Child soldiers
Overcoming lost childhoods: lessons learned from the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers in Colombia
Developing a framework for organisations working on the reintegration of child soldiers
Authors:
V. Thomas
Publisher:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, 2008
Y Care International’s experience working with at-risk and vulnerable children and young people in Colombia, including child soldiers, has made apparent the need to share lessons learned and good practice in the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers. This report summarises the lessons learned and recommendations from this process to date and can be used to inform similar work in other countries.
Given the critical importance of the reintegration phase, Y Care International and YMCA Bogotá have focused on lessons learned from Colombia’s reintegration programme as it represents the most difficult and determinant phase in the life of a former child solider. The analysis includes such programmatic challenges as family-based care and reunification, sexual and reproductive health needs, gender-related issues, education, employment and income generation, psycho-social counselling and support, and overarching issues of displacement, stigmatisation, funding and monitoring and evaluation.
Key lessons learnt include:
- displacement is one of the key issues affecting the disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation and reintegration (DDRR) process in Colombia
- programme practitioners have learned to help the young people articulate the frustrations, fears, sense of loss and anxiety associated with their programme-related displacement
- YMCA Bogota’s care workers emphasise the need for public policy and programme changes to provide solutions to the bureaucratic systems that keep demobilised youth in a state of displacement and legal limbo
- to encourage reintegration, the DDRR process in Colombia supports both foster and birth family-based care
- due to the challenges of family-based care and reunification, urban centre-based care remains the most common situation for most demobilised youth
- gender and sexual and reproductive health issues are also important aspects of DDRR programmes. International agencies should support comprehensive sexual and reproductive health interventions for former child soldiers
- teachers working with demobilised youth need additional training, more professional support and better curricula to be able to reach former child soldiers and motivate them to learn before they lose interest in formal education
- full reintegration of former child soldiers will not be possible until there is a broad-based social debate and campaign to raise the awareness of the general public about the status of former child soldiers as victims of the armed conflict.
