BACKGROUND :
More than twenty years of fighting between the Government of Uganda and the rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, have resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries, and abductions, in addition to the displacement (often forced by the government) of more than 90 percent of the northern population.

However, recent developments suggest that Africa’s longest running war may have reached a tipping point. On August 26, 2006, delegates from the GoU and the LRA signed a Cessation of Hostilities agreement that brought the parties closer to a comprehensive peace. As a result of this agreement, the UN estimates that 45% of the 1.1 million people displaced in the Acholi Districts have left main camps for smaller settlements or villages (as of May 2007).

STUDY OBJECTIVES:
(1) To better understand the influence of social contexts on the functioning and well-being of children/youth, families, and communities affected by conflict.        
(2) To more clearly understand population movement trends and to identify individual, household, and setting-level factors influencing return and resettlement decisions.   
(3) To document and map this transition process, both through traditional and participatory approaches.
(4) To identify marginalized groups who might be vulnerable in this transition process and gather data on their experience.

METHODS:
(1) GIS/GPS/Remote Sensing
(2) Quantitative Surveys (via PDA)
(3) In-Depth Interviews
(4) Photovoice

August 2008
Photovoice prints on display at Cool Beans in Columbia, SC: Order prints here

May 2008
Order Photovoice Prints 

February 2008
Photovoice students enrolled in secondary school

February 2008
98 in-depth interviews completed in the camps and villages

January 2008
152 household surveys completed in more than 30 villages outside of Opit  

January 2008
Project featured in IEEE Spectrum Online

November 2007
Photovoice Gallery created

September 2007
Project featured in MediaRoom of GeoEye

September 2007
All 375 household surveys completed in Opit, Adak, and Keto

July 2007
200 household surveys completed


Link to Project Blog


Project Funding
This study is supported in part by the University of South Carolina (Walker Institute of International and Area Studies, The Graduate School, Department of Psychology) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). The GeoEye Foundation also contributed 400 sq km of 1-m IKONOS satellite images from December 2006. 



Project Partner