The Rehabilitation Of Former Child Soldiers: Conflicting Choices

International experts and organisations have struggled to come to a consensus on how to implement Western psychologically based rehabilitation programs for former child soldiers in non-Western settings. Scholarship recognises the inherent claim and value of indigenous healing practices in the rehabilitation of former child soldiers. Nevertheless, Western interventions continue to predominate. The contrasting approaches represent conflicting choices in how to design and implement rehabilitation programs. This dynamic is a reality on the ground in the district of Gulu, northern Uganda where the conflict between the government and Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army has abated in recent years. Former child soldiers in northern Uganda have been abducted and, for many, experienced extreme traumatic events. Those worst affected require support to be successfully rehabilitated and to function on par with those in the community. Local Acholi culture has been severely affected by the conflict which in turn has profoundly weakened the ability of Acholi traditional healing practices to support psychosocial rehabilitation. Local and international NGOs implement Western psychologically based rehabilitation programs as well as alternative approaches such as creative activities and sport. Based on two months fieldwork in Gulu, interviews with formerly abducted children who have and are going through the process of psychosocial rehabilitation, provide a participant’s perspective on how different program approaches are received locally. Coupled with interviews from relevant development actors, this research provides useful insight for rehabilitation program designers and implementers to understand the effects of conflict on traditional healing practices, the role of individual skill development throughout the rehabilitation process and the consequences of Western dominated rehabilitation programming.