Ex-combatants in South Sudan

Info

Start date: 31 December, 2011 End date: 15 May, 2014 Project type: Smaller projects: Postdoc Project code: 11-104DIIS Countries: Sudan Thematic areas: Conflict, peace and security, State building, governance and civil society, Lead institution: Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Denmark Policy Brief: Policy Brief Project coordinator: Jairo Munive Total grant: 2,265,019 DKK Project files:

Project summary

This project explores the socio-economic effects of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programs for ex-combatants in fragile post-conflict situations.  The aim of the project is to determine empirically whether the provision of socio-economic activities serve as a tool for converting combatants into peaceable civilians and thereby reducing armed violence and securing peace. The outcomes of socio economic reintegration efforts will be analyzed at the level of:  a) livelihoods and income, b) access to land, credit and housing, and c) increased levels of security. The project will examine the practical effects of socio-economic reintegration in the rapidly growing urban center of Juba, capital of South Sudan.

Reintegration programs are central in current peace processes and constitute a key component in stabilizing countries emmerging from war with considerable resources channeled into these efforts. DDR efforts are a prime example of the coalescence of development and security policies (Duffield 2001). Most international donors and organizations assume that there are direct linkages between ex-combatant reintegration through the provision of alternatives to “violent livelihoods”, for example through job creation, and a reduction of armed violence (ILO 2010).

However, the empirical evidence for this assumption is lacking Thus there is a worrying gap between effort, expectations and evidence, which this research project seeks to adress.

Outputs

Completion report - summary:

The project explored the socio-economic effects of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programs for ex-combatants in fragile post-conflict situations. The aim of the project was to determine empirically whether the provision of socio-economic activities serve as a tool for convertlng combatants into peaceable civilians and thereby reducing armed violence and securing peace. The outcomes of socio economic reintegration efforts were analyzed at the level of: a) livelihoods and income, b) access to land, credit and housing, and c) increased levels of security.

 

The project examined the practical effects of socio-economic reintegration in the rapidly growing urban center of Juba, capital of South Sudan and Torit.

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