Community service has become an integral component of post-conflict reintegration efforts, aiming to foster reconciliation between former combatants and civilian communities. Since 2010, Colombia has implemented a unique and comprehensive reintegration process requiring former combatants to participate in non-remunerated community service. Despite its widespread implementation by practitioners and its recognition by policymakers as a valuable component of ex-combatant reintegration, community service remains surprisingly under-researched. Drawing from existing literature on social reintegration, intergroup reconciliation, and desistance, this study investigates the conditions under which such programs contribute to former combatants’ willingness to reconcile with civilians. Twelve in-depth interviews conducted with young Colombian former combatants served as data for a qualitative process-oriented analysis. Higher levels of willingness to reconcile are encountered when former combatants work with civilians, when the program enables them to engage in a dialogue with civilians or to be in direct contact with the beneficiaries of their work. Certain community services thus seem to positively affect former combatants’ attitude towards reconciliation, both accelerating the attitude change and broadening its effects to a wider array of individuals. These findings inform practices of social reintegration in Colombia and Central America, offering further insights for worldwide applications.

As a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, there are at present hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Donbass War veterans who participated in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) and Joint Forces Operation (JFO) who must now reintegrate into civilian life. Despite the great number of veterans who need to be reintegrated socially, politically, and economically into Ukrainian society, there is currently no comprehensive policy for ex-combatant reintegration in Ukraine. Applying the concept of social capital and based on interviews, observations, and documents, this qualitative case study investigates the nature and the role of social resources in ATO/JFO veterans’ social, political, and economic reintegration in Odessa. The analysis revealed that in the lack of social trust, social cohesion, shared values, and generalized reciprocity within the wider society, veterans’ ability to generate bridging social ties were undermined. On the other hand, widespread norms of trust, particularistic reciprocity, cohesion, and solidarity within the veteran networks made research participants to rely more on their bonding social ties among veterans. The study also finds that in the absence of overarching reintegration programs, veterans’ bonding social ties contributed significantly to all spheres of their reintegration. Despite the inward-looking nature of bonding social capital that tends to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups, all veterans to varied extent describe their bonding social ties with former military comrades as an important factor in facilitating social, political, and economic reintegration.