El sesgo cultural y la SMAPS

Los sesgos culturales pueden reducir la efectividad de los programas y causar graves perjuicios a comunidades que ya son vulnerables

La reintegración de las madres jóvenes

In Liberia, Sierra Leone and northern Uganda, young women’s lives were greatly disrupted by civil war. Part of this disruption was a fracturing in traditionally supportive relationships with family members, elders and peers. This article describes the findings of a three-year community-based participatory action research (PAR) study undertaken in 2006-09 with young women who are mothers in these three countries.[1] Two-thirds of the 658 participants were formerly associated with fighting forces or armed groups, while a third were identified by community members as highly vulnerable for a variety of reasons including being orphaned or disabled. The study also included over 1,200 children of these young mothers. The purpose of the study – which took place in 20 communities ranging from remote villages to urban centres – was to learn what ‘reintegration’ meant to these young women. Girls and young women who were formerly associated with fighting forces or armed groups and who had become pregnant or had children during armed conflict have been excluded from the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes developed by the international community. This exclusion is for numerous reasons, including gender discrimination and a perception that girls and young women are not a threat to the durability of peace accords and can thus be ignored

Gender-based insecurity and opportunities for peace: supporting the reintegration of young war-affected mothers.

In conflicts throughout the world, armed forces and groups recruit children to fight, maintain their camps, perform labor and be used for sexual purposes. The experiences of children associated with armed forces and groups (CAAFAG) are not uniform, nor can there be a uniform approach to helping them when the conflict is over. This article examines the gendered experiences of girls prior to recruitment, during their time with the fighting forces, through disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) processes, and in their communities after formal DDR has ended. We also present some of the experiences of the Participatory Action Research (PAR) Study with Young Mothers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Northern Uganda—a study conducted predominantly with former CAAFAG which used a highly participatory methodology to help participants attain community-based reintegration. In the PAR study young mother participants took a central role in the design and implementation of their reintegration process. A mixture of self-help style psychosocial support and livelihood support were critical to their success. As this population had exceptionally low social status, lacked confidence and self-respect, and did not have rudimentary economic skills at the start, social support and community mobilization were critical in laying the groundwork for livelihood activities and facilitating the sustainability of these activities

Orphans and other vulnerable children : what role for social protection ?

Recent estimates have provided unprecedented numbers of orphans, and vulnerable children, either brought about because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, or carriers themselves of HIV infections, a relentless growth which has precipitated a multifaceted care burden, that will too, grow for the next twenty years. This report records the proceedings of the Conference"Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children", which sought to promote awareness of the extent of this crisis, and, to probe the role of social protection in implementing a balanced response. The social protection framework for working with orphans, and vulnerable children shaped the conference agenda. Provision of appropriate risk management instruments is crucial for lasting poverty reduction, while programs to reduce the vulnerability of orphans, and other children, should play an integral role in any national development strategy, in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Building community capacity will constitute the centerpiece of any feasible response. Within a realistic framework, programs must spread, and scale up, to address the vast, and growing need.Street Children,Youth and Governance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Children and Youth,Primary Education

La reintegración de las madres jóvenes

Las madres jóvenes que buscan reintegrarse tras períodos de tiempo viviendo con fuerzas combatientes y grupos armados, se encuentran con exclusión y estigmatización en lugar de con el apoyo que ellas y sus hijos necesitan encarecidamente

Thomson

This paper describes how and why the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings were developed. A brief overview about the need for the guidelines, as well as the context and background, are included. Also, a discussion on the process of developing them with an eye towards identifying key issues and obstacles, and the strategies used to manage these issues and enable constructive collaboration, is provided. Also included are the processes of building positive networks and relations across agencies and sub¢elds. Finally, there is a brief overview of how the Task Force worked and approached some of the issues that have been hotly contested in the ¢eld