New survey data on war-affected youth suggest that past approaches and programs are insufficient to meet the needs of youth newly returning from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as well as those who have already returned.
First, for the majority of returning youth, accelerated education, secondary school support, and livelihoods assistance are most needed, but remain in short supply. Government and NGO programs in these areas are still too small scale, and reinsertion packages provide only partial (and potentially problematic) assistance. Second, for the small but important minority of returnees who return with war injuries or to family discord, educational and economic support is secondary in importance to medical treatment and conflict mediation. Yet almost no specialized assistance is available for these cases.