The impact of counseling on the reintegration of formerly abducted persons (FAPS) in the community in Lamwo county, Kitgum district.

Abstract

This report is based on a research conducted in Lamwo County in Kitgum district on the subject of Return and Reintegration. It focused on the Impact of counseling on the reintegration of Formerly Abducted Persons (FAPS) in Northern Uganda. The study was guided by the various literature reviewed and the theoretical framework based on the behavioral change and personality theories. The aim of the study was to find out the impact of counseling services provided to FAPs towards enhancing their reintegration in the community as a way of building a more sustainable peace in the region. Major concern of the study was directed towards the purpose of counseling services to the FAPS, the nature of counseling, the outcomes of counseling and how this developed into broader long term impact on the reintegration process. The researcher also explored the existing gaps in the counseling services and gave recommendations to fill the identified gaps. Given the challenge of involving an empirical analysis of the impact of counseling, the study used a qualitative approach to data collection. However quantitative information has been compiled to provide back up data on occurrences related to the subject of study. The main tools for data collection were the research questionnaires, question guides and key informant interviews. The field research involved 149 respondents consisting of FAPs (70), community representatives (37) and other stakeholders (42). Of the 149 respondents, 65 were women and 84 were men to ensure a gender inclusive representation and information. The study indicated that the main drive for counseling was the mental state of the FAPs. Other reasons given included the past traumatic experiences that caused worries, extreme fear, violence and the feeling of revenge. The study has revealed that the aim of counseling was to help the FAPs have settled minds that can support them to resettle in the community. Counseling further aims at helping the FAPs to forget the past experiences and begin a new life. Findings from the study shows that most of those who had not received counseling were aware of the availability of counseling services but could not go for it due to fear, sickness, lack of guidance by the community and the urgent need to go back to school on return. Most of the FAPs who went for counseling were counseled for a period of 1-2 months. This involved a process of individual as well as group therapies of the FAPs. Games, prayer, playing, drawings, storytelling and videos are some of the important means of counseling. The study has noted that there is no significant relationship between the way a person returns and the counseling support he or she receives. The duration of counseling was found to be determined by individual’s response to the counseling process through an explicit change in attitude and conduct and in some situation by the number of FAPS returning and availability of space at the center. Evidence from the study indicated that some of those who were arrested at war fronts and forced to return responded better compared to some 5

FAPs who returned voluntarily. The major finding of this study reveals that counseling has had a great impact on the feeling of the counseled FAPs who have developed positive attitude to life that have supported them to reintegrate better in the community. This was not the case with the non-counseled FAPs who were found to be increasingly developing negative attitudes. The research finding indicates that the army has played a key role in supporting the FAPs to access counseling services on return. The study has noted that most women who go directly to the community do not return to the counseling centers to receive counseling support given the trust the community had in them. The study recognises a number of gaps in counseling services including poor quality of counseling reflected in the lack of a standard curriculum and high number of unprofessional counselors with limited counseling skills. There were only limited facilities in place, irregular and at times non existence of follow up support of activities. The wider community had been left out and had often subjected the FAPs to a hostile, rude and unfriendly condition. Instate of supporting the FAPs to unlearn the wild habits of militarism and violence, the community had ended up stigmatising them. This has created an environment that is greatly threatening the benefits of counseling unless efforts are made to address this gap. Basing on the above gaps, the researcher recommends an integrated effort involving civil society organizations, government, and inter-government organizations together with the local communities, in order to design more comprehensive counseling strategies that will suit the psychological as well as the psychosocial needs of the community. This calls for efforts to develop a comprehensive counseling syllabus and curriculum that should address the specific needs of women and men, girls and boys who were abducted and have returned home, as well as those who by living in this community have had to experience, witness and forcibly participate in the destruction, trauma and emotional burden of the war. It’s hoped that this collective effort would lead to shared roles that would result in the design and formulation of policies, systems and networks that will make counseling more useful to the reintegration process.