Post-conflict Programmes Research Articles

ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT PROGRAMS FOR CIVILIANS DURING AND AFTER THE WAR IN LEBANON AND ARTSAKH

This article presents the psychological impacts of war on human life, especially on children in areas of conflict and war. The study offers various research on the short-term and long-term effects of war and violence on individuals, especially children. It sheds light on the presence and quality of psychological support offered to civilians during the war and the post-war period in Lebanon and Artsakh. It investigates the presence of programs that prepare individuals to be resilient during pre-armed conflict times in the era of peace. The paper offers recommendations that will lead to the placement of emotional intelligence and social-emotional learning programs that help develop children's self-awareness, offer them self-regulation tools and allow them to remain motivated at times of peace and war. The post-conflict programs will help civilians reduce anxiety and the impact of stress to overcome several psychological problems caused by wars in the population during times of peace and post-conflict.

Necropolitics, peacebuilding and racialized violence: The elimination of indigenous leaders in Colombia

This paper proposes the concept ‘necropolitics of peacebuilding’ to analyse how contemporary geographies of peace and post-war violence are shaped by the articulation of race, space, politics and the coloniality of power. We explore how post-conflict programmes, plans and policies shape the uneven distribution of life and death, focussing in particular on the elimination of indigenous leaders. Drawing on research conducted in northern Cauca, Colombia, where many indigenous leaders have been threatened and murdered despite the signing of the Peace Agreement in 2016, our analysis reveals four key factors: 1) The coloniality of power that treats their bodies as disposable and not fully human; 2) The juxtaposition of illicit economies and neoliberal extractivist enterprises in their territories; 3) Violent opposition to their autonomous political projects that aim to defend their land and forms of being; and 4) The disputed presence of peacebuilding programmes seeking to substitute illicit crops. Analysing the relationship between necropolitics, racism and spatial segregation is shown to be crucial to understanding the violence faced by indigenous leaders and communities in post-conflict situations. This paper thus makes an important contribution to understandings of the continuity of necropolitics within the context of peacebuilding.

Interview with Attaher Zacka Maïga

Attaher Zacka Maïga was born on 10 May 1963 in Bia, Bourem Cercle, Gao Region, Mali. He has spent his life in the service of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, joining the Mali Red Cross as a volunteer in 1987 before working for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as a nutritionist in a pilot centre for nutritional recovery and education in Bourem from January 1988 to June 1990. In 1990 and 1991 he acted as consultant to a number of organizations, including World Vision and UNICEF.In April 1992, Attaher Maïga joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a “resident” (i.e. local) employee. Since then, he has held many positions. From 1996 to 2000, he was in charge of the Gao office, which employed almost 100 staff, both resident and “mobile” (expatriate). He then took charge of the ICRC's programmes in northern Mali from 2001 to 2006, ran the organization's office in the Malian capital Bamako from 2007 to 2008 and was responsible for the Mali communication programme between 2009 and 2011. From November 2011 to November 2014, he was head of the ICRC's northern Mali sub-delegation, one of the first resident employees to lead an ICRC sub-delegation. Since 2015, Attaher Maïga has been Networking Coordinator for the ICRC's Mali delegation.In 1996, Mr Maïga initiated the ICRC's post-conflict programmes in his country, covering the fields of agriculture, veterinary services and health. In 2009, he launched a pilot migrant project in Kidal, northern Mali. These much-appreciated initiatives resulted in his being invited to participate in the 2010 Montreuil meeting, which laid the foundations for the reforms currently underway.Attaher was the first Mali focal point for the ICRC's Unit for Global Affairs. This role gave him a deeper understanding of trends in the Islamic world and enabled him to help the ICRC adjust its dialogue with Jihadist armed groups. Our interview with Mr Maïga highlights his extensive experience with one of the oldest humanitarian organizations and is an opportunity for him to share his understanding of the ICRC's interaction with the armed groups that controlled northern Mali in 2012, when he was representing the ICRC in the region.Attaher Maïga holds a degree in public administration from the Institut de Gestion et des Langues Appliquées aux Métiers, Bamako.

The World of Work and Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies: Lessons from the International Labor Organization's Crisis Response and Reconstruction Program

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how critical the world of work is to establishing rule of law in post-conflict societies. It will do so by placing the work of the ILO in the context of traditional rule-of-law theory and practice, discusses the ILO’s labor and employment-based post-conflict programs and activities, and highlights examples of successful activities engaged in by the ILO, trade unions and employer groups that can be models for more traditional rule-of-law activities.

The Silent Forces of Agency: War as Experience and Girls in Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front

This paper looks at young female soldiers in Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in order to study Christine Sylvester’s concept of war as experience. The common narratives of females who engage in political violence often detail their status as either victims or perpetrators. These frames essentialize women’s experiences of conflict, violence, and politics. Applying the idea of war as experience, the girl soldiers of the RUF can be understood as both victims and perpetrators of violence during times of conflict. This paper identifies how experiences of war can be perceived through the lens of physical experience, emotions of fear and self-security, and the further, ongoing implications of victimization. The RUF case helps explain how one can begin to understand why a girl would engage in violent acts and not just be a powerless victim. Through analyzing interviews conducted by Myriam Denov, it is discovered that victimization can be an opportunity for agency to some degree. There are significant consequences for essentializing women as victims since post-conflict programs often exclude women because they are not seen as ex-soldiers or ex-combatants.

Explaining State Territorial Consolidation in Post-Conflict: The Macarena Region of Colombia

After territory in a civil conflict has been cleared by state forces, how can permanent security be guaranteed and economic development be stimulated? This study examines the joint efforts by USAID and the Colombian government to consolidate gains in the conflictive FARC guerrilla stronghold of the Macarena region in Colombia through development spending and institutional strengthening beginning in the mid-2000s. I test hypotheses about how various types of development projects, spending, and military activities affect outcomes related to citizen security and economic development with statistical tests at the village-level. Identification comes from difference-in-difference analysis of perception survey responses of individuals from different communities that were eligible recipients for development programming. The results support an “institutional salience” theory of development programs in post-conflict settings where projects most closely related to residents’ daily livelihoods are the most highly valued and contribute to perceptions of state legitimacy and lasting security. The findings hold important policy implications for other regions in Colombia and other countries with post-conflict programs seeking to cement peace.

Engendering Post-Confl ict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) within the Horn of Africa region: Lessons from Ethiopia

The problem of post-confl ict communities and societies is that women play a major role during confl ict situations, and in the end they suffer more than their male counterparts. Once a post-confl ict government has been installed, their involvement and participation in decisionmaking and peace-building processes and programmes is undermined. This article intends to address this important issue and analyze the extent of women’s participation in post-confl ict programmes in Ethiopia as a case study. Contrary to the contemporary view that women should have an equal stake together with their male counterparts however, their participation in Ethiopia’s Post-Confl ict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD) programmes is reportedly far less than 35%.

Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

This article focuses on the construction of “soldier” and “victim” by post-conflict programs in Sierra Leone. Focusing on the absence of individual testimonies and interviews that inform representations of women and girls post-conflict, this article demonstrates that the ideal of the female war victim has limited the ways in which female combatants are addressed by disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) programs in Sierra Leone. It is argued that titles given to female soldiers such as “females associated with the war,” “dependents,” or “camp followers” reveal the reluctance of reintegration agencies to identify females who participated in war as soldiers. In addition, I argue that men and masculinity are securitized post-conflict while women—even when they act in highly securitized roles such as soldiers—are desecuritized and, in effect, de-emphasized in post-conflict policy making. The impact of this categorization has been that the reintegration process for men has been securitized, or emphasized as an essential element of the transition from war to peace. In contrast, the reintegration process for females has been deemed a social concern and has been moralized as a return to normal.

Girlhood in a post-conflict situation: The case of Rwanda

abstract Girls in Rwanda have been confronted with unique challenges since the 1994 genocide. This study aims to analyse their everyday experiences, given the repercussions the genocide has had on their lives and the sociocultural pressures they face. Using a comprehensive cross-sectoral approach we examine their positions and roles through four lenses': security and protection, economic security, access to basic services, and participation and empowerment. This gender analysis of girlhood in a post-conflict environment reveals that girls must contend with a wide-ranging and interconnected set of gender biases and highlights the fact that they are relatively ‘invisible’ in programmes for women or youth, even though they play a major role in the rebuilding of peaceful communities. We conclude that post-conflict programmes would benefit from consulting with girls and young women to detect disparities in access to welfare services and resources and help shape policies and programmes that address their interests.

Post-conflict programmes for women: Lessons from the Kosovo Women's Initiative

This paper considers the relationship between the concept of participation in development and the concept of sustainable development in the aftermath of a war. For sustainable development to take place after a period of armed conflict, the intended beneficiaries of a reconstruction programme must be supported to take charge of the process, and hence own the results.