Youth in War and Post-War Africa Priorities and Policies

1. Youth in War and Post-War AfricaPriorities and Policies Hugo Kamya, Ph.D. April 17, 2012 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

2. The Impact of War on Children • Context • Northern Uganda • Qualitative interviews with girls and boys • Lived experiences of children • Coping with consequences of war • Priorities and policies

3. Youth in Africa • Fastest growing and most youthful population in the world • Over 40% under the age of 15 • 20% between ages of 15 and 24 • Is this a “ticking, demographic time-bomb?” • War and Post-War Youth complexify this serious challenge

4. Psychological Profile • A sense of alienation from self and other • Feelings of abandonment • A threatened sense of well being and safety • Feelings of vulnerability • Feelings of loss and meaninglessness • Experiences related to PTSD • Avoidance and enduring vigilance

5. Psychological Profile • Trauma as a present reality • Heightened sense of alertness • Fixation on trauma • Body dysregulation/Fragmented memories • Reduced capacity to learn escape behaviors • Depression and anxiety • Externalizing behaviors: aggressiveness

6. Complex layers of loss • Systems of cooperation and mutual dependence: broken social networks • Loyalty to, and solidarity with family/kin • Interpersonal relationships • Shame, survivor and collective guilt • Disrupted social identities

7. Other Losses • Environmental effects • Physical effects • Neuro-developmental effects • Trans-generational transmission of trauma

8. Forces at reorganization • “It never happened to me” stories • Stories which minimize the events • “It was no big deal” or “I deserved it.” • Anxious attachment to caregivers • Stories portraying avoidance/numbing • Stories portraying children having inner imaginary companions for safety

9. Priority and Policy Issues • Ensuring economic opportunities and stabilization • Attention to basic infrastructure services • Gender equality: empowerment of females • Ensuring security and youth participation • Cultural relevance and responsiveness to changing youth demographic • Commitment to activism & political reform

10. Priorities and Policies • Attention to issues of access: education • Enacting and implementing laws that support and promote girl education • Community habilitation & reintegration • Policies that support health and mental health services: Cultural responsiveness • Long term monitoring, assessment and evaluation of youth programs

11. Priorities and Policies • Human rights & humanitarian policies with clear age-based definitions of childhood • Employment opportunities, protections and employability training • Long term development geared at youth • Relief programs that include youth priorities • Social safety nets to absorb economic and social shocks

12. Priorities and Policies • Holistic approaches to youth development • Improving physical infrastructure • Policies geared toward asset development, asset ownership and skills upgrading • Sound data and agreed upon indicators to monitor progress: conduct of research • Well monitored operational support and accountability mechanisms

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