Notes to Broadcasters on ex-combatants and agriculture:
Date Posted: February 11th, 2008
The history of reintegration programs has shown that agriculture can play an important role in helping former soldiers return to civilian life, but that ex-combatants must be provided with sufficient training and agricultural tools.
You may consider inviting former soldiers from your area to tell their stories of putting down their weapons to pick up farm tools. You could ask questions such as:
-What sort of work did you do prior to the conflict?
-What were your experiences during the conflict?
-What made you decide (or what conditions allowed you) to put down your arms?
-Why did you choose to begin farming after the conflict? Were you assisted by any formal reintegration programs?
-How has agricultural work helped you re-enter civilian life?
If there is an active or recently resolved conflict in your area, you may also wish to find out whether agencies such as the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization are supporting former combatants with seeds or other farm supplies.
As International Women’s Day is fast approaching, you may want to look specifically at female ex-combatants in your area, and the role that agriculture may have played in their reintegration into society. According to Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, “women combatants are often invisible. Their needs go unnoticed by most of the world’s disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) operations.”
The magazine African Renewal writes: “From the start, some women are victims of abduction. Others admit to willingly participating in combat for the same reasons as their male comrades in arms. Some are active in combat, but more often, they are nurses, cooks, sex workers, messengers, spies, or work in administration or logistics.”
Click here for the full article from African Renewal: http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol19no3/193combatant.html
Finally, you may wish to look back on the DCFRN Script Women face many challenges after conflict, from Package 67, in June 2003, which focused on conflict and agriculture.
