<![CDATA[Community empowerment programmes for disaster-affected villages in Indonesia are largely standardised, built around physical reconstruction, livelihood restoration, and infrastructure delivery. They rarely account for the psychological consequences of disaster, despite the fact that these consequences shape whether communities can participate in recovery at all. This study addresses that gap by adapting the trauma-informed care framework, developed in mental health and human services, into the design of post-disaster community empowerment policy. Using a phenomenological case study of three disaster-affected villages in Bengkulu Province, the research combines in-depth phenomenological interviews with survivors and local leaders, focus group discussions, observation of recovery activities, and review of programme documents. Analysis proceeds in two layers: a phenomenological reading of survivors’ lived experience of recovery programmes, and an evaluation of conventional programmes against a purpose-built trauma-informed empowerment evaluation matrix integrating psychosocial wellbeing indicators with community development indicators. The findings identify six themes constituting the essence of the survivor experience, chief among them a persistent mismatch between programme timetables and recovery timelines. Conventional programmes score adequately on delivery indicators but poorly on safety, predictability, choice, and cultural fit, and in several documented instances reproduced distress through their own procedures. The study proposes a Trauma-Informed Community Empowerment model specifying four sequenced phases, six design principles adapted from trauma-informed care, and an accompanying indicator set, together with practical guidance for village governments and district disaster agencies.]]>
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