Descriptions of Rehabilitation Programmes for Child Soldiers
Gulu Support the Children Organisation (GUSCO)
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
>Gulu Support
the Children Organisation (GUSCO)
GUSCO is a local NGO based in the Gulu District of northern Uganda.
It was founded in 1994 to respond to the needs of children affected
by armed conflict, particularly those who have been abducted by the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It receives financial support from a
number of international organizations, primarily Save the Children
(Denmark). GUSCO's current activities include:
Running a reception center in Gulu Town:
This center provides accommodation for former child soldiers. Children
receive immediate support for their basic needs (food, clothing, and
medical care). They also receive counseling and take part in recreational
activities (music, games, and sports).
Community-based psychosocial support:
This involves raising community awareness about the needs of war-affected
children, to elicit action at all levels (from grassroots to policy
makers).
Children's rights clubs:
These clubs for children under 18 help children to learn and promote
their rights, as spelled out in the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, and the Organisation of African Unity charter.
Children's advisory committees:
These children-only committees serve as a forum where children are
regularly consulted on issues that affect them. GUSCO hopes to establish
these committees in every county in Gulu District.
Radio programmes:
These weekly broadcasts aim to sensitise the public about the rights
of children, and advocate for an end to war. Former child abductees
speak about their experiences on these programmes.
Newsletter:
The "Child Trumpet" is produced with contributions from
children. It aims to promote the artistic talents of children through
writing and reading, as well as providing a means of sharing information.
Education:
GUSCO is providing training to children in vocational skills such
as carpentry, building, bicycle repairs and tailoring. GUSCO assists
children to re-enter primary school, paying for their fees, materials,
and uniforms. It is also developing an informal teaching programme
of literacy, numeracy, and life skills for children who missed the
opportunity to receive an education due to the war. GUSCO also trains
teachers how to work with former child soldiers in their classes.
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> International Rescue
Committee (IRC)
IRC is an international NGO. It has developed a three-pronged comprehensive
psychosocial support programme to help address the needs of formerly
abducted children and adolescents in Kitgum District, northern Uganda:
1. Interim care at a "Reception and Re-integration Center"
in Kitgum Town:
IRC works with KICWA, a local NGO, to care for and support formerly
abducted children in a Reception and Reintegration Center in Kitgum.
Upon arrival at the KICWA center, all children receive a medical check-up
and required treatment at the local hospital. A psychosocial assessment
is conducted for each child to determine the most appropriate course
of action for that child. Children also receive basic care and counseling
and participate in psychosocial activities designed to assist in the
recovery from their traumatic experience.
2. Family tracing, reunification and follow-up:
As soon as a child is brought to the KICWA Reception Center, IRC immediately
begins the process of family tracing and reunification. The majority
of children are reunited with their families within two weeks of arriving
at the KICWA center.
3.Community-based psychosocial support:
Once a child returns to his/her family, a caseworker makes regular
follow-up visits. Meetings are held with the school headmaster to
ensure that the child may resume his/her studies. The children and
adolescents are also encouraged to take part in IRC-sponsored community
activities designed to assist all war-affected children and their
families in developing and strengthening healthy psychosocial responses
and coping strategies. Activities include: community sensitisation;
family and peer-group discussions; parent support groups; formation
of sports teams; promotion of traditional dance, drama, and cultural
rituals; adolescent health education and life skills training; vocational
skills training and income generation schemes.
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United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF is the United Nations agency responsible for promoting the
rights and well-being of the world's children. Through its network
of offices in developing countries, it develops programmes in collaboration
with local, national and international NGO's, and other UN agencies.
Its programme for former child soldiers in Rwanda, begun in 1994,
provides an example of the range of children's rights issues that
UNICEF addresses.
Community re-integration:
In 1994, demobilised child soldiers were often found living in camps
for refugees and internally displaced persons. In many cases, the
children's parents had been killed. The former soldiers, most of them
boys, had no family to take them in, and were often shunned or taunted
by others in the camps. UNICEF, in collaboration with a local NGO,
Action Jeunesse et Environment, began a programme to organise the
children into family groups to give them a sense of belonging and
support. The boys designed and built their own houses with plastic
sheeting and wooden stakes. They elected their own house chief and
cooked together.
Family reunification:
In collaboration with the international NGO, Save the Children, and
the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF conducted tracing
activities to reunite children with their families.
Psychosocial rehabilitation:
Social workers were trained to use expressive techniques, such
as art and drama, to draw out traumatised children and enable them
to talk about their experiences of war, a first step toward healing.
Recreation:
Sports and games programmes provide an opportunity for former child
soldiers to play, develop a positive sense of teamwork, and learn
rules and self-discipline needed for re-integration into society.
Education:
UNICEF used a "school-in-a-box" - a kit of educational materials
ready for use by teachers - to encourage the rapid start-up of educational
programmes at centers for demobilised child soldiers.
Children in prison:
Many child soldiers accused of genocide were jailed with adults in
Rwandan prisons. UNICEF, in collaboration with UNESCO, set up an educational
programme in Kigali Central Prison to teach basic literacy and math
skills. Education was seen as a vital step in re-integrating children
in society, as well as reducing the possibility that they would be
manipulated to commit violence in the future. "I never went to
school before," said 16-year-old inmate. "But now I have
a chance. My parents are dead, but they would have been proud of me."
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Illustration:
Felicity O. Yost. Source:
Marie, In the Shadow of the Lion, by Jerry Piasecki. ©
United Nations, 2001
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