This thesis is an exploration of the place of forgiveness in the reintegration of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Children were recruited, either forcibly or as volunteers, into the civil war in Sierra Leone that began in March 1991 and ended, officially, in January 2002. They served in combat as well as non-combat capacities. During the final years of the war, the disarmament and demobilization process began, followed by reintegration. Reintegration for some former child soldiers was through formal programmes, while for others it was spontaneous. Reintegration into families and communities of origin was not always an option for various reasons. This thesis examines the place that forgiveness has in facilitating their reintegration or integration into society. As well, it concerns the recovery of former child soldiers. The nature of childhood is examined, with a specific focus on resilience, and its relation to reintegration and forgiveness. In order to consider the place of forgiveness in former child soldier reintegration, programmes and practices in Sierra Leone that contributed to reintegration are evaluated. Discourse from children and adults is examined, to assist in understanding the cultural perceptions and practices of forgiveness. Unilateral and bilateral forgiveness practices are considered in the context of recovery for former child soldiers. It is argued that the primary vehicle for forgiveness to be expressed is through family, community and deity, supporting and validating the practice of forgiveness in the reintegration of former child soldiers. While forgiveness is revealed as a unilateral process, the fullness of forgiveness is expressed in a bilateral way, as a social relationship, consisting of an interpersonal exchange between two or more. The practice of forgiveness is affirmed as beneficial to recovery for former child soldiers, as it restores relationships significant to the child and others, and as it makes way for a different and hopeful future for those concerned

In January 1970, the present writer visited Dambara, a little village situated near the banks of the River Moa, and only a few minutes' walk by bush-path from the Kailahun to Mano-Sewalu motor road. As he wandered through the village, a feeling which had been growing in him for a long time suddenly crystallized. This village, in its material culture and human activities, bore a striking resemblance to the sort of villages which were described by British travellers in the area during the 1890s. There was very little to be seen in Dambara which could be described as an innovation or development resulting from colonial rule. Eighty years of contact with Europeans had apparently made little impression on the everyday life of ordinary village people. Moreover, Dambara was not exceptionalt most human settlements in the Luawa area were similar. These thoughts provided the genesis of this thesis.

The Galinhas country forms the southernmost corner of modern Sierra Leone. Its inhabitants in 1650 probably belonged to the Vai people, who had reached the coast several centuries earlier as part of a Manding trade corridor from the Upper Niger. In the early seventeenth century Galinhas was ruled by a viceroy of the huge Kquoja kingdom, which extended about 250 miles along the coast; but after 1650 the kingdom declined. Until about 1750, Galinhas played only a minor role in European commerce. Thereafter the slave trade grew; and in the early nineteenth century a dramatic increase in slave exports helped Siaka (d. 1843) to create a Galinhas kingdom (much smaller than the Kquoja kingdom). Although few slaves were shipped after 1850, Siaka's political achievements were consolidated by his son Mana. The kingdom disintegrated after Mana's death in 1872, mainly because of the weakness of his successor and economic strains connected with the trade in palm produce. The coastline was ceded to the Colony of Sierra Leone in 1882 and a military expedition in 1888-9 imposed British rule over the Galinhas hinterland. Despite the influence of Europeans and of Muslims from the north, many elements of seventeenth century culture and social organization were retained almost intact.

Post-war Sierra Leone faces a deep deficit in the supply of basic public goods which is detrimental to quality of life and remains a risk factor for future conflict. The government, under substantial donor influence, seeks to address this deficit through democratic decentralization. However, evidence of the link between decentralization and improved public goods provision remains weak. I approach the public goods deficit from a different angle; rather than assuming that an imported solution is needed, I consider what can be learned from existing patterns of public goods provision. At the core of this study is a comparison of ‘success versus failure’ in local public goods provision in the city of Makeni, with the aim of understanding key dynamics that lead to divergent outcomes. While I set out to focus on cases of public goods provision led by two main categories of local government actors — elected councils and chiefs — I found that it in all four cases, citizens played a substantial role. I therefore analyze the cases as instances of coproduction of public goods. I find that coproduction is an important means of maintaining a basic supply of local public goods when state capacity is weak. With this in mind, I draw on the case study evidence to develop a set of propositions about the conditions under which coproduction is more likely to succeed in contemporary Sierra Leone. These propositions are suggestive of an alternate institutional approach to addressing the public goods deficit—one that is based on the development of workarounds for key obstacles rather than institutional overhaul. However, coproduction is no ‘magic bullet’; it has troubling implications for social equality and the development of state capacity over the longer term and thus judgements about the desirability of coproductive arrangements are likely to involve complex trade-offs.