concrete follow-up.
Try it: prepare a 90–120 minute group learning session and close by agreeing a practical next step; allow more time if needed.
Source adapted from: Facilitating the Introduction to SEL with a Group (CASEL, 2022). CASEL Guide ↗
Align teachers, after-school facilitators and community educators through a shared purpose, team norms, joint planning and a roadmap.
Try it: invite both school and after-school staff to co-design a common emotional check-in routine.
Source adapted from: Collaboration Tools for SEL Across the School Day and Out-of-School Time (CASEL, 2020). CASEL Guide ↗
Use practical questions to review whether partners take part in decisions, attend training, share SEL language and communicate regularly.
Try it: assess each partnership as “in place” or “not yet”, then assign one action and a responsible person.
Source adapted from: Guiding Questions for Strong School Day and OST Partnerships (CASEL, 2019). CASEL Guide ↗
Create a partner inventory, identify shared SEL goals, map existing activities, and agree how to communicate and improve practice.
Try it: list partner roles, contact people, target groups, activities, frequency and follow-up dates in one register.
Source adapted from: Coordinating SEL Work With Community Partners (CASEL, 2019). CASEL Guide ↗
Connect schools and families with community organisations for mentoring, health, mental-health support and safe community-based experiences.
Try it: build a local referral directory and identify which partner can help when a child needs specialist support.
Source adapted from: Partnering with Community Organizations to Support SEL (CASEL, 2019). CASEL Guide ↗
Help children understand their community with age-appropriate research, supervised interviews and safe visits to local resources.
Try it: ask children what makes them proud of their community, then organise a supervised local-learning activity.
Source adapted from: Cultivating Students’ Community Awareness and Engagement (CASEL, 2019). CASEL Guide ↗
These are educational resources, not evidence that GCI has already achieved particular programme outcomes. The guides are credited to CASEL; GCI is independent and has no claimed CASEL endorsement.
Explore CASEL School Guide →A simple prompt for pupils to name a feeling and choose a helpful next step.
Read the guide →Small conversations that help children reflect, feel heard and stay connected.
Try the activity →Overview of the five competencies and learning environments.
Open resource →A foundational review of school-based interventions and learning outcomes.
Read study →A newer synthesis across 53 countries, including implementation considerations.
Read study →Implementation guidance on building supportive schools.
Explore guide →Get in touch about age-specific activities, classroom materials, translation needs and school partnerships. We also welcome recommendations of quality Rwanda-relevant resources.
Contact our team
We encourage educators, decision-makers and programme teams to consult peer-reviewed and practitioner-oriented SEL literature when selecting approaches and evaluating results.
External publications are linked for reference.
Languages are translated with AI support and remain under development. Please excuse any translation mistakes.
