Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Sierra Leone 2008
James Etchells, January 2008
Over the past year OPS has been supporting The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Specifically, the Coalition has directed OPS donations towards reintegration centres for girls affected by the violence in the Eastern DRC (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Kivu). In this region sexual violence towards women is rife and the majority of these girls have been subjected to some sort of sexual assault, rape or other acts of. OPS funds have helped to provide essential items for the girls such as undergarments and soap. The Coalition has produced a special report [1] for OPS members detailing the care packages for young girls in the DRC.
The feedback that we have received from the Coalition this year has been first rate and really diverse. On top of the information we have received about the re-integration centres we also learnt about the delegation from the DRC which, supported by the Coalition, travelled to the UN in New York to present before the Security Council. By all accounts this was a hugely successful trip. The Ishmael Beah event which some of our members attended, held in London in May, was also another positive outcome of the OPS/Coalition relationship, and was by all accounts an extremely interesting and moving talk. My only regret was that I couldn’t make it over for the event myself.
On behalf of OPS I’d like to thank Carissa and Heloise for all their work in 2007 and the rest of team at the Coalition who are putting our donations to great use on the ground.
Looking forward; the Coalition has prepared a proposal (see below for full text) for continued OPS support in 2008. As you read through it will see that there were some concerns about the project in the DRC and therefore we have decided upon a change of focus – with two possibilities for you to choose between. These options are discussed in their proposal but it might be useful to put things more briefly:
The first option focuses on education. In particular OPS funds would enable children to participate in activities at public education events for children’s rights in the DRC (e.g. poetry slam, documentary screenings and street parades). These events are important to raise awareness of the plight of children affected by conflict.
The second option, based in Uganda/DRC, looks at improving the reintegration process of child soldiers into their communities by learning the lessons of the past. A pilot project of this type has already been carried out where children were interviewed to understand their experiences of the reintegration process. OPS donations would help to fund the resources required for this activity.
These two options are a shift towards advocacy and raising awareness compared with the direct aid that was given in 2007. However, this kind of work (lobbying/partnership building etc.) is really the core work of the Coalition and it seems appropriate that we should support this. Another way of looking at it is that; these options look clearly to the future and to how to improve the lot of children affected by conflict in the coming months/years.
Hairy pies,
James
 Coalition funding proposal 2008.pdf(40 KB)
[1] Link to Coalition special report dated 29th October 2007
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