In any given year, there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers in all the regions of the world. Programs to help reintegrate child soldiers usually target countries that are engaged in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of government or rebel forces after the end of an armed conflict. Programming to assist child soldiers is still in its early stages. As author Beth Verhey suggests:
“Determining best practice with child soldiers is an ongoing effort. And for program practitioners, it is often difficult to translate a list of best practice principles into local application. Concerted efforts and funding are needed to evaluate, document, and disseminate lessons. Demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers are often portrayed as hopeless—especially where child soldiers have been forcibly recruited and made to participate in atrocities. Yet, children and youths involved in armed conflict can re-engage positive social relations and productive civilian lives. It is not easy, however, and depends crucially on the political will and resources to include child soldiers in peace agreements and demobilization programs and to support their reintegration into family and community.”
This guide provides, in a deliberately concise format, tools intended to help translate best practices and lessons learned in assistance to the reintegration of child soldiers. These include a summary of general considerations and of lessons learned, a risk-analysis matrix, a results-based grid for evaluating proposals or designing programs, suggested readings, and appendixes that contain a series of checklists. In particular, this guide highlights the usefulness of closely factoring geopolitical, cultural, and socioeconomic realities in the DDR programs. It also endorses a child rights–based approach. On the latter approach, advocacy on child rights must be implemented at all stages of the program.
This text is proposed as a reference guide for planners, proposal assessors, managers, monitors, evaluators, and field practitioners involved in DDR programming. It is based on the most relevant experience in the very complex field of child soldier assistance by various local and international interveners, including: Amnesty International, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and its partners, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Labour Organization (ILO), International Rescue Committee, Save the Children group, UNICEF, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, World Bank, and World Vision.
©Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Website: http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUImages/Childprotection/$file/Child-Soldiers.pdf