Relaimed Childhoods
Our Solution
Other's Solutions
The UN general assembly implemented the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, with the goal of prevention of child soldiers. Also, UNICEF’s goal is to reintegrate child soldiers into normal society.
Current Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs treat reintegration as a short event rather than a long process. Children who have spent years in war need more support. Recovery continued improving only when support lasts long. Programs that are short saw bad reversals.
Why they did not work
Our Solution
Our solution is to make a program called Reclaimed Childhoods, where we have a program that lasts 5–7 years, and is a stronger and more effective plan than the short term systems that have currently been happening.
The UN's research through the Global Coalition for Reintegration found that reintegration support should be made available to children for a minimum of 3–5 years per child based on their needs, yet many programs still run for as few as six months, and is far too short to address the lasting damage caused by child soldiering.
The funding gap makes this crisis worse. Of over 55,000 boys and girls released from armed forces in a recent period, only 70% were able to receive any reintegration support at all, leaving thousands completely without help. Without adequate resources, even well-designed programs fail to reach the children who need them most.
A longer, better-funded DDR program extended to 5-7 years would sustain education and family support through the full recovery, and research shows this directly prevents children from returning to armed groups. Economic and psychological outcomes continued improving only when support was sustained; programs that cut off at 12-18 months saw damaging reversals.
Without a sustained commitment to long-term reintegration, children who have already suffered so much will continue to be left behind.
55,000+ children
released from armed forces in a recent reporting period
6 months
typical program length, versus the 3–5 years the UN recommends
70%
who received reintegration support leaving about 16,500 with none
5-7 years
Our proposed extended DDR program length