Capstone: Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict

As I’m sure you are already aware, a core requirement of the MIA/MPA is the Capstone Workshop. The Capstone Workshop  live consulting project with an external client outside of SIPA. The goal is to provide clients with innovative analysis and practical recommendations, while SIPA students gain experience by working on a real-world problem. Here is another blog that explains more about the Capstone Project. It truly is a highlight of the SIPA experience. Many students get to travel across the globe to pursue their projects. This past semester students have traveled to Indonesia, Ghana, Argentina, Estonia, and Dominican Republic. You can read more about Davira’s experience in Namibia here. 

Though, you don’t always need to travel to put in meaningful work, and the experience of EPD capstones is different from others. I’m here to share my Capstone Workshop with Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict. Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict strives to end violations against children in armed conflicts and to guarantee their rights. As a global network, Watchlist builds partnerships among local, national, and international nongovernmental organizations, enhancing mutual capacities and strengths. Working together, they collect and disseminate information on violations against children in conflicts and provide guidance in order to influence key decision-makers to create and implement programs and policies that effectively protect children.

Our project looked at the notion of indoctrination of children in conflict, not solely for their use in combat roles, but also in other support roles. Such support roles may include carrying supplies, serving as intelligence gatherers, cooking, acting as messengers, or for sexual purposes. These support roles tend to be overlooked but pose an equal amount of danger to the well-being of the child. The research consists of a multi-disciplinary assessment combining legal analysis with case-studies from the conflict in Colombia, Nigeria, and Russia/Ukraine. Despite not traveling, we were able to meet with the director of Watchlist, engage in discussions with child rights practitioners, and attended events that allowed us to come up with interesting findings. As a result of our findings, and the potential global implications, our team was selected to present at the Capstone Project closing reception. 

I asked my teammate Emilia James MIA ’24 about her motivation in applying for this capstone and how she has found her overall experience: 

For Emilia James MIA’24 I chose this capstone project because of a years-long interest in children’s rights, particularly in conflict zones. During the Fall 2023 semester, I was able to take a class on Children and Armed Conflict, with Professor Laura Perez. Learning about the international legal frameworks set to protect children in conflicts around the world was and still is fascinating to me, and an issue that more people in this field should learn about. My experience with Professor Perez was wonderful and I was thrilled to see she was advising a capstone project this spring. The project itself has opened my eyes to the real life nuances of this subject, offering the opportunity to speak with practitioners in the field who have seen firsthand the experiences of the most vulnerable. Our project team’s research on indoctrination and new forms of use of children in armed conflict, I believe, is breaking through a clear gap in the field. We are offering findings that can help practitioners adjust the way they approach monitoring and evaluation in armed conflict, hopefully paving the way for more robust protection measures for children.

Likewise Tim Mentor MPA-DP ‘24 shared his inspiration in applying for this capstone: 

My interest in the topic came from my previous work. I recently interned with the Climate School to provide sustainability workshops for children at the middle and high school and levels. I currently work in E-classroom support as a part of the CUIT department, and have been for the past two years. Previous to that, I spent a year with AmeriCorps where I learned how to gather data on the ground, knock on doors, and draft reports to local governments. The data and community input I gathered went towards anti-truancy after school programs and at-home assistance for parents struggling with poverty. By taking on this project, I wanted to gain insight on how to use technology and the internet to report, advocate, and partner with organizations by providing coverage, support and resources to the voiceless in society. I especially wanted to bring my knowledge, expertise and experience working with technology and reporting data to build the capacity of Watchlist.org and its mission. I believe children are the key to sustainable change, and they should be protected as such. I believe that working to improve and expand the capabilities of Watchlist.org could aid practitioners do their work more efficiently and with greater confidence, while getting their voices out there too. I am very glad to be a part of this capstone project through SIPA at Columbia University.