Final Report Summary - CAWRBP (Children and War: Resilience Beyond Programmes)
Ms Apio has fully met the objectives of the projects, based on the alterations agreed with the project officer (adaptation of the original geographical scope decided on after initial research on literature and necessitated on the basis of security concerns relating to field work).
These objectives were
1. To identify and analyse the situation of “(re)integrated” ex-combatants and their children born out of forced pregnancies and rape by enemy soldiers in post-conflict northern Uganda
2. To identify and analyse the situation of (re)integrated ex-combatants and their children in post conflict communities of Sierra Leone, Darfur [Sudan], eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda.
3. To compare social (re) integration policies and practices associated with northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, Darfur [Sudan], eastern DRC
The purpose of this project is to develop an integrated theoretical social reintegration framework for children born of war (children fathered by foreign soldiers and born to local mothers) and their ex-combatant mothers in light of the unique but extreme challenges faced by these population groups in contemporary African armed conflicts and post-conflict societies. The researcher has developed a set of guidelines within which the social experiences of children born of war in African armed conflicts can be established and their integration needs sustainably addressed. The guidelines, which are envisaged to contribute substantively to the final framework of integration, were generated from the analysis of local policies in study communities in northern Uganda and Sierra Leone. During the return phase, Ms. Apio will review these results in light of analyses from studies in eastern DRC and Darfur. The final set of guidelines will therefore be contained in the report at the end of the return phase.
The three core objectives were tackled through five distinct tasks spread over the three years of the project, with tasks 1-3 falling entirely within the reporting of the outgoing phase, task 5 falling entirely within the return phase, and task 4 - through its strong links with task 5 - falling largely within the outgoing phase but impacting heavily on the return phase.
Task 1: To conduct an in-depth review of published literature on pre- and post-reintegration communities with a focus on social and security reform sectors [objective 1]
To fulfill this task, Ms. Apio explored published literature on reintegration policies and practice in northern Uganda, eastern DRC, Darfur & Sierra Leone. The results showed that there have been no deliberate institutional initiatives for integrating children when their mothers demobilised and returned to their communities of origin [cf. reintegration of ex-combatants by governmental & multilateral organisations such as UNICEF]. While scholars are beginning to understand the need to address these children's (re)integration needs in order sustainably to build less volatile post-conflict societies, the researcher found no evidence of any actions focused on the needs of these children in law and practice. In order to suggest alternatives, Ms. Apio then identified policies within programmes, which were directed at supporting the (re-)integration of ex-combatants. She analysed these frameworks to locate opportunities that could embrace CBOW. Results of this were then simulated on documented cases of CBOW in northern Uganda and Sierra Leone.
Task 2: Comparative analysis of study communities [objective 2]
On the basis of the different case studies identified and researched as described above (task 1) Ms. Apio had identified the need to study CBOW within the context of the groups within which their parents, either individually or as couples or parts of larger kinship groups, lived. This detailed study, on the basis of extensive field work, was carried out among the Mende of Sierra Leone and the Langi of northern Uganda. Ms Apio, in collaboration with local organisations, regional and international NGOs carried out this research, supported by experienced local research assistants. With the help of local organisations she identified and located CBOW and their mothers [and in some cases, their fathers] and undertook the work based on qualitative interviews with ex-combatants and their children and families, focus group discussions, observational research and interviews with key informants in the receptor communities. Ms. Apio further established contact with Dr. Hellen Liebling at Coventry University [UK] to further discuss Liebling’s findings on survivors of SGBV in eastern DRC and on how it may inform her study. Ms. Apio adhered to the ethical guidelines to protect the children and their mothers throughout the study. Analyses of both theoretical and field data yielded a set of guidelines which Ms. Apio will pilot during the return phase to test, refine and incorporate into a framework for integrating CBOW in Africa by September 2015.
Task 3: Mapping out social reintegration policies and practices applied in study communities in task 2 above [objective 3]
In collaboration with her local partners, Ms. Apio identified specific communities in case countries that had a recent history of civil wars that were characterised by sexual violence and forced impregnation, in order to conduct on-site investigation and analysis on CBOW. In these study communities among the Mende and Langi she identified and explored local concepts for healing, integration, inclusion within the social systems of these communities and analysed them to locate opportunities beneficial to CBOW. The results of the country-based studies were then analysed comparatively. The study found that identity policies are important frameworks which individuals and groups in post conflict societies appropriate and utilise to interpret the social positioning of CBOW. For example, perceptions of stigma in relation to CBOW takes place because of the “fertility right holder” vacuum that accompanies the birth of a CBOW. The patriliny frameworks that operate in these post conflict communities have failed to recognise within their normative rules any automatic affiliation routes for CBOW. The result is that whereas the same framework is used to interpret and apply non-discriminatory and child rights perspectives to benefit members within a group, its failure to identify with CBOW will deny the child care and protection from discrimination, abuse and deprivation. The relationship between descent ideologies and stigma is further demonstrated beyond customary boundaries where state laws and policies in most of these countries continue locking CBOW out. These findings were incorporated into the review of the guidelines developed in Task 2.
Task 4: Application of findings into critical and in-depth comparative investigation and evaluation against untested models and policies of social reintegration
Ms Apio has begun the application of these findings through comparative analysis (task 3) and, based on this, through the development of models of (re-)integration which are feeding into reintegration guidelines to be piloted during the return phase and measured against additional comparative data from the DRC and Dafur.
Therefore, the completion of task 4 will be conducted alongside task 5, because both tasks require direct participation of CBOW and the relevant systems in their local communities. Further progress on these tasks will therefore be contained in the report for the return phase.
In the process of her research, Ms Apio has developed an extensive network of academic and third-sector contacts which she employed effectively in the development of her study design and the implementation during the fieldwork phases. These contacts include Shilan Shah-Davis (Bristol, work on child soldiers); Helen Liebling (Coventry, work on psychosocial impact of African civil wars, in particular on women and children) Kathryn Wyss (Caritas programme co-ordinator Uganda/Rwanda), War and Child (NGO with specific interest on child vulnerabilities in wars, Netlyn M. Bernard (Interchurch Coordination Committee for Development Projects, Country Program manager DRC, Rwanda, Burundi).
Furthermore, Ms Apio has played an active part in research-focused teaching at her host institution. She designed and implemented three group research courses on topics related to children born of war and contributed actively to the supervision of two undergraduate scholars who, under her supervision, carried out field work on naming practices of CBOW in northern Uganda.
Research results of this project will inform local, regional, national and international non-governmental and governmental organisations in their approach to devising sustainable post-conflict policies, especially relating to volatile post-conflict societies with significant numbers of female ex-combatants and, related to this, significant numbers of children born of war.
These objectives were
1. To identify and analyse the situation of “(re)integrated” ex-combatants and their children born out of forced pregnancies and rape by enemy soldiers in post-conflict northern Uganda
2. To identify and analyse the situation of (re)integrated ex-combatants and their children in post conflict communities of Sierra Leone, Darfur [Sudan], eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Uganda.
3. To compare social (re) integration policies and practices associated with northern Uganda, Sierra Leone, Darfur [Sudan], eastern DRC
The purpose of this project is to develop an integrated theoretical social reintegration framework for children born of war (children fathered by foreign soldiers and born to local mothers) and their ex-combatant mothers in light of the unique but extreme challenges faced by these population groups in contemporary African armed conflicts and post-conflict societies. The researcher has developed a set of guidelines within which the social experiences of children born of war in African armed conflicts can be established and their integration needs sustainably addressed. The guidelines, which are envisaged to contribute substantively to the final framework of integration, were generated from the analysis of local policies in study communities in northern Uganda and Sierra Leone. During the return phase, Ms. Apio will review these results in light of analyses from studies in eastern DRC and Darfur. The final set of guidelines will therefore be contained in the report at the end of the return phase.
The three core objectives were tackled through five distinct tasks spread over the three years of the project, with tasks 1-3 falling entirely within the reporting of the outgoing phase, task 5 falling entirely within the return phase, and task 4 - through its strong links with task 5 - falling largely within the outgoing phase but impacting heavily on the return phase.
Task 1: To conduct an in-depth review of published literature on pre- and post-reintegration communities with a focus on social and security reform sectors [objective 1]
To fulfill this task, Ms. Apio explored published literature on reintegration policies and practice in northern Uganda, eastern DRC, Darfur & Sierra Leone. The results showed that there have been no deliberate institutional initiatives for integrating children when their mothers demobilised and returned to their communities of origin [cf. reintegration of ex-combatants by governmental & multilateral organisations such as UNICEF]. While scholars are beginning to understand the need to address these children's (re)integration needs in order sustainably to build less volatile post-conflict societies, the researcher found no evidence of any actions focused on the needs of these children in law and practice. In order to suggest alternatives, Ms. Apio then identified policies within programmes, which were directed at supporting the (re-)integration of ex-combatants. She analysed these frameworks to locate opportunities that could embrace CBOW. Results of this were then simulated on documented cases of CBOW in northern Uganda and Sierra Leone.
Task 2: Comparative analysis of study communities [objective 2]
On the basis of the different case studies identified and researched as described above (task 1) Ms. Apio had identified the need to study CBOW within the context of the groups within which their parents, either individually or as couples or parts of larger kinship groups, lived. This detailed study, on the basis of extensive field work, was carried out among the Mende of Sierra Leone and the Langi of northern Uganda. Ms Apio, in collaboration with local organisations, regional and international NGOs carried out this research, supported by experienced local research assistants. With the help of local organisations she identified and located CBOW and their mothers [and in some cases, their fathers] and undertook the work based on qualitative interviews with ex-combatants and their children and families, focus group discussions, observational research and interviews with key informants in the receptor communities. Ms. Apio further established contact with Dr. Hellen Liebling at Coventry University [UK] to further discuss Liebling’s findings on survivors of SGBV in eastern DRC and on how it may inform her study. Ms. Apio adhered to the ethical guidelines to protect the children and their mothers throughout the study. Analyses of both theoretical and field data yielded a set of guidelines which Ms. Apio will pilot during the return phase to test, refine and incorporate into a framework for integrating CBOW in Africa by September 2015.
Task 3: Mapping out social reintegration policies and practices applied in study communities in task 2 above [objective 3]
In collaboration with her local partners, Ms. Apio identified specific communities in case countries that had a recent history of civil wars that were characterised by sexual violence and forced impregnation, in order to conduct on-site investigation and analysis on CBOW. In these study communities among the Mende and Langi she identified and explored local concepts for healing, integration, inclusion within the social systems of these communities and analysed them to locate opportunities beneficial to CBOW. The results of the country-based studies were then analysed comparatively. The study found that identity policies are important frameworks which individuals and groups in post conflict societies appropriate and utilise to interpret the social positioning of CBOW. For example, perceptions of stigma in relation to CBOW takes place because of the “fertility right holder” vacuum that accompanies the birth of a CBOW. The patriliny frameworks that operate in these post conflict communities have failed to recognise within their normative rules any automatic affiliation routes for CBOW. The result is that whereas the same framework is used to interpret and apply non-discriminatory and child rights perspectives to benefit members within a group, its failure to identify with CBOW will deny the child care and protection from discrimination, abuse and deprivation. The relationship between descent ideologies and stigma is further demonstrated beyond customary boundaries where state laws and policies in most of these countries continue locking CBOW out. These findings were incorporated into the review of the guidelines developed in Task 2.
Task 4: Application of findings into critical and in-depth comparative investigation and evaluation against untested models and policies of social reintegration
Ms Apio has begun the application of these findings through comparative analysis (task 3) and, based on this, through the development of models of (re-)integration which are feeding into reintegration guidelines to be piloted during the return phase and measured against additional comparative data from the DRC and Dafur.
Therefore, the completion of task 4 will be conducted alongside task 5, because both tasks require direct participation of CBOW and the relevant systems in their local communities. Further progress on these tasks will therefore be contained in the report for the return phase.
In the process of her research, Ms Apio has developed an extensive network of academic and third-sector contacts which she employed effectively in the development of her study design and the implementation during the fieldwork phases. These contacts include Shilan Shah-Davis (Bristol, work on child soldiers); Helen Liebling (Coventry, work on psychosocial impact of African civil wars, in particular on women and children) Kathryn Wyss (Caritas programme co-ordinator Uganda/Rwanda), War and Child (NGO with specific interest on child vulnerabilities in wars, Netlyn M. Bernard (Interchurch Coordination Committee for Development Projects, Country Program manager DRC, Rwanda, Burundi).
Furthermore, Ms Apio has played an active part in research-focused teaching at her host institution. She designed and implemented three group research courses on topics related to children born of war and contributed actively to the supervision of two undergraduate scholars who, under her supervision, carried out field work on naming practices of CBOW in northern Uganda.
Research results of this project will inform local, regional, national and international non-governmental and governmental organisations in their approach to devising sustainable post-conflict policies, especially relating to volatile post-conflict societies with significant numbers of female ex-combatants and, related to this, significant numbers of children born of war.