Community conversation as a strategy to prevent recruitment of children in armed groups

The impact of terrorism on children cannot be under estimated. The cost of bringing lives to normalcy due to armed conflict is costly and time consuming , yet stakeholders have not agreed on holistic ways of preventing armed... [ view full abstract ]

The impact of terrorism on children cannot be under estimated. The cost of bringing lives to normalcy due to armed conflict is costly and time consuming , yet stakeholders have not agreed on holistic ways of preventing armed conflict in the first place.
The first line of preventing armed conflict is in the families and communities where the children belong. The nurturing and values are inculcated at this level through socialization process. At the same time, the potential for recruitment in armed conflict is extremely high because children are trainable and the perpetrators have taken full advantage of their vulnerability and upbringing. The illegal groups are staged purposefully to indoctrinate children and young people with extremist ideas and lure them in their forces. To sustainably address this phenomena, prevention strategies have a huge contribution to ameliorating the problem. Community conversation is a way to bring a diverse set of community members together to collectively brainstorm strategies and resources that can be used to address a challenge facing the community. It provides a fun and creative way to find local solutions and new partners to address issues jointly that matter most in a community. It is therefore a very important approach to prevent children from joining armed groups, and the involvement of an entire community creates an opportunity to discuss the dangers of engaging in armed conflict and propose measures to prevent children joining armed groups. Protection and safety mechanisms for vulnerable children at the community levels are actualized where discussions are held in the identified communities to listen to various concerns that affect them , prioritize them and institute action and at the same time monitor closely criminal gangs and terrorism activities.