Seeing the need for a new, broadly inclusive and collaborative approach, the Child Soldiers Initiative was created to achieve the ultimate goal of eradicating the use of child soldiers. Through a multi-phased process, the Initiative seeks to meet the following specific objectives:

• To identify and engage the key players in a dialogue process;
• To secure institutional buy-in from major actors in a process of jointly developing creative approaches to prevent the use of child soldiers, addressing both security and humanitarian dimensions of the problem;
• To identify the various types of approaches that are currently being used and come to a shared understanding of their respective potentials and limitations;
• To identify opportunities for new multi-party, collaborative approaches to prevent the use of children as soldiers;
• To develop a process that can lead to practical solutions on the ground;
• To develop tools to test proposed solutions using simulation techniques adapted from military training models;
• To test promising techniques in a field trial within an existing conflict where child soldiers are used and;
• To document and make available for broad distribution a tool kit with the results of the above processes and tools.

As we move forward, the Child Soldiers Initiative is currently in the middle of wrapping up Phase II and developing a project implementation strategy for Phase III. To this end, the Initiative aims to develop a toolkit, which will coalesce concepts, processes and methods of concerted action with regards to the use of child soldiers. Once drafted, the toolkit will go through a process of validation from three key stakeholder groups: Former child soldiers, Humanitarian agencies, and UN agencies, particularly DPKO & OCHA. We will ask each group to provide feedback and recommendations on the toolkit. Once reviewed, the toolkit will be taken into a field trial, providing the Initiative an opportunity to pilot test the strategies and practices described, put into practice a collaborative process that will be useful for all stakeholders.

Concurrently, the Child Soldiers Initiative is also developing an assessment of possible target countries to field test the toolkit. Once a target country is selected, the Child Soldiers Initiative will begin to develop a presence on the ground. We will work with relevant stakeholders to lay the political foundations needed to create a dialogue and work towards developing a consensus process towards developing integrated programming approaches to address the recruitment of child soldiers. Once a consensus process is in place, the Child Soldiers Initiative will provide ongoing support to those participating in the process, ensuring their continued collaboration and contribution to the toolkit assessment on the ground. After 12 – 18 months, the toolkit will be revised to incorporate the lessons learned and best practices from the field test.

The Initiative was organized by Search for Common Ground, Senator Roméo Dallaire, UNICEF Canada, USAID's Displaced Children and Orphans' Fund (DCOF), and the University of Winnipeg. Funding for the CSI comes from a grant from the International Development Research Centre (Ottowa), as well as support from Foreign Affairs Canada, CIDA, Rights & Democracy, the Canadian Dept. of National Defence, Senator Rod Zimmer, Bombardier, Reimer Express, the Gail Asper Foundation, Peerless Garments and Food Fare.