Thank You and Update from Cameroon
Dear friends and supporters,
Thank you to everyone from the global network that supported our efforts in Cameroon. As you may have seen on the news, the COVID-19 cases are rising in in Cameroon and our communities are doing our best to gear up to stay safe. Unfortunately, Cameroon is second only to South Africa in the number of COVID-19 cases. But thanks to your generosity, we have been able to purchase masks for young people, orphans and widows in two communities near Bamenda that were unprepared for the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 makes the other issues plaguing our community even harder to address. As I reported in my last update, the deadly clashes which have mostly been in the rural areas have led farmers to abandon their farms.
This have led to severe food shortages because local food sources are no longer available and global food chains are also disrupted because of the conflict. However, with you support, we were able to purchase fertilizers to restart the farming and purchase emergency foodstuffs for the internally displaced during this crisis.
Many problems show up in communities when times are hard. Your support also helped us do some other things that our community needed:
- we assisted a father that needed medical care for his leg
- we gave direct cash assistance to 6 families in crisis, and
- we continue to build self-sustaining and ecologically sound support for communities to help themselves.
On behalf of the community of Bamenda, Cameroon, thank you for your generosity and solidarity!
Sincerely,
Alexander Gwanvalla
GATHER Global Fellow and President, Community Green Engagement Cameroon
Poignant Child Soldier Stories Connect with Wider Audience
In our own efforts to try and get the word out about the plight of child soldiers, and the progress that is being made towards former young combatants we work with in returning to civil society – we're always interested in new ways to connect with those who wish to help.
Visiting our website, you will find the personal stories of those involved in bringing attention to the issue, while they also work on sustainable and proven ways to create positive change in their communities, so that fomer child soldiers have opportunites for positive change in their own lives. Whether bringing you the ongoing project work we are doing in Colombia and Latin America with our two associates Lissette and Fr. Leonel, or updating you on the expansion of the successful national platform we helped develop with our colleagues on the ground in Uganda, we continue to explore ways to make a difficult story to tell, more compelling and personal to those who wish to make a difference by knowing the stories.
With that in mind, we are excited about a 'retelling' and fresh way of letting you know about our work in child soldier reintegration. In coming weeks, we'll look at ways to adapt a more personal approach to feature some of the key voices that have inspired us to stay committed to the issue.
Until then, we invite you to view the work by someone who is already telling the ordeal of the child soldier in a new way. With interactive storytelling, Marc Ellison and his graphic novel style communicates the plight of several former female child soldiers, but still conveys the hopefullness of those having the courage to tell their story. Ellison's work is featured in this profile story. A link depicting the story of one of the former child soldiers (Christine) is at Ellison's site.
Arigatou Fights Child Poverty
GI Partner organization Arigatou International offers real-life solutions to fighting child poverty
We are proud of our history working on behalf of children with the organization Arigatou International. Our longtime partner and director of Arigatou, Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, is excited to share the latest yearbook chronicling their work in bringing communities together to eradicate childhood poverty in regions of the world where it often doesn't get the attention it deserves. For Mustafa, this work continues his mission to build better futures for children as an internationally recognized peace activist.
Arigatou's model for addressing the issue, lies in combating child poverty through interfaith-advocacy and lobbying efforts. In 2012, they began the campaign End Child Poverty, which focuses on a multi-faith, child-centered initiative mobilizing faith-inspired resources to end child poverty. Since that time, religious leaders, international organizations and grassroots child rights workers have adopted the framework developed by Arigatou.
This 2014-15 year book, details the principles, initiatives, success stories and campaign activities in places like Colombia, the DRCongo, Kenya and India. Download the full report, which includes photos and highlights of the past year and the goals for the future, as Arigatou and its partners expand to reach more children in need.
[quote]It is unlikely that governments alone, even while acting through bilateral and multilateral arrangements, can match the mission of the broad-based effort that is required to eradicate poverty. Any effort to stamp out poverty must re- sult in a broad coalition between governments, multilateral organizations, civil society and faith-inspired organizations."[/quote]
- Prof. Abdulghafur El-Busaidy, the Chairperson of Arigatou International Nairobi
-Above banner image: Children directly impacted by the work of Arigatou International and the ongoing End Child Poverty campaign.
Photo Credit: Arigatou International
Partners in East Africa Build Community Strategies to Fight Violence
Partnership with Arigatou International Continues Effective Peacebuilding
Because we remain committed to the issue of child soldier prevention and reintegration, our project work often exposes us to the disturbing reality of youth participation in militant violence. East Africa in particular has suffered from a growing problem of terrorist groups focusing their recruitment efforts on the youth of the region. Parents in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Somalia have called for assistance in addressing the issue of their children being recruited or forced to join Al-Shabaab and other armed militant groups.
Because of prior work in the region building a National Platform addressing the issue, the Goldin Institute and Arigatou International are expanding our partnership to address this problem of child recruitment. To that end, at the beginning of this year, 24 practitioners in local grassroots initiatives gathered together for a workshop in Kenya to discuss strategies on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The discussion was robust and varied; starting with an identification of what makes communities vulnerable to violent extremism. Participants came to understand that the lack of employment opportunities, the disintegration of trust and respect amongst community members of different faiths, and extensive marginalization of women, have combined to make children more vulnerable to exploitation.
Attendees also discussed the vulnerability of youth who too often grapple with self-doubt and self-realization which puts them in vulnerable positions for recruitment. Participants decided that their voice as a community is important and have pledged to collectively identify issues, foster relationships with government authorities and most importantly counter extremist groups from both a hands-on and policy perspective. Participants came to the conclusion that investments in each other must be made to build stronger societies and partnerships with government must be developed for government enforced change.
[quote]At the end of the workshop, community response proved to be the most effective way to prevent violent extremism. Participants came to an understanding that Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) will be the epicenter of restoration and strengthening of the values and principles of individuals and societies against violence and its related activities. The training effectively captured the underlying causes and grievances that make communities vulnerable to violent extremism; it also created an integral solution for these problems."[/quote]
- Excerpted from full report, which can be viewed here.
Uganda Update
Building on Two Years of Partnership Planning:
An update to the National Platform for child soldier prevention and re-integration in Uganda
This past June, co-founders of the Goldin Institute, Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman spent two weeks in Africa to coordinate and take part in the official launch of the National Platform for Child Soldier Reintegration and Prevention - Uganda Chapter. The event was the culmination of over two years of partnering with the Institute's Global Associate based in Kenya - Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat.
The official report has just been issued (view in entirety here), but we would like to highlight the key findings and developments that came out of the event.
Background on the Issue
The conflict in Northern Uganda, which claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 400,000 people over the past thirty years, has recently entered a period of relative calm. Since 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Forces have been largely dismantled and have moved outside the borders of Uganda. With the displaced - especially young people who had been recruited into the armed militia groups - moving back to their homes and villages, there is a great need to rebuild democratic governance structures and the livelihoods of returnees in ways that map to and reconstruct local realities.
In Uganda, both the rebels and the government have used children in their war actions before and after 1986. There are a number of statutory instruments that outlaw the use of children in combat action or under age employment such as the Constitution, the children's statute in addition to the various international conventions on children. However, these legal instruments were not enough to prevent the use of child soldiers or to ensure that children are reintegrated. Through research and shared planning, the National Platform findings have identified areas where a broad range of civic and grassroots leaders can make a concrete improvement.
History of the project to date
The Uganda Platform is based on the Goldin Institute's successful launch of a similar National Level program in Colombia in 2007. Like the proven Colombian model, a key feature of the this platform has been unifying reintegration efforts (in this case amongst Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC) to directly serve former combatants, not only reintegrating those children who have escaped fighting, but also to seek an end to the use of child soldiers.
Building on what was learned in Colombia and other Institute initiatives, central to the Uganda National Platform was involving former child combatants directly by providing them a voice in the proceedings. Specifically, 12 former child soldiers lead the oral testimony gathering. This experiential approach broke down many of the hierarchical barriers and produced a more accurate understanding of the lived experiences and aspirations of former combatants.
Goals and objectives of the Platform
The overall goals of the National Platform are to: 1) reintegrate former child soldiers in Uganda and 2) prevent the use of children in armed conflict. The platform will document its processes, successes and challenges in order to assist partners in DRC, Somalia and South Sudan as they build similar National Level Platforms that together will partner in a regional network dedicated to reintegration and prevention.
Eleven specific goals were established and approved by the 100 stakeholders from across Uganda with observers from the DRC, South Sudan, Kenya and the United States:
- Direct and sustained engagement of former child soldiers in all aspects of the network, from setting priorities, service in related projects and evaluation.
- Research and documentation of child soldier related issues.
- Advocacy for public policies that will benefit former combatants.
- Strengthening of institutional mechanisms to promote access to education, healthcare, nutrition, shelter and employment for ex-child soldiers and children impacted by the violence.
- Build Capacity for member organizations of the national platform to address issues of child soldiers.
- Coordinate the disparate programs for demobilization, prevention and reintegration of child soldiers to improve efficiency and reach.
- Monitor with relevant government ministries and departments to keep watch over the implementation of policies that impact ex-child soldiers.
- Evaluate impact of resources and programs targeting ex-child soldiers in Uganda.
- Distribute information and reports from members of the national platform.
- Assist in sharing information, tools and insights in building the regional platform.
- Mobilize resources for the running of the platform activities.
[slide] [img path="images/at_the_banner_diane_and_TR.jpg"]Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman meet with members of the former child soldier delegation[/img] [img path="images/TR_and_two_delegates.jpg"]Executive Director Travis Rejman meets with delegates to the National Platform[/img] [img path="images/diane_and_dorcas_and_uniden.jpg"]Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat (center) and Diane Goldin with Platform delegate[/slide]