Taking stock in disarmament process in Matembo, North Kivu. Photo by UN, published under creative commons licence.

As elections begin in DR Congo, we look at one of the issues that continue to plague the country; how to make sure the thousands of militia fighters still active in the east of the country lay down their weapons and reintegrate into communities.

I recently researched Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) projects carried out by the international community in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo, or DRC), looking at activities of the World Bank’s Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Program (MDRP). This programme brought together the Congolese Government, various NGOs and UN agencies between 2002 and 2009. I found that although a large number of ex-combatants were successfully demobilized, reintegration was less successful. Furthermore, I found that the majority of DDR projects suffered from a number of shortcomings common to externally led approaches to peacebuilding.

The World Bank’s DDR programme in DRC

The World Bank set up the MDRP in response to the conflict in the Great Lakes region, which has involved seven countries during the 1990s and 2000s. It was arguably the largest DDR program in the world in terms of number of states involved, individuals demobilized and levels of funding (over  $450 million). Although the MDRP as a whole successfully demobilized around 300,000 ex-combatants, the results varied drastically from country to country and project to project. In the DRC, funds were allocated to the following activities:

• The Program National de Desarmement, Demobilisation et Reisertion (PNDDR) – the main DDR programme in the DRC, implemented by the DRC government with technical support from external sources.
• Four Special Projects specifically aimed at child soldiers, implemented by various UN agencies and NGOs.
• Two Special Projects implemented by UNDP.

PNDDR demobilized over 100,000 ex-combatants. However, reintegration efforts were much less successful (only 58% received integration support) and the number of ex-combatants who were successfully reintegrated cannot be determined due to the lack of reliable data. The four Child Soldier Projects provided integration assistance to 12,511 children (61% of target), but only managed to successfully reintegrate 604 children by March 2006, a point in the projects when, according to initial plans, up to 20,000 children should have had been reintegrated. UNDP’s record with regard to DDR provides further cause for concern. Their project, with a budget of $11.8 million, only managed to place 83 ex-combatants out of a target of 10,000 in reintegration projects.

DDR meeting in DRC. Photo by UN, published under creative commons licence.

Explanations for missed targets

While every project had their individual reasons for not meeting their targets and some struggled more than others, there were some common themes which can partly explain the limited overall success of the programme:

1. Although the World Bank designed their initiative with the principle of national ownership in mind, neither the programme nor the Special Projects were locally led. Rather, they were designed, and to a large degree executed, by international actors. This led to a lack of capacity to support DDR activities in remote rural areas.
2. When local implementing partners were involved they often lacked capability and sometimes even commitment; for instance, in the case of PNDDR and the Congolese Government. As the programme’s independent reviewers highlighted, ‘quality of local partners is an under-estimated yet key factor in programme delivery.’ In the case of the DRC, many of these local partners were not sufficiently prepared to undertake the enormous challenge of DDR.
3. A lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities led to huge problems between local and international staff. In PNDDR’s case, international staff were often sidelined and at one point pressured to leave. These tensions between program overseers and implementers meant projects suffered from an institutional preoccupation with internal processes.

The themes described above show that without local knowledge and presence on the ground, many of the challenges posed by building peace in a (post-) conflict society, cannot be overcome successfully. It seems to me that the key to successful peacebuilding lies in identifying reliable and capable local partners and incorporating them into all aspects of programme design and delivery. Putting local peacebuilders in the driving seat will also ensure that there are people who continue to work for peace, long after the convoy of international institutions and nongovernmental organisations has left.

Andre’s research and background paper can be found here.

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Jeeva Jothy works at the national level, offering human rights programs, psychosocial counselling and empowering women and widows. The members from its children’s home for child soldiers form an important part in these programmes.

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CEDEF’s peacebuilding work involves providing education in peace and non-violence. They organise seminars for people and communities experiencing conflict – especially young people, religious communities and tribal leaders – to debate how they can build society without violence. The organisation is also involved in training communities to directly resolve conflicts peacefully.

As a result of their peace education seminars, CEDEF has been able to establish a programme involving former fighters in community development. This programme encourages former fighters to reintegrate into their communities, preventing a return to violence.

CEDEF also works with young people; equipping and empowering them with marketable skills to enable them to identify and explore their talent and potential. The organisation is also involved in legal aid, access to justice, and human rights monitoring.

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What makes GRG unique is that participants design the projects themselves, building strong relationships and working hand-in-hand together. The projects are sustainable – members use their earnings to start businesses, help themselves through school, and begin building new lives. Instead of being traumatised and isolated, they begin to grow into community leaders.

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Programmes

• Inclusion of minority rights for sustainable peace in Nepal: using the constitutional revision to establish and promote inclusive democracy, by aiming to improve the implementation of minority rights.
• Ensuring inclusion of minority rights in the new Nepali constitution: analysis of Nepal’s minorities’ status, and publishing of analytical papers and newsletters; formation of seven regional networks of minorities, organising awareness raising activities, putting pressure on policy makers and building consensus among minority groups.
• Communities for peace and reintegration: Analysis of needs and trends among communities, mobilised celebration of International Peace Day, signature campaign, founding of 10 community action groups and provision of small grants.
• Promoting voices of voice-less for conflict-resolution and empowerment: raising the voices of  the under-represented people with a focus on the conflict victims of Dhanusha district through radio dialogue.
• Advocacy campaign on UNSCR 1325 in Terai: educating local women and stakeholders on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on the role of women in peacebuilding, drafting of action plans, raising awareness through the media and building capacity.
• Action for peace and reconciliation of conflict victims: addressing the issues of those killed or disappeared during the armed conflict, reconciliation and reintegration.
• Peace education and conflict resolution through socio-economic reintegration of conflict victims: technical support to the local administration to address the issues of IDPs right to return, identifying and facilitating return of displaced groups and setting up informal community based monitoring system
• Facilitating identification of Madheshi issues and national-level dialogue: district level workshops and mobilising the Madheshi society to participate in the political transition
• Communities for peace program: minimise the spread of conflict by strengthening community resilience to conflict, developing the capacity of community members on conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation and peace building, social mobilisation and offering psychological support

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SDF has found that it is necessary to focus on livelihoods development work to carry out peacebuilding work in an effective and sustainable manner. That is why they have expanded their work to address war-affected disabilities and many other developmental-related activities.

A particularly notable achievement was winning the national award for disabled and rehabilitation activities from the Sri Lankan Government. Galle is a district from which a large number of soldiers are recruited, the number of disabled soldiers in the area are also high. The award recognised the success of SDF in getting them to integrate into the community and recover from the conflict experience.

Also another main issue they have identified is the need to strengthen civil society who are already working in the field through providing skill development support. This supports them to carry out their work in a more professional manner that enhances its benefit. SDF has parnerships with 112 community-based organisations in Sri Lanka.

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The organisation has implemented a project in Ampara – ‘Psychosocial Support Team (PST)’ – with former child soldiers and other children who face psychological imbalances after being the direct victims of war.  A project called ‘Together for Peace’ is another notable achievement of PCA. They were able to connect three major communities in Sri Lanka through youth groups, creating paths to through which PCA can work towards ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka.

PCA has found that through listening to the participants of their programmes, they are able to create more sustainable projects.  This has led them to encouraging participants to design how projects are implemented.

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The organisation is also involved in direct mediation of local conflicts. So far, a total of 13 cases of conflicts have been resolved with the help of local mediators used by the informal partners. The resolved cases include those relating to caste discrimination, violence against women, disputes between teachers and students,  and disputes among the different communities covered by the project.

A series of social dialogues are taking place across Nepal in order to address issues such as rights of religious minorities, the rising tensions over the constitution, and state reconstruction. By including people most capable of creating change in Nepal – such as teachers, social workers and state stakeholders - CIF sees these dialogues as crucial for promoting peace and human rights.

The organisation also broadcasts a radio programme on human rights, peace and nonviolence. The programme has targets communities and is broadcast from both national and local FM stations.  In order to ensure the effective outreach of the programme, listening clubs have been formed in the entire Terai region and eastern hill of Nepal.

A series of five trainings on peace, non-violence and reconciliation have been conducted with the objective of providing knowledge and skills on non-violence, conflict transformation, peace and reconciliation to young politicians and civil society members working actively in the project districts. Nearly 50% of participants came from the youth wings of political parties and the remaining represented the civil society organisations.

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CODHAS base their work on the values of solidarity, confidentiality and transparency. Their motto is ‘human rights for all‘.  They have worked with a number of partners and all also the government and provincial assembly of North Kivu to further their aims.

A CODHAS campaign against gender-based violence and to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS issues.

Examples of COHAS work:

September 2009 – July 2010: Community sensitisation project about the return of Congolese people living in Rwanda or Uganda, in partnership with RACID (Réseau d’actions citoyennes pour la démocratie) with the support of the UNHCR in Rutshuru.

January 2010: Monitoring human rights violations, in partnership with HRW/Goma.

January – November 2009: Sensitisation of armed groups and FARDC (the Congolese Army) about the demobilisation of child soldiers in Rutshuru and Masisi.

CODHAS have many plans for the future, including more work to build trust between tribes, reducing the spread of small arms, resolving land conflicts and the formation of peace groups in communities.

Work in a corn field as part of a CODHAS programme to improve relations between different ethnic groups in North Kivu.

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