Reintegration of ex-combatants: Assessing the role of co-operatives. The case study of Musanze District

Abstract

From 1989, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programmes have played a major role in peace agreements worldwide. The first United Nations peacekeeping mission with a DDR mandate was ONUCA, (Observadores de las Naciones Unidas en Centroamerica) or the United Nations Observer Group in Central America and involved the reintegration of ex-combatants after the conflict had finished. While the disarmament and demobilization phases of the DDR programs are straightforward events, success in the reintegration phase remains a great challenge. In this thesis, I argue that paying closer attention to the challenges facing ex-combatants at an individual level can help in improving the success of reintegration. To elaborate on this point, I investigated the challenges faced by ex-combatants, separating from the military on an individual basis, in their efforts to reintegrate back into civilian life. Through this effort, I aimed to bring an individual perspective to post-conflict reintegration, which has typically focused on programmes and processes, rather than considering the experience of the individual ex-combatant. A further aim was to establish whether the co-operative model could help ex-combatants meet these challenges. This research aimed at assessing the role of cooperatives in reintegrating ex- combatants, with a case study of Musanze District. The target population for this study was the ex combatants in Musanze district, about 100 people, but through a Snowball sampling techniques, 50 ex-combatants were considered as respondents in this study. The data were collected using a questionnaire, group discussion and interview and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.