This week’s SoroptiVoice Blog comes from Action on Armed Violence (previously Landmine Action)
which started its field programming in Liberia in 2005, two years following
the end of the civil war. Initially, the purpose of this programme was to
conduct weapons and ammunition collection and destruction, but it quickly
developed a human focus – particularly women. This week, their programme manager, Melissa Fuerth, describes the programme in more detail. Of course, there is a Soroptimist link – Kate Moore from SIGBI sits on their board.
AOAV wanted to investigate ways in which groups of
ex-combatants and war-affected youth could be better reintegrated into
society. Most of these groups continued to engage in war-economy modes,
funding themselves through the illegal extraction of natural resources, and
many were continuing to operate in war command structures. By facilitating
reintegration among these groups, AOAV aimed to decrease their potential of
engaging in violence and to improve the quality of lives among vulnerable
groups and communities.
In response
to the feasibility results, AOAV developed its Agricultural Training Programme,
designed to provide beneficiaries with vocational livelihood skills, practical
business skills and psychosocial counseling to enable them to socially and
economically reintegrate into society in a sustainable way. AOAV now
manages two large training centres with the capacity to house, feed and train
400 and 200 students respectively at any time. To date, this programme
has provided agricultural vocational training to over 2,000 young men and women.
An
impressive 87% of graduates are continuing to farm and are no longer engaging
in illegal livelihood activities. A rigorous 2-year long evaluation of
the programme conducted by Innovations for Poverty Action compared programme
participants with similar individuals who didn’t participate. The study
determined that graduates of AOAV’s programme:
- Spend reduced number of hours on
illicit activities - Experience a sizeable increase
in wealth - Demonstrate improvements in
social engagement - Demonstrate qualities of
citizenship and stability - Had less interest in, and
recruitment links to, Ivory Coast violence in 2011
Women
comprise 11% of all programme graduates, giving them access to formal learning
opportunities, creating sustainable livelihood opportunities, and improving
food security. As observed in the
programme evaluation, female graduates are more likely than their male
counterparts to continue farming, and some earn additional income by working on
another person’s farm. None of the women
interviewed are in touch with their former commanders, compared with 11% of the
men.
Nancy Fayla (left), one of the female
participants, found success in the programme in developing sustainable
livelihood opportunities. Returning to Liberia from exile in 1999, Nancy was captured by LURD forces and remained their captive until the 2003 ceasefire. Nancy enrolled in the Agricultural
Training Programme at Tumutu, where she not only developed vocational and
business skills, but also learned to read and write. Following the course, Nancy now has a pepper and bitterball
garden, and is using her earnings to start up a small business.
In an
effort to inform targeted and effective armed violence reduction initiatives,
AOAV began work with a stakeholder group of Government Ministries, the Liberian
National Police, NGOs and national media agencies, to establish the Liberian
Armed Violence Observatory (LAVO). The
sustainability and national ownership of the LAVO has grown quickly; the
stakeholder group has elected Liberian national co-chairs and has decided to
pursue legal ratification to become the first Government publish body that
collects, collates, analyses and disseminates national data on armed violence.