Suchergebnisse

The war currently raging in Syria is without a doubt the most serious failure of the r2p paradigm. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been brutally killed while the world has looked on, largely unable to affect events on the ground. The use of child soldiers by all sides in the conflict has been well documented, and the authors' previous work has demonstrated the importance of the recruitment and use of child soldiers as an early warning indicator. Yet, the world has consistently failed to act preventatively, and this is most notable in the case of Syria. This paper takes the Syrian war as a case study to examine how the recruitment and use of child soldiers can serve as an early warning indicator of mass atrocities and be used to help prevent conflict escalation.

While there are excellent models of knowledge mobilisation (KMb) that address the opportunity for co-production and sharing of best practice knowledge among human service professionals, it remains unclear whether these models will work in less formal settings like community-based non-government organisations (NGOs) where there are fewer resources for KMb. For three days, 65 policy-makers, senior staff of NGOs, mental health professionals, KMb specialists and youth participated in a set of simulation exercises to problem solve how to mobilise knowledge in less formal settings that provide services to children and youth in challenging contexts (CYCC). Based on simulation exercises used in other settings (such as the deployment of international aid workers), participants were first provided with reports synthesising best practice knowledge relevant to their workplaces. They then engaged in an appreciative inquiry process, and were finally tasked with developing innovative strategies for KMb. Observation notes and exit interviews were used to evaluate the process and assess impact. Findings related to the process of the simulation exercises show the technique of simulation to be useful but that it requires effort to keep participants focused on the task of KMb rather than the content of best practices within a focal population. With regard to developing innovative KMb strategies, findings suggest that service providers in less formal community-based services prefer KMb activities that promote one-to-one relationships, including the participation of youth themselves, who can speak to the effectiveness of the interventions they have experienced. Unexpectedly, the use of electronic communication, including social media, was not viewed very positively by participants. These results suggest that the use of simulation to search for innovative KMb strategies and to problem solve around barriers to KMb has the potential to inform new ways of co-producing and sharing best practice knowledge among human service providers.Keywords: simulation, knowledge mobilisation, high-risk youth, community-based mental health, knowledge brokers, barriers to knowledge exchange

Problems with knowledge mobilization (KMb) (also known as knowledge translation and implementation science) among providers of children and youth services may be addressed by looking to models of participatory action research (PAR) that are already familiar to those working in community-based services. In contexts such as these, where there is mistrust of traditional sources of expertise, PAR has the potential to provide a way to make it easier for the sharing and adoption of new practices. A case example of an evaluation of a community-based gang prevention program for children aged 9–14 is used to highlight how PAR can enhance program design and implementation based on the sharing of best practices and the active engagement of community members through a research advisory committee. This integration of PAR with KMb, though an imperfect attempt to share practice evidence, provides clues to the methodological techniques required for more participatory development and exchange of promising practices among providers of services for children and youth.

There are a roughly estimated 250,000 children serving as combatants in armed groups worldwide. They are forced to perpetrate horrific violence and subjected to the same. Studies on the impact of the use of children in armed conflict have tended to focus on the demographics, roles and mental health outcomes of this population and programs are centered on rehabilitation. Few programs, however, are focused on mitigating access, stopping recruitment and securing the release of child combatants during the thick of the conflict or in its immediate aftermath. These interventions are desperately needed not only to ensure the protection of children, but also to help stop conflict and insecurity. In order to gain insight into what more can be done, particularly by security forces, to prevent and ideally halt the practice of using children in combat, the Child Soldiers Initiative hosted a two-day Round Table meeting in Halifax Canada with former child combatants from Sierra Leone, Sudan and Cambodia, academics and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations to examine this issue. The results of this meeting are summarized here and include recommendations made to communities, humanitarian organizations, United Nations and peacekeeping forces that address strategies for reducing access and mitigating the use of children in combat. Adapted from source document.