Intervention Mapping to Develop "Creating Peace:" Translating a Youth Activism Intervention from Global Settings to...

Creating Peace is a youth violence prevention program adapted for implementation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from prior work in conflict-affected global settings. This manuscript outlines the adaptation process, emphasizing integration of healing-centered, gender-transformative, and community-driven approaches to address violence and structural inequities. An intervention mapping adaption process involved facilitators from youth-serving organizations to co-develop a curriculum for youth ages 14-19 years. Adaptations included optimizing facilitator training to discuss United States history of racism and gender inequity, addressing concerns around law enforcement engagement, and promoting youth-led activism as a mechanism for change. The adaptation process highlighted the importance of local contextualization, ensuring the curriculum was responsive to community needs while maintaining core programmatic goals. Facilitator training and ongoing support as well as iterative feedback from youth were critical for optimizing curriculum implementation. This development of Creating Peace, using a systematic intervention mapping adaptation approach, demonstrates the feasibility of translating global lessons into locally relevant programming. Future efforts should include assessing long-term impact, establishing best practices for adapting gender-transformative violence prevention programs in diverse contexts, and involvement of youth and adult community members in sustainability and scalability of such community-based prevention programming.