Ex-combatant Reintegration in Liberia

NCT ID: NCT01703936

Last Updated: 2012-10-11

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1330 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2009-05-31
• Study Completion Date: 2011-07-31

Brief Summary

This project is an evaluation of an agricultural training and resettlement program for high-risk young adults in Liberia, especially poorly integrated male ex-combatants. The primary aim is to see to what extent an intensive economic and life skills intervention can rehabilitate high-risk individuals and reduce aggression and armed violence.

Detailed Description

Poor and unemployed youth are widely considered a threat to political stability, often blamed for everything from fights to crime, riots and revolutions. Ex-combatants cause special worry. Not only do they have professional experience in warfare, and hence some comparative advantage in violence, but their social networks may also be dense with potential recruiters. War may also have left them poorer or more traumatized than their peers. Each of these factors could elevate the risk of rebellion, crime, or other aggression, risks greatest in weak states and uncertain economic climates like that of Liberia.

In response, policymakers commonly turn to employment and other poverty alleviation programs, including cash grants, vocational training, small business development, and microfinance. Underlying these programs is the belief that with economic opportunities come stability. When dealing with organized populations, such as former combatants, gang members, or criminal organizations, policymakers are also anxious to break down risky social networks, especially the links between commanders and foot soldiers. Interventions often go beyond simple employment programs, and seek to relocate, resettle, or otherwise remove high-risk individuals from risky networks.

This project evaluates a rehabilitation program for ex-combatants and other high-risk youth in Liberia, a unique case where it was both politically and practically feasible to establish and follow a random control group. The program we study, which was designed and implemented by the international non-governmental organization (NGO) Action on Armed Violence, is among the best of its class. The program is targeted towards ex-combatants and other high-risk populations in resource enclaves and other "hotspots" around the country. It provides extensive agricultural skills training and inputs alongside life skills training and resettlement assistance. Its objective is to reduce the risk of violence and aggression by providing an alternative, stable livelihood in civilian communities to youth otherwise engaged in illicit activities or thought to be easily mobilized into crime or violence. After observing two highly promising courses and classes of graduates, the researchers collaborated with the NGO to randomly evaluate their next round of classes at two training sites.

The program implementers confirmed that the number of youth eligible for the program exceeded program capacity by a factor of at least two. The sample size was limited to 2.5 times the number of spots in the program, for a total of 1500. In order to give all eligible youth an equal opportunity to participate, the program implementers determined entry into the program using a computerized randomization of eligible youth. Respondents were assigned to treatment and control using a randomization program coded in Stata. The sample was stratified by gender, "commander status," and community of registration.

The study has two principal rounds of data collection among both treatment and control groups: a baseline prior to the intervention and a follow-up survey approximately one year following completion of the program.

Conditions

Poverty; Social Instability

Keywords

economic intervention; ex-combatant; agriculture; life skills

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

agricultural training program

Three to four month residential agriculture and life skills training program.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Agricultural and life skills training program

Intervention Type: OTHER

Control group

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Agricultural and life skills training program

Intervention Type: OTHER

Other Intervention Names

Tumutu Agricultural Training Program (TATP); Sinoe Agricultural Training Program (SATP)

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• ex-combatant
• not served by previous reintegration programs
• engaged in illicit activities such as mining and rubber tapping

Exclusion Criteria

• pregnant women
• individuals deemed physically incapable of agriculture
• foreigners unwilling to settle in Liberia

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

United Nations

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

World Bank

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Columbia University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Christopher J. Blattman

Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs and of Political Science

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Jeannie Annan, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

International Rescue Committee

Christopher Blattman, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Columbia University

Locations

Tumutu Agricultural Training Program

Salala, Bong County, Liberia

Sinoe Agricultural Training Program

Panama, Sinoe County, Liberia

Countries

Liberia

Related Links

http://poverty-action.org/project/0138

Related Info

Other Identifiers

AAAK6203

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id