PKSOI Lessons Learned Report January 2019

   Take local traditions into account (e.g., child – adult ceremonies) so that DDR is not just an internationally-imposed process. Incorporate sensitivity to rampant sexual violence but do not use it to define women’s experiences too narrowly. Emphasize the need for reintegration of female ex-combatants without assuming that it will be a natural social process. Offer livelihood options that would be relevant to their experience, not based solely on gender stereotypes. Do not pressure women to resume traditional gender roles, especially if these roles have been broken by over a decade of war. 3. Provide clear information about the DDR process, educating the public on eligibility and on the use of ex-combatant personal information (for photo ID cards, etc.). Target specific audiences for awareness-raising, such as female ex-combatant soldiers and escapees. Utilize language that fits with the lived experience of these women. Implications: If gender mainstreaming is utilized in the design of DDR processes, then DDR may be more relevant for female ex-combatants. If it is more relevant to female ex-combatants, they may participate more in the process. If they participate in a process that is tailored to meet their unique needs, then they may have access to increased opportunities to relevant livelihoods and community participation. Also, if female ex-combatants are educated about the DDR process and how their personal information would be used, it may decrease their anxiety about participating in DDR. If the DDR process is not sensitized to sexual violence, then female ex-combatants’ needs may go unaddressed. However, if DDR programs solely focus on sexual violence for women, female ex-combatants will only be seen as victims, even though some may have also participated in the violence. If they are only seen as victims and not also as agents in the conflict, their roles in the conflict may be “depoliticized,” which may take them out of the ‘post- conflict’ policy discourse. “By encouraging women and girl soldiers to return to their “normal places” in the community, any new roles or positions of authority they may have held during the conflict are stripped from them, and […] then the DDR process risks entrenching gender inequality,” (MacKenzie, p. 258, 261). However, if women are taken seriously (by DDR programs) for the various roles they held during the conflict, then they may be able to sustain the social change of gender norms and experience empowerment ‘post-conflict.’ Sources:    “Women in armed groups and fighting forces: lessons learned from gender- sensitive DDR programmes,” by Elisa Tarnaala, NOREF, June 2016 “Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone,” by Megan MacKenzie, Security Studies 18:241-261, Routledge, 2009 “Fact Sheet 1: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration,” United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL / MINUSIL), December 2005 Lesson Author: Ms. Katrina Gehman (lesson written while working as a lessons learned analyst at PKSOI, 11 August 2016). 23

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