NGO strategy toward the reintegration of child soldiers in Liberia,Africa: An online survey of services,roles,and activities

NGOs in Africa

In the past 25 years, there has been significant growth in the number and influence of NGOs in Africa. The rise and growth of the NGO sector were driven by government failure, market failure, and disenchantment with the state by a critical segment of the international community (Obiyan, 2005). NGOs are independent actors that exist apart from governments and corporations and operate on a non-profit or not-for-profit basis with an emphasis on voluntarism and pursuing a mandate for providing development issues. In addition to their independence from government, NGOs are based on values and depend on donors and volunteers to provide services that seek to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, and provide basic social services and community development. Dependent on international donors, NGOs implement programs with limited funds and few full-time employees. It is important to note that based on their origins and operations, NGOs may be categorized as either international or local. International NGOs are described as NGOs that originate in the urban centers of northern Africa, derived from multilateral organizations, or funding sources with operations geared toward the global South (missions in multiple countries), while local NGOs are described as those that originate and operate in a specific country (Obiyan, 2005). Multilateral partners have included the African Development Bank, the European Union, and a pooled fund that has been established with support from DFID (United Kingdom: Department of International Development), Irish Aid, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Some international NGOs do not have projects on their own, but instead fund local NGOs to deliver services that align with their mission and goals. NGOs share an intricate relationship with the United Nations (UN), which dates back to the establishment of the UN in 1945 (United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Center, n.d.). NGOs can contribute to the work of the UN through consultative status or association with various departments within the UN systems (United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Center, n.d.). In order to understand the current situations of NGOs in Africa, it is important to learn about the history, characteristics, and leadership of NGOs in Africa. Although there is a shortage of literature on local and international NGOs that operate in Africa, the following discussion is a review of the available literature on the history of NGOs in Africa with emphasis on Liberia, including leadership, transparency, and training.

History

Similar to the history of the emergence of non-profit organizations in the Western world, the history of these organizations is deeply rooted in the attempt to meet the needs of disenfranchised populations whose governments failed to do so due to the lack of financial resources, knowledge, and skills, to name a few. Although they became popular in the 1980s, NGOs’ existence is dated back to the days of colonization in Africa. Manji and O’Coill (2002) traced the evolution of the roles of NGOs in Africa and suggest that their role in ‘development’ is a representation of the continuity of the work of missionaries and voluntary organizations that collaborated in the colonization and control of Africa. Although several NGOs are multinational, some NGOs operating in Africa were further developed as a response to the African crisis, especially in those African nations that cannot afford to provide basic social services (Manji and O’Coill, 2002).

The massive ecological and political crisis of the 1970s in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa resulted in famine and starvation, which consequently led to a regeneration of the internal relief industry with Africa as a focus (Kanyinga et al., 1994). In order to tackle the root causes of the problems Africa faced, many international NGOs sought to extend their mission beyond relief work to include development, poverty alleviation, and social transformation. Despite the intended purposes of alleviating poverty in Africa and the contributions made toward the relief of poverty, critics argue that to some extent NGOs significantly undermine the struggle of the African people to free themselves from economic, social, and political oppression (Manji and O’Coill, 2002). NGOs as we now know them evolved from new economic reforms of the World Bank – that emphasized market and non-state-centered strategies causing NGOs in Africa to receive direct international approval and support (Kanyinga et al., 1994). Today, NGOs are considered the preferred channel for service provision in deliberate substitution for the state. Western donors who worry about government corruption channel funds through NGOs rather than through the governments (Rothmyer, 2011). Post-war Liberia continues to experience corruption as indicated in by The World Bank Institute 2008 report.

Although there has been some improvement in the socioeconomic status of some African nations, there remains a disparity among various nations and between citizens of these nations. As a result, many Africans continue to be in need of assistance from NGOs, and it is this need that propels a steady increase in the number of non-profit organizations.

Characteristics of NGOs

Typically, NGOs are established, supported, and staffed by individuals who are driven by moral concern and solidarity. Also, since local NGO staff are likely to be indigenous to the country or at least familiar with the culture, their target population are more prone to seek and accept assistance from individuals with whom they can identify. Kelly et al. (2006) note that NGOs have the capacity to respond to the needs of their target population with culturally sensitive and innovative programs since they usually originate from and were developed to serve particular communities. Also, their close proximity, along with the prolonged time spent with the target population, allows them to get to know their potential clients, assess their needs in depth, and locate community resources they use to assist in meeting the needs of their target population. Chege (1999) argues that NGOs are effective in demonstrating that regardless of how grave poverty situations may appear, poverty can be tackled by involving individuals who benefit from NGOs in the planning, implementation, and sustainability of various projects.

The literature on NGOs operating in Liberia also investigates the weaknesses. Studies found that in Africa, NGOs’ problems can be attributed to poor funding, donor dependence, lack of accountability (Obiyan, 2005), size, relative isolation, their roles as representative of the weakest and most vulnerable strata of society, internal politics, and government attempts to control the NGO sector (Igoe and Kelsall, 2005). Findings from the work of 10 ethnographers who used thick description and critical theory to detail the functioning of NGOs and their interaction with local communities, state institutions, and donors in countries all over Africa indicate African civil society is a murkier and less stable place than most civil society theories would suggest (Igoe and Kelsall, 2005). Perceptions differ among governments regarding non-NGO or public or private non-profit organizations. Some governments welcome and accommodate them, while others find them troublesome and view them in a negative light. Research also revealed that NGO beneficiaries may have a wide range of perceptions and cultural meanings of NGOs and events in ways that are unfamiliar to most Western development workers (Igoe and Kelsall, 2005). Studies found that most times, state institutions and NGOs compete for the same donor resources and that state institutions may attempt to co-opt, imitate, obstruct, weaken, and control NGOs (Bratton, 1989; Igoe and Kelsall, 2005).

Transparency

In Africa, NGOs are critical service providers, and therefore their funding, programs, and resource capacities must be strengthened if they are to realize their full potential. In an attempt to fight corruption and increase transparency in Africa, Transparency International established the Poverty and Corruption in Africa program which is aimed at strengthening and empowering disadvantaged communities across six Sub-Saharan Africa countries: Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia. To address the lack of transparency in the NGO sector, Weidenbaum (2009) proposed that NGOs have elections of officers and/or board members and practice more complete public reporting (i.e. transparency) of activities and financial conditions and formal training programs for key staff members comparable to the academic preparation for future leaders in government and business. Using a data set of NGOs in Uganda, researchers investigated the inaccuracies in reported financial transparency and community participation and determined the following: (1) the threat of being caught reduces the likelihood of financial misrepresentation, and (2) a desire to maintain good reputation leads to misrepresentation of community consultation (Burger and Owens, 2010). The findings also indicated that NGOs with antagonistic relations with the government may be more likely to hide information and that unrealistic donor demands may be an obstacle to transparency (Burger and Owens, 2010).

Liberian NGOs

The history of NGOs in Liberia and the whole of Africa is as old as the nations they are located in. However, there is a shortage of literature on NGOs in Liberia, partly due to the destruction during the 14-year civil war and the lack of empirical research and publication in this area. Research on Liberian NGOs yielded at least one NGO database which provides contact information including NGOs’ locations and links to websites; however, the database lacked information regarding Liberian NGO organizational characteristics, including size, funding, programs, and activities. In Liberia, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs (MPEA) is the regulatory agency that monitors and supervises the activities of NGOs, such as human rights, youth, and women’s groups, and prodemocracy and development organizations (Norton-Griffiths, 2010). When there was little possibility of the government being restored following the violent conflicts in Somalia, Rwanda, and Liberia, NGOs were challenged to take on responsibilities that were beyond their initial mission to include local development projects.

In 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children UK released findings of a joint assessment that found evidence of extensive sexual exploitation of refugee children in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone by local employees of national and international NGOs (UNHCR, 2002). According to the report, the majority of the alleged cases involved male national staff who traded humanitarian commodities (food, medicine, and loans) and services (transportation, education courses, and skills training) in exchange for sexual favors with underage girls. Due to the lack of reliable and consistent data, poor accountability measures, and failure to document and evaluate NGOs’ successes, failures, finance, and population served, it is difficult to conduct studies on NGOs in Liberia. This puts NGOs and their target populations at a disadvantage since researchers are unable to determine the effectiveness of NGO programs and/or identify factors that influence their successes or failures. This study will examine the contributions that NGOs are making in helping Liberians overcome post-war challenges, particularly in the reintegration of ex-combatants. Also, this study will explore organizational structures and characteristics that influence contributions made by NGOs in Liberia.

Reintegration of child soldiers and ex-combatants

Using Maslow’s hierarchy, Brownell (2014) examined the expressed needs of former Liberian child soldiers or ex-combatants to include physiological needs, such as food, water, shelter, and health services related to injury or illnesses obtained during their time as child soldiers that are ongoing; safety needs, such as economic security to include vocational retraining and employment; belongingness and love needs, such as the need to reconnect and feel accepted by family and communities; esteem needs, including their need to develop self-respect and adequacy and self-actualization wherein ex-combatants need to be equipped and encouraged to live up to their full potential as peaceful civilians (Brownell, 2014). As a result of these unmet needs, ex-combatants have expressed difficulty adjusting or fitting into their post-conflict life as well as various mental health and substance abuse issues associated with these coping issues. Although ex-combatants’ reintegration has been identified as a major obstacle in post-war Liberia (Nilsson and Söderberg Kovacs, 2005), there is a dearth of literature on what non-profit organizations are doing to help the government and its citizens overcome this challenge. Thus, this study will also investigate the role of NGOs in Liberia as it relates to ex-combatants’ reintegration. Kimmel and Roby (2007) developed a conceptual model based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of development to understand how three macro factors (politics, policy, and culture and beliefs) interact with three micro-level factors (community, family, and individual psychosocial factors) and subsequently contribute to child soldiering and the negative psychosocial effects on them following their tenure as child soldiers (Kimmel and Roby, 2007).

Methodology

Data for this study were collected from a convenience sample of 54 NGO executives in Liberia. Participants were surveyed about the roles their organizations play in ex-combatants’ reintegration. Researchers developed the survey based on available literature and feedback from a few NGO executives. Including closed and open-ended questions, the survey asked respondents to report the following: NGO staff demographics, the types of services provided, funding sources, estimated cost of reintegration services, social workers’ roles, and important skills and training required when assisting ex-combatants. The survey was completed using SurveyMonkey, an online survey service. The study #2013-0841 was approved by the Institutional Review Board for Human Subject Research at The University of Texas at Arlington, USA. The study also attempted to identify the common emerging technology methods used by NGOs to engage ex-combatants and to provide service delivery toward reintegration.

Sampling

Sampling for this study involved a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. Executives of NGOs in Liberia were targeted through a directory of NGOs operating in Liberia and registered with the MPEA, which is the regulatory agency that monitors and supervises the activities of non-governmental profit organizations in Liberia. The units of analysis were the individual respondents to an online survey, who were identified as executives or key decision makers for their organization. Participants were also asked to recommend other non-profit executives for inclusion in the study. In the end, study participants included executives from NGOs predominantly in the capital city of Monrovia, as well as other counties including Maryland, Grand Bassa, and Lofa. The study gathered responses from 59 participants of whom 74.58 percent (44) were male and 25.42 percent (15) female. Approximately 3.4 percent (2) were between 18 and 24 years of age, 22.03 percent (13) were between 25 and 34 years, 54.24 percent (32) were between 35 and 54 years, and only 20.34 percent (12) were 55–64 years old, with no respondents older than 64. In terms of education, and including all categories of responses, of 43.1 percent (25) of the NGO executives, 5.08 percent (3) had a high school education, 16.95 percent (10) had some college, 44.07 percent (26) had an undergraduate degree, 22.03 percent (13) had a Master’s degree, 1. 69 percent (1) reported a PhD, and 10.17 percent (6) reported ‘other’ in an open non-quantitative comment box which included the following: training in the areas of law, coordinating employment resource center, information technology (IT), an associated degree in nursing, and physician’s assistant. In terms of the years spent at their various organizations, participant’s employment ranged from 4 months to 22 years. On average, participants spent 6 years working in their organizations. On average, the majority of the organizations were located in Montserrado County, while several others were located in River Cess, Lofa, Grand Bassa, and Bong County. Of the 59 participants, 7 said their organizations provided services throughout Liberia in all 15 counties, 22 disclosed that they provided services in Montserrado County primarily in or near the capital city of Monrovia, while 5 organizations served Bomi counties and 10 served Margibi County; other counties that are served by organizations in this study include Grand Bassa, Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, and Lofa. The organizations represented were relatively small with a staff ranging from 3 to 17 staff members. The majority of these organizations (55.5%) had over 10 staff, while 44.5 percent of the organizations had fewer than 10 staff. The organizations were relatively small in terms of staff, with budgets ranging from US$30,000 to US$4,044,000.

Data analysis

Data analysis consisted of performing descriptive summaries and cross-tabulations with the data analysis tool SurveyMonkey and exporting these as tables or incorporating results into the research manuscript narrative.

Results

Of the 54 NGO executives, 15 disclosed that their organizations provided services to the general population or diverse Liberian population. The findings indicated that 10 organizations served children and youths/adolescents exclusively, while another 16 served women, children, and youths. Of the 54 participants, 12 identified their target population as the marginalized, vulnerable, poor, underprivileged, and disadvantaged communities and individuals in Liberia in both the rural and urban areas. Meanwhile, the remaining two NGO executives revealed that they served ex-combatant populations and returnees and internally displaced populations, respectively (Table 1).

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Table 1.

Populations served.

Population served	Organizations
General population/diverse population	15
Children and youth	10
Women, children, and youth	16
Marginalized/vulnerable/poor/underprivileged/disadvantaged communities	12
Ex-combatants	1
Returnees and internally displaced populations	1

Services provided

In response to the question ‘What kinds of services do you provide?’, participants’ responses fell within several survey predetermined categories, including health/medical services, psychosocial counseling, educational services, community development (economic empowerment), and capacity building. Then, in terms of health and medical services, three sub-themes emerged: (1) infrastructure such as building medical facilities and providing medical supplies and equipment; (2) health education such as sexual reproductive health, water sanitation, hygiene education, community waste management services, and educational materials; and (3) treatment and referral services for HIV, eye care, and lactating mothers. One NGO executive reported, ‘We are building a birthing clinic that will house a school of midwifery’. Additionally, NGOs also provide clean water, toilet facilities, and educational materials to encourage cleanliness. By contrast, a few NGO executives reported that they provide counseling, such as psychosocial counseling, rehabilitation counseling, spiritual counseling, HIV counseling, and career counseling (Table 2).

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Table 2.

Type of work or service offered by the NGO surveyed.

Recreation	18.18% 10 responses
Food services	12.73% 7 responses
Education	69.09% 38 responses
Health services	30.91% 17 responses
Social services	30.91% 17 responses
Environmental, reclamation	7.27% 4 responses
Community development	58.18% 32 responses
Economic development	18.18% 10 responses
Housing	0.00% 0 responses
Law, advocacy, and politics	18.18% 10 responses
Religious	12.73% 7 responses
Business, commercial	3.64% 2 responses
Professional	3.64% 2 responses
Trades, associations, unions	0.00% 0 responses
Job training	10.91% 6 responses
Other	41.82%

NGO: non-governmental organization.

Responding n = 55, not responding n = 4.

Education

Education had three sub-themes: formal educational, skills training, and adult literacy program. NGOs who provided formal educational services focus on providing students, inclusive of both ex-combatants and non-ex combatants and their children, with school supplies such as uniform, shoes, books, book bags, notebooks, and infrastructures such as building and renovating class rooms and schools. One NGO executive writes, ‘We are building a school in Clay-Ashland. We also donating educational materials to the public library and food, clothing and educational materials to orphanages’. Participants who listed skills training mentioned agricultural training; savings and management skills training; training of peer educators; leadership development training; preventing, managing, and transforming conflict; gender education; and food training. Furthermore, a few organizations provide adult literacy training and civic education specifically on human rights and the rule of law. Some focus on community development, including education, peace building, economic empowerment, and gender empowerment.

NGOs operating in Liberia also focus on community development, particularly through empowerment via education and economics. Another NGO executive participant wrote,

The main aim of our services is to empower the people to achieve their full potential to be able to take charge (become self-reliant) of their own lives to get out poverty, hunger and dependency syndrome, thus enabling them to earn a decent and rewarding living. Our services are non-fees-charge initiatives.

Regarding economic empowerment, organizations provide microeconomic development loans, training, and research geared toward making their target population economically independent.

Community capacity building

Other NGOs focus on community capacity building by providing programs geared toward peace building, social inclusion, emergency health care delivery services, and by the promotion of education, sustainable food security programs, income-generation activities, child protection, youth development, and provision of safe drinking water.

Cost of services

The estimated cost of services provided ranged from US$5000 annually to approximately US$3,390,000. Of the 59 participants asked to provide information about the estimated cost of services their organization provided in Liberia, 4 participants said that their budget was not fixed and therefore did not provide an estimate of the services they provided.

Does your agency provide services to ex-combatants/former child soldiers?

Overall, 88.4 percent (38) of the NGO executives said that they provided services to ex-child soldiers, while 11.6 percent (5) said that they did not. NGOs who provided services to ex-child soldiers in Liberia listed the following reintegration services available: skills training and job placement, educational support (literacy and numeracy), scholarships, biopsychosocial counseling, human rights awareness and education, shelter, and recreational activities. Since past research has shown that ex-combatants suffer extreme poverty in post-conflict countries like Liberia (Brownell, 2014) and Sierra Leone, it is important to note that the services identified here are directly related to empowering this population with the skills needed to meet their physiological, safety, and belongingness needs. This study is limited in that it did not evaluate the extent to which the NGOs have addressed the needs of ex-child soldiers in Liberia. At least one participant reported that although his organization does not directly serve ex-combatants, it provided food to children of ex-combatants. Meanwhile, a few noted that they did not have specific services, but that some of the beneficiaries of their organizations are indeed ex-combatants, spiritual counseling, and referrals to other resources as needed.

Estimated number of ex-combatants served

Although the current total population of Liberia in the year 2016 is above 4.5 million (estimated at 4,618,654), the population at the close of hostilities after the civil war was approximately 3.385 million. The number of total ex-combatant child soldiers is not known as some did not self-report or directly seek services, opting to return home or go elsewhere, but have been globally estimated at between 5000 and 15,000 former child soldiers. One report, however, showed that by the end of the last civil war and the DDR program in 2004, a total of 102,193 ex-combatants (67% adult males, 22% adult females, 9% male children, and 2% female children) were processed and voluntarily turned in guns and ammunitions (Paes, 2005). The numbers of ex-combatants who served across several years may include duplicated counts but are generally much higher estimates.

While the majority of the organizations provided an estimate of the number of ex-combatants they had served in the past 5 years (ranging from 20 to 60,000), several participants disclosed that they could not estimate due to their inability to distinguish ex-combatants from the general population that they serve. On average, NGOs served 5275 ex-combatants in the past 5 years; the number of ex-combatants served in the past 5–10 years was 12,286. According to participants, the estimated cost of services they provide to ex-combatants annually is US$150,000.

Who serves in Liberia? Number of social workers

The non-profit sector comprises volunteers who are career helping professionals, usually with social work education and values. Social workers serve as well in roles critical for the functioning and service delivery aspects of NGOs. In this study, directors of NGOs reported having on average 81 social workers working with their NGOs in Liberia. The roles of these social workers include conducting a needs assessment, counseling, mentorship, training, life skills training, promoting awareness of the organization’s activities, document and case management, advisory skills, and community outreach on specific topics. Participants also identified the top five most important skills needed to work with ex-combatants/ex-child soldiers. They include counseling skills (psychosocial and trauma), interpersonal communication skills, empathy, knowledge, and skills relating to Liberian culture and war and community organizing.

Training needs

Participants listed the following as the top four most important types of training needed to work with ex-combatants/former child soldiers in Liberia: Liberian history, social work knowledge and skills, trauma counseling group work, vocational skills, and development training. The top three problems encountered by NGOs operating in Liberia included limited funding, bad road conditions, and corruption; there is also a fourth noteworthy response of ‘weak national staff capacity’. When asked what they did to overcome the problems, participants reported that they relied on God, community involvement and participation, networking and collaborating with other NGOs, continuous training, strategic planning, seeking funding from international donors and raising own funds, staff capacity building, and practicing transparency through radio interviews and making records available for donors to view.

Efforts to improve NGOs performance

In regard to the overall performance of their organizations, NGO executives said they made the following efforts to improve their organizations’ performance: regular staff meetings; trainings and mentoring; the use of strategic plans; scouting; engaging funders and raising funding locally through member dues, donations, projects, cultural events, and so on; and allocating funding for staff capacity building through staff salary and motivation, compared to the 2.9 percent who said their funding was adequate to help them realize their organizational goals or missions. Approximately half of the participants shared that their organizations’ annual budgets had increased in the past 3 years, while the other approximate half said that their organizations’ budgets had not increased in the past 3 years. Meanwhile, two participants disclosed that they did not know whether or not there had been an increase in their organizational budget in the past 3 years. Participants who disclosed that their annual budget had increased in the past 3 years reported that the change was very low. According to 50 percent of the participants, the funding available was not at all adequate to realize their organizational goals or missions.

Structure

When asked to what extent do their organizations have multiple layers of authority, many NGOs (44.1%) represented in this study had few layers of authority, while only one NGO executive reported that his NGO had many layers of authority. Overall, participants reported very high levels of rules, regulations, and procedures and that written procedures and rules were very important to their organizations. In terms of employees’ participation, almost all of the participants said that their organization had very high levels of employees participating in decision-making, while only two participants noted very low participation in decision-making from employees. All of the NGO executives had many available channels for communicating between non-executive employees and managers. The majority of the NGO executives who participated in this study indicated that their organizations set goals and objectives without external approvals and that overall their organizations had clearly defined goals or missions. Regarding how often NGOs changed their goals or missions in Liberia, a majority of the participants said not at all, and only one reported that his organization changed goals and missions very frequently.

The majority of the NGO executives frequently compete with other organizations for contracts and grants, while few do not compete with other organizations for contracts or grants. Executive participants revealed that NGOs’ stakeholders include local communities, international partners, funders, government, clients, and community leaders. Almost all the participants believed that their external stakeholders were very satisfied with their organization’s performance, while a few indicated some dissatisfaction from their external stakeholders. For the NGO represented in this study, organization’s performance was a very important factor in acquiring resources from outside stakeholders; all of them said that their organizational goals were very responsive to their community’s demands, and NGO executives believed that overall their clients were as satisfied with their organization’s goods and services. Participants named some expected sources of their resources, such as donations from individuals (82.4%), donations from corporations (32.4), grants from foundations (55.9%), contracts from foundations (23.5%), grants from government (17.6%), and contracts from the government (14.7%). Meanwhile, participants also identified some unexpected sources of resource, such as selling products to customers, board members’ contribution, and NGO executives having other forms of employment to support their organizations.

Current and emerging technologies utilized

When asked about the types of technologies that NGOs used to provide service, solicit funds, and recruit volunteers, the responses were as follows: