Phase Three of the Project: Rehabilitation

   
 


 
   
   
   
 
 

 The third phase of the proposed research focuses on post-conflict rehabilitation efforts. One of the most important aspects of postwar development is psychological rehabilitation of those children who have killed or witnessed horrendous acts of violence.

There is a significant gap in knowledge about the various types, and the effectiveness, of interventions made on behalf of children affected by armed conflict. Most of the studies of psychological rehabilitation in war torn societies have focused on Western models. The ethnocentric (and Western-centric) nature of these interventions has come under severe criticism of late. [Chandler, 2002]

This phase of the research provides an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of a specific program of healing, reconciliation, rehabilitation and social reintegration of child ex-combatants in Sierra Leone. The program is carried out by a Freetown-based NGO - Children Affected by the War (CAW).

It will, however, not overlook the efforts to rehabilitate children who have been physically maimed during armed violence. Neither will it neglect other attempts at reintegrating war-affected children back into communities.

The CAW program is a community/family-based effort, sponsored in large part by the Catholic Church in Freetown, that emphasizes culturally appropriate methods, such as traditional cleansing/purification ceremonies, to deal with psychosocial stress and trauma. CAW has registered over 2,500 child ex-combatants in its programme (out of the 6,000 to 10,000 children between the ages of 7 and 18 believed to have taken part in the recent civil war there), and has been at the forefront of tracing methods to reunite children with their families. Nevertheless, little is known of its modus operandi and no formal evaluation has been done of its rehabilitation and reintegration methods. Assessment of the CAW program will also include an evaluation of the ways in which it has dealt with children who have been sexually abused, have had their education interrupted, were maimed as a result of landmines, or infected by HIV/AIDS.