Transcultural Psychiatry 0(0) 1–25 ! The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1363461518793749 journals.sagepub.com/home/tps Enhancing resiliency and promoting prosocial behavior among Tanzanian primary-school students: A school-based intervention Rony Berger Ben Gurion University of the Negev Joy Benatov University of Haifa, and College of Management and Academic Studies Raphael Cuadros and Jacob VanNattan Tel Aviv University Marc Gelkopf University of Haifa Abstract Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are living under chronic adversity due to poverty, serious health issues, physical and sexual abuse, and armed conflicts. These highly stressful conditions have deleterious effects on their mental health and socio-emotional adjust- ment. Since many children lack adequate access to mental health care, culturally adapted school-based resiliency programs could provide a resource to scaffold their develop- ment and promote their mental health. This study evaluated the efficacy of a universal school-based intervention in enhancing the resiliency of Tanzanian primary school chil- dren and cultivating prosocial behaviors. A total of 183 students from grades 4 to 6 were randomly assigned to either the 16-session ‘‘ERSAE-Stress-Prosocial (ESPS)’’ structured intervention or to a Social Study curriculum (SS) active control group. The original ESPS program was adapted by Tanzanians mental health professionals who modified the program based on local idioms of distress and indigenous practices. Students’ resilience was evaluated before, after and 8 months following the intervention by assessing social difficulties, hyperactivity, somatization, level of anxiety, prosocial behaviors and school functioning as well as academic achievements and disciplinary problems. There was significant improvement on all outcome measures for the ESPS Article Corresponding author: Joy Benatov, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, 3498838, Israel. Email: jbentov2@gmail.com