Restorative Encounters: Co-creating Rehabilitation, Empathy, and Accountability to Transform Environments (RE-CREATE)

Restorative Encounters: Co-creating Rehabilitation, Empathy, and Accountability to Transform Environments (RE-CREATE) aims to advance the development of sexual and gender-based violence prevention initiatives within correctional systems by co-creating and evaluating programmes with incarcerated individuals and survivors of sexual violence. The project, led by the Netherlands Helsinki Committee/in collaboration with the Center for Counseling Social Services and Research (SIT), Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (MHC), Avans Hogeschool (Avans), and the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) will engage survivors and incarcerated people in Kosovo, Spain, North Macedonia, and the Netherlands. Beyond developing and piloting initiatives, RE-CREATE will strengthen cross-border collaboration, practitioner capacity, and policy alignment to support EU-wide adoption of co-creation approaches.

Currently, restorative programmes that encourage reflections on toxic masculinity and recognition of the harm caused by sexual and gender-based violence are lacking in prison settings. RE-CREATE explores how victims and incarcerated people can enter into dialogue with each other to achieve mutual understanding and co-create structural restorative initiatives.

Our Aims

RE-CREATE aims to develop sexual and gender-based violence prevention initiatives within correctional systems based on the meaningful participation of both victims and perpetrators, as well as strengthen collaboration, practitioner capacity, and policy alignment within the EU. To do so, we will:

• Map relevant existing restorative programmes and co-creation methodologies within prison settings to identify transferable practices, contextual challenges, and opportunities to inform the design of inclusive and effective pilot initiatives.

• Co-develop and implement, together with survivor experts and prisoners, at least two restorative justice initiatives per country that promote accountability, victim awareness, and gender-sensitive approaches within prison context, that can be piloted in prisons in Kosovo, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, and Basque Country (Spain).

• Generate evidence for scalable, context-responsive interventions that can inform future policy development and programme replication across EU member states.

• Disseminate insights, tools, and lessons learned across all partner countries through structured knowledge exchange activities

• Organize international exchange workshops among the four countries with representatives from prisons, survivor experts, people who were previously incarcerated, psychologists and the project team

Expected impact

• Short-term impact: Empowerment and reflection. For victims, being actively involved in shaping restorative and victim awareness initiatives allows them to move beyond passive roles in the justice process and contribute meaningfully to systemic change. This engagement can offer emotional validation, support psychological healing, and provide a safe context to articulate their needs and priorities. For detainees, co-design offers a unique space for reflection and growth. By engaging directly with victims, participants are challenged to confront the human impact of violence, which can lead to the development of empathy and personal accountability.

• Medium term impact: Strengthened trust, more responsive programs, and openness to behavior change.Victims involved in the process may experience ongoing personal growth and a deeper sense of influence as they see their contributions being implemented and respected in institutional practice. This period also allows for the refinement of programs, guided by feedback from both victims and detainees, leading to initiatives that are more responsive, context-sensitive, and sustainable. For detainees, medium-term effects may include more consistent participation in rehabilitative programming and increased openness to behaviour change. This can enhance motivation for further education, therapy, or skills training.

• Long-term impact: Longer-term healing and sense of justice and reduced recidivism. For victims and survivors, continued involvement in program development fosters long-term healing, a renewed sense of justice, and potential leadership roles in victim support or criminal justice reform, amplifying survivor-led perspectives. For detainees, participation in restorative programs can reduce recidivism by promoting emotional insight, accountability, and prosocial behaviours. As these programs become embedded within prison cultures, they can shift from punitive to rehabilitative models, improving detainees’ reintegration prospects and reducing institutional harm. This work could serve as a model for justice systems balancing victim-centred approaches with transformative rehabilitation, fostering a more humane and effective criminal justice system.

• Long-term impact of greater use of restorative programmes in prison settings. Restorative detention is an area that has been receiving increasing amounts of attention, though to varying degrees in countries across Europe. Such a cultural shift will undoubtedly take years, yet the proposed activities can contribute to this shift. By normalizing the critical importance of people with lived experience in programme design, the criminal justice settings moves towards a more humane way of functioning, seeing victims and perpetrators in a more humane way, having their own agency and expertise

Project approach

• Restorative principles: Restorative approaches, when implemented with care and in the appropriate contexts, offer a powerful tool for addressing sexual and gender-based violence. These approaches emphasize accountability and responsibility-taking, encouraging perpetrators to confront the harm they have caused directly. Rather than simply punishing individuals, restorative practices aim to foster understanding of the emotional and psychological impacts of their actions on the victim. By engaging in facilitated dialogue or reflection, offenders are prompted to acknowledge the consequences of their behaviour, often leading to greater empathy and remorse. This acknowledgment plays a crucial role in the prevention of future violence, as perpetrators begin to internalize the damage they have done and take responsibility for their actions. Traditional punitive measures often fail to address the underlying issues driving violent actions, such as unresolved trauma or ingrained attitudes of entitlement and power. Restorative approaches, however, focus on rehabilitating the offender while keeping the victim central, leading to a more holistic and effective reduction in repeat offenses.

• Co-creation: This project uses meaningful participation as a starting point, recognising we must go beyond mere consultation when working with survivors and perpetrators. Meaningful participation refers to the active, informed, and voluntary engagement of individuals in decisions and processes that affect their lives. In projects addressing sexual violence prevention among detainees, meaningful participation is essential not only for ethical integrity but also for long-term impact. It ensures that those most affected by gender and sexual violence – survivors and perpetrators – are not treated as passive subjects of intervention, but as active agents in shaping solutions. This approach recognises the value of lived experience as a form of expertise, fostering mutual understanding, accountability, and deeper empathy.

Project at a glance

Funder: European Commission (CERV-2025-DAPHNE)

Countries: Netherlands, Basque Country (Spain), Kosovo, North Macedonia

Partners: Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Center for Counseling Social Services and Research (SIT), Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (MHC), Avans Hogeschool (Avans), and the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU)

Project period: February 1 2025- February 1 2027

Budget: 523.371,47

Project Factsheet: RE-CREATE Fact Sheet

Funded by the European Commission. The contents of this article and the views expressed within are the responsibility of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.