Girl Mothers in Armed Forces
and Groups and Their Children
in Northern Uganda, Liberia and
Sierra Leone:
Participatory Action Research to
Assess and Improve their
Situations
PAR Organizers, Agencies, and Partners
Funding

The Rockefeller
Foundation
(NYC/Italy), Oak
Foundation and Pro
Victimis Foundation
(Geneva), UNICEF
West Africa, &
Compton Foundation
(CA/USA)
Why do this PAR?

Girl mothers and their children have been discriminated
against/marginalized/made invisible within DDR processes
& their rights disregarded.

Reintegration has been constructed according to adult ideas
without including girls’ voices.

What agencies have been doing with respect to girl mothers
and their children is not working.

The PAR finds ways to create safe spaces for girl mothers’
participation within communities and to garner community
support for sustainability.
What is Participatory
Action Research?
“An approach to research that
aims at promoting change;
that occurs through a cyclic
process of planning, data
collection, and analysis…
and in which members of the
group being studied
participate as partners in all
phases of the research,
including design, data
collection, analysis, and
dissemination.”
(American Journal of Public Health, 2008)
Who are the PAR members?
Liberia:
Northern Uganda:

Save the Children, UK in
Liberia

Caritas, Gulu Archdiocese

THINK

Concerned Parents
Association

Transcultural Psychosocial
Organization

World Vision
Sierra Leone:

Christian Brothers

Christian Children’s Fund

Council of Churches in Sierra
Leone

National Network for
Psychosocial Care
Plus academic partners in each
country.
Demographics of
Participants
How many
participants?
How many participants
formerly associated?

Liberia = 111, average
age 20

33% vulnerable
community girls

Sierra Leone = 266,
average age 22

67% formerly associated

Uganda = 281, average
age 18
Demographics of
Participants
Who do the
participants live with?

273 (41%) live with
boyfriends or husbands
How many children did
they have at the start?

93 had only 1 child

191 had 2 children

234 (36%) live with
parents or guardians

107 had 3 children

36 (5%) live alone

38 had 4 children or
more
Do No Harm

Code of Conduct

Informed consent

No research without
action

Avoid excessive
targeting

Manage expectations

Ethical interviewing

Confidentiality

U. Wyoming IRB and
local consultation
The PAR Process
Outreach to Girl
Mothers
Community Outreach

Identify communities with
strong need.

Meet with community
leaders to solicit interest.

Hold community meetings
to describe project.

Work with TBAs and
leaders to identify girls

Follow up initial
recommendations with
home visits.

Hold group meetings to
describe project.

Ask girl mothers to
invite others for
inclusion in the project.
PAR Process (continued)
“Train” girl mothers
to gather data

Participants used focus
group discussions,
individual interviews,
role-play and songs.
Girl Mothers Research

Girl mothers conduct
research

Girl mothers learn to
analyze data

Data sharing and
problem identification
PAR Process (continued)
Social Action
Implementation

Girl mothers,
community advisory
people, and NGO staff
decide what projects
they can implement
within their community
to address the problem
identified.
Social Action Initiatives

Discussion and Support Groups

Micro-Credit and Micro-Grant for Individual Business

Group Business

Agriculture Projects

Dramas and Songs
Role of the Community

Monitoring and
supporting girls

Advising other
community members on
how to interact with girls

Issuing proclamations
protecting the girls

Donating land and
material support to the
projects

Reaching out to parents
and encouraging family
reintegration

Giving emotional support
Ownership of Data and
Dissemination Rights

Shared ownership: The girl mothers are free to disseminate
on their own their experiences, products, and learning.

Girl mothers select publicly shareable material and identify
key messages to be brought forward.

Use of raw data from the girl mothers (e.g., poems, videos,
dramas) by project stakeholders can occur only in
consultation with the girls and/or representatives of the
girls and with their agreement and consent.
Evaluation Methods

Survey developed with the girl mothers and implemented
in all communities

Thematic analysis of monthly reports

Regular country-wide girls’ meetings where participants
synthesize findings

Ethnographic fieldwork
Findings: Survey Results
I feel involved with what
the group is doing.
Involvement in the
project has made me and
my children more liked
or loved by my family.
Yes
(90.7%)
Sometimes
(3%)
No (5%)
Yes
(86.5%)
Sometimes
(2.6%)
No (10.8%)
Findings: Survey Results
I feel I am able to be
supportive to my family
by buying basic
necessities.
I can take better care of
my child than I could
before I joined the group.
Yes
(73.3%)
Sometimes
(16.5%)
No
(10.2%)
Yes
(83.3%)
Sometimes
(7.1%)
No (9%)
Findings: Survey Results
Has your health changed
since you joined the
project?
Better
(87%)
Same
(11%)
Worse
(2%)
How has the health of
your child or children
changed since you joined
the project?
Better
(84%)
Same (14%)
Worse (2%)
Findings: Survey Results
I feel more respected and
supported by my
community.
Through the group, I
help other people in the
community.
Yes (89%)
Yes (58%)
Sometimes
(5.5%)
No (5.5%)
Sometimes
(26%)
No (16%)
Findings: Survey Results
Through participating in
the group, I can now
speak in public more
easily.
Yes (81%)
Sometimes
(9%)
No (10%)
Findings: Survey Results
I get pregnant even
when I don’t want to.
If someone wants to go
to bed with me by
force, I know how to
report it and get help.
Yes (24%)
Yes (87%)
Sometimes
(9%)
No (67%)
Sometimes
(1%)
No (12%)
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis
For girl mothers returning from armed groups, and
other vulnerable girl mothers (re) integration means
being respected and being taken seriously, being
responsible to her children, family, and the
community.
 Stigma toward girls formerly associated with armed
groups and their children is significantly reduced
and often eliminated when girls engage in
sustainable livelihoods and behave according to
community and gender norms.

Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

From the onset, community-based reintegration
involves community leaders and influentials as well as
boyfriends and family members. Community advisory
committees with a commitment to the girls’
development is essential to the success of participatory
integration processes.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Girls “giving back” to their communities is
important in sustainability of integration.

Participation that is meaningful is process oriented,
puts girls at the center of decision making, and
supports their development and their relationships
with family and community members.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Participatory processes develop girls’ capacities in a
supportive environment so that they increase
confidence and develop capacity to live
harmoniously in their communities.

Participating in groups of other similarly-affected
girls and being guided by a caring facilitator is
essential to (re) integration.

Deep participation requires a relatively slow process
and a special set of facilitation skills.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Changes in girl mothers in the PAR had a “spillover” role modeling effect for other girls.

Although they can be more risky, group social action
projects facilitate group cohesion and promote
sustainability.

Girl mothers whether returned from armed groups
or other vulnerable girl mothers want to improve
their lives and be responsible and participating
members of their communities.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Livelihoods are most sustainable when participants
have business, health, and life skills training and
have skilled advice about diversifying their
businesses.

Sustaining livelihoods in urban and town sites is
more challenging because of market conditions and
require that girls have expert advice as they make
their choices.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Well-functioning health clinics with nominal fees are
essential to girls’ health and that of their children,
markedly improving sustainability.

Reproductive health care is essential.

Children of girl mothers, whether formerly abducted
or other vulnerable girl mothers, are all viewed as
“the same.” Some exceptions occur in families
when resources are scarce.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

Survival or exploitative sex work significantly
decreases as girls gain confidence, have peer support,
learn behaviors that earn them respect, and gain
alternative livelihoods.

Community chiefs/leaders who use traditional
authority to establish rules of conduct (such as
prohibiting domestic violence) improve the situation
of all girls and women and support empowerment
and gender equity.
Findings: Ethnographic &
Synthesis

A small amount of grant money goes a long way if
preceded by group development, guidance in money
management, business skills, and sustainable choices
and when this guidance is ongoing and supportive of
girls’ development.

Engaging in PAR means a commitment to staff
development & supervision, and donors who do not
mandate outcomes specified in advance of program
initiation.
Conclusion

Participatory action
research is a highly
effective programming
strategy to facilitate girl
mother’s reintegration.

We thank all the
participants in this
project.