A product for the Financing Innovation Forum project, an OSRSG CAAC initiative in association with the World Bank
Armed conflict threatens children’s lives and futures.
Children are agents of peace, not soldiers.
Our goal is to strengthen programming and financing for the reintegration of children associated with armed groups and forces (CAAFAG) and child recruitment prevention.
Why Financing Innovation Forum (FIF)
The Global Coalition for Reintegration of Child Soldiers conducted a series of in-depth consultations with global experts culminating in three research papers. Foremost among the evidence presented was that reintegration support for CAAFAG is hampered by limited and inflexible funding and financing, with neither the volume nor variety to span sectors and bridge the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus.
In the context of post-conflict recovery, development and peacebuilding, supporting child reintegration is a strategic intervention for all stakeholders interested in reducing conflict – a shared opportunity to achieve collective outcomes. Assisting children who have exited armed forces and groups must include increasing the responsibility and accountability of national counterparts over time while gradually decreasing exogenous support by donors. Central to this new approach is prevention; with successful child reintegration imperative to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals and the overarching prosperity and peace of conflict-affected societies.
A contemporary vision for child reintegration is necessary to enable children associated with armed forces and groups to access the medium- and longer-term services necessary for them to fully claim their rights, live and grow to their full potential and contribute as active stakeholders in their communities. This includes the need to shift the focus from short-term external donor-driven funding to longer-term financing that is anchored at country and regional levels with a core engagement by national government, private sector, civil society organisations and the communities themselves.
What is FIF?
FIF will bring together a diverse range of finance and funding entities, including regional development banks, bilateral donors, international organizations, private sector and community-driven initiatives with a focus on financing innovation ideas. The Forum will provide an opportunity to exchange information related to existing and emerging financing modalities that could support the reintegration of child soldiers, exchange views on challenges and gaps that currently exist and explore ways in which new modalities or mechanisms could be created to improve effectiveness.
Objectives
- Raise awareness of child reintegration needs in today’s global climate; promote a more sustainable approach to reintegration by a broader range of stakeholders in multiple sectors across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus; and advocate for longer-term and more predictable funding and financing options;
- Create the requisite partner architecture through evidence based advocacy to incentivize and increase in the the volume and variety of funding and financing options in support of children and their communities affected by armed conflict;
- Capitalize on existing funding and financing mechanisms at the national and local levels. The emphasis will be on identifying opportunities to make these more effective, and where possible build on local solutions and practices. This will include the identification and exploration of new and innovative approaches with the inclusion of, inter alia, private sector stakeholders and non-traditional funding pathways;
- Encourage and promote government and local ownership and leadership with a view to reducing exogenous support over time; identify a range of funding and financing modalities that include government contribution and investment.