Preface

This report, prepared by Stuart Maslen, is an input to the ILO “Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship Training for Countries Emerging from Armed Conflict”. The Programme aims to learn from the experiences of selected post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia and Central America in order to offer guidance to countries newly emerging from armed conflict. The objective of the Programme is to increase the capacity of governments and other national and local bodies to facilitate the rapid and effective reintegration of war-affected groups, through training and employment creation. Outputs of the Programme include:

· guidelines for the planning, implementation and assessment of training and employment programmes for war-affected communities, with special attention to youth, women and disabled persons;

· training courses and materials to build institutional capacity at national and community levels;

· a database of organizations and individuals having practical experience in reintegration programmes in a number of countries, as a resource for the design, implementation and evaluation of training and employment programmes in countries newly emerging from armed conflict.

The Programme has undertaken a number of studies in the field of training and employment needs in war-affected countries. Some of the reports focus on specific target groups, such as youth, women and disabled persons. The present report considers the particular situation of war-affected youth and makes a number of proposals regarding policy and programme to guide future action.

The study was supervised by Evy Messell.

Eugenia Date-Bah,
Coordinator,
Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship Training
for Countries Emerging from Armed Conflict,
Training Policies and Systems Branch,
ILO, Geneva.