We Mobilized Ourselves: Community resilience in areas impacted by the Lord’s Resistance Army

The goal of this research is to investigate the sources of resiliency and vulnerability in communities affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Results of this research seek to inform better programmatic responses in these contexts and to create lessons learned that might be applicable in other areas affected by non-state armed groups. The project drew on focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), and a conceptual mapping exercise to generate qualitative data around the impacts of the LRA and resilience mechanisms employed by affected communities across all four countries.

This report first provides an overview of the LRA’s impact on civilian communities and the methods used for the current project. The research results are then presented. The first section outlines the repertoire of violence used by the LRA and the evolution of these abuses over time. The second section provides a detailed treatment of the mechanisms of self-protection and resilience that communities have developed over time to mitigate the impact of the LRA. The report concludes with an overarching discussion of findings and implications. A second affiliated report will examine the internal organization of the LRA, its command and control structures, and the changes in the group over time.