Civil – Military Operations Post-Conflict
Reconstruction: Learning From the Past
to Ensure the Future
BG (RET) Russ Howard—
Director, Terrorism Research and Education
Program—
Monterey Institute of International Studies
(MonTREP)
Thanks
• To Development
Alternative
Incorporated (DAI) for
supporting the research
for this presentation
and for several other
development related
research endeavors
over several years.
Thanks
• Special thanks to Eva
Cheng, Graduate
Research Assistant at
the Terrorism Research
and Education Program
(MonTREP) at the
Monterey Institute of
International Studies
Agenda
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Learning from Past Failures
Sri Lanka Reconstruction Background
Important Statistics
Learning from Past Successes
Some Final Thoughts
Failure in Somalia: Demining,
Disarmament, Demobilization
Failure in Somalia: Demining,
Disarmament, Demobilization
• Program failed for
several reasons:
– Stability not achieved
– Clans not treated
uniformly
– Disarmed clans put at
risk
– Demining learning curve
too steep
– Few alternatives to earn
a livelihood
Failure in Somalia: Demining,
Disarmament, Demobilization
 Somalia Case Study — In the
aftermath of the Siad Barre regime
the only institution in Somalia that
held a “national identity” was the
“National Police,” a gendarme type
organization
 Made up of individuals from all
tribes and clans, the Somali
National Police put the “state”
ahead of their tribal or clan
interests
Failure in Somalia: Demining,
Disarmament, Demobilization
 Somalia Case Study
– When asked to reform,
they did so willingly and
without compensation
such was their loyalty
– It was a failure in US and
UN strategy that the
Somali National Police
were not reformed,
retrained, reequipped,
and returned to service
Sri Lanka Situation Much Different
• Sri Lankan military Victory
over LTTE accelerates
disarmament, demobilization,
and reconstruction
opportunities.
• Demining effort considered a
success: Sri Lanka's demining
program supported by the
United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) recorded
satisfactory progress in
demining the war-ravaged
Northern and Eastern
provinces, the UN Resident
Coordinator in Sri Lanka,
Subinay Nandy has said.
Still the Problem is Serious
• Sri Lanka’s northern region
sustained the bulk of the physical
damage during the conflict;
• This damage, compounded with
the destruction caused by the
2004 tsunami and remnants of
unexploded ordnance, rendered
many areas of the region
uninhabitable, leaving an official
count of 430,000 persons
displaced. The conflict itself also
produced many displaced femaleheaded households in need of
aid.
Sri Lanka – Good News
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Middle Income Country
o GDP per capita - $5,600
Literacy Rate - 90.7%
o Males: 92.3%
o Females 89.1%
UNDP Human Development Index
o 97th out of 187 countries
Growth Under Reconstruction Program—
Good News?
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22% Economic Growth in the North
2009 - 6.2% growth across Sri Lanka
2010 - 8% growth
2011 - 7.5% growth
Unemployment Rate (for country) - 4.2%
Poverty Rates - 9% in 2009/10
o 4% in Colombo District
Diaspora funds - 23.6% increase in 2010
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Some Bad News--Poverty in Sri
Lanka
430,000 persons
displaced
23% of population
lives below $1.25
USD/day
Youth Unemployment
Rate - 21.3%
Demographic Trends (Threats) Population
Demographic Trends (Threats) –
Population -- Youth
Youth Glut in Developing World
• In some states more than
60% of the population is
under the age of 29.
• In some societies the term
“youth” has nothing to do
with age, but in status and
wealth.
• Where are the jobs for the
“youth bulge” and what will
the youth do without jobs.
Youth Shortage in Developed
World
• US -- Social Security
example
• The birth rate in Japan,
Russia and much of Europe
is in decline. Who takes care
of the aging population.
• In China the “one child”
policy has chilling longterm effects.
Reported Criticisms of Sri Lanka’s Military
in Reconstruction Efforts
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Military reconstruction
undercuts Local businesses
Population-in-need does not see
benefits of economic growth
Seen as imposing Sinhalese
culture on Tamils and other
minorities
Tamils (especially those
previously affiliated with LTTE),
Ex-Detainees, and IDPs have
difficulty finding employment
Learning from the Past
• The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public works
that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the U.S. for unemployed,
unmarried men from relief families, ages 17–23. It was part of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and it provided
unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and
development of natural resources in rural lands owned by
federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed
to provide employment for young men in relief families who
had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression while
at the same time implementing a general natural resource
conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum
enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 2.5
million young men participated.
Learning From the Past -- The
Civilian Conservation Corps
• Benefits of an individual’s
enrollment in the CCC included
improved physical condition,
heightened morale, and
increased employability.
• Of their pay of $30 a month, $25
went to their parents.
• Participants had a greater
awareness and appreciation of
the nation's natural resources;
and the continued need for a
carefully planned, comprehensive
national program for the
protection and development of
natural resources.
Learning from the Past—CCC
• CCC, volunteers planted
nearly 3 billion trees to
help reforest America,
• constructed more than 800
parks nationwide and
upgraded most state parks,
• updated forest fire fighting
methods, and
• built a network of service
buildings and public
roadways in remote areas
that are still in use today
Learning From the Past – CCC
• Duration of program: April 5,
1933 to June 30, 1942
• Total Cost: 3 billion dollars
• Allotments to Dependents:
$662,895,000
• Total Men Enrolled: 3,463,766
• Number of People Directly
Benefited from Enrollees Checks:
12 to 15 million
• Value of Work in 1942 Dollars: 2
billion dollars
• Average Enrollee: 18 to 19 years
old, 147 pounds, 5' 81/4" tall
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Learning from the Past---CCC
• The CCC performed 300 possible types of work projects within ten
approved general classifications:
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Structural improvements: bridges, fire lookout towers ,service buildings
Transportation: truck trails, minor roads, foot trails and airport landing fields
Erosion control: check dams, terracing and vegetable covering
Flood control: irrigation, drainage, dams, ditching, channel work, riprapping
Forest culture: planting trees and shrubs, timber stand improvement, seed
collection, nursery work
Forest protection: fire prevention, fire pre-suppression, firefighting, insect and
disease control
Landscape and recreation: public camp and picnic ground development, lake and
pond site clearing and development
Range: stock driveways, elimination of predatory animals
Wildlife: stream improvement, fish stocking, food and cover planting
Miscellaneous: emergency work, surveys, mosquito control
CCC Statistics
• Average Weight Gain of Enrollees
in First 3 Months: 11.5 pounds
• Number of Illiterate Enrollees
Taught to Read: more than
40,000
• Several skills applicable for
private enterprise were taught.
• Total Number of Different Camps:
4,500
• Highest Elevation of CCC Camp:
9,200 feet above sea level, in
Colorado.
• Lowest Elevation of CCC Camp:
270 feet below sea level, Death
Valley, California
CCC Statistics
• Miles of Road Built: 125,000
• Miles of Telephone Lines Strung:
89,000
• Miles of Foot Trails Built: 13,100
• Farmland Benefited from Erosion
Control Projects: 40 million acres
• Stream and Lake Bank Protection:
154 million square yards
• Range Re-vegetation: 814,000
acres
• State Parks Developed: 800
• Public Campground
Development: 52,000 acres
CCC Statistics
• Farmland Benefited from Erosion
Control Projects: 40 million acres
• Stream and Lake Bank Protection:
154 million square yards
• Range Revegetation: 814,000
acres
• Firefighting Days: more than 6
million
• Number of Enrollees Who Died
Fighting Fires: 29
• Mosquito Control: 248,000 acres
• Number of Fish Stocked: 972
million
CCC Statistics
• Number of Trees Planted:
between 2 and 3 billion
• Number of Conservation Related
Workdays: 7,135,000
• Number of Federal Government
Agencies Participating in Some
Capacity: 25
• Miles of Road Built: 125,000
• Miles of Telephone Lines Strung:
89,000
• Unofficial Motto of the
CCC: "We Can Take It!"
CCC—Not All was Positive
• Women were not part of
the program, but at the
insistence of Mrs.
Roosevelt, a much smaller
program called “She-SheShe” camps was created.
• African Americans were
enrolled in the program and
received the same pay and
benefits, but worked and
lived in separate,
segregated camps.
CCC Was a Military Operation
• Brigadier General
George C. Marshall and
United States Army
were in charge of the
program.
• CCC workers lived in
military style camps and
barracks, wore military
style uniforms, and
earned a private’s pay.
Final Thoughts
• A nation’s military can
have a profound source
of “unification spirit”
for a country.
• Dealing with the “youth
bulge” problem is not
just a Sri Lanka
phenomena, but a
world-wide problem.
• It really is about the
“economy.”
• Give women
development capital
and good results will
occur. Women are the
engines of growth in
rural, village, and often
urban economies.
US Reconstruction Assistance to
Sri Lanka
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$1.63 billion from USAID since
1984
$135 million from USAID in
2004--Devoted to emergency
relief after the tsunami
$15.9 million requested for
Developmental Assistance in
Fiscal Year 2012
USAID Programs aim to "reduce
unemployment, improve
housing, develop Colombo stock
exchange, modernize judicial
system, and improve
competitiveness"
The End
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