Our Approach
The Dallaire Institute’s approach uses a dual lens that prioritizes the protection of children as well as the operational impacts upon the security sector. It is collaborative and interdisciplinary, with a commitment to co-production with our partners, informed by priorities that are shaped at the point of implementation, as reflected in our three strategic priorities, outlined below. For more information, including specific outcomes for our work, please review our Strategic Plan 2022-2025.
At the Dallaire Institute, our approach is to pursue meaningful engagement that prioritizes the safety of children and equally recognizes the moral dilemmas faced by the security sector actors operating in areas where children are being recruited and used. We aim to help all parties fully understand the long – term socio-economic, psychological, and structural harm caused by recruiting and using children for armed violence. In doing so, we aim to change attitudes and behaviour patterns, as we support partners through the processes required to prevent child recruitment and use – from the security sector to the policy makers and in collaboration with local community organizations and networks. For a more detailed statement on our approach, please review our statement here.
Where Theory Meets Action
At the Dallaire Institute, we put theory into action. Our research and learning agenda informs the content, design and implementation of our capacity building programs, policy advocacy, and community engagement.
Accelerating Action on the Vancouver Principles
The Vancouver Principles aim to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers as critical to achieving lasting peace and security. These principles operationalize child protection within UN peacekeeping by taking a more proactive and preventative stance on child recruitment in the context of peacekeeping operations. By endorsing and implementing the Vancouver Principles, Member States ensure that their peacekeepers are prepared to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.
Strengthening and building the capacity of the security sector to prevent the recruitment and use of children
The recruitment and use of children in violence is a tactical and strategic element of current conflicts that must be addressed through proactive, prevention-oriented training. Security sector actors are often the first point of contact for children recruited and used in violence, therefore, any meaningful efforts to prevent violations against children must include a focus on security sector preparedness. The Dallaire Institute is the only organization in the world that adopts a dual lens approach to preventing the recruitment and use of children. Our unique dual lens approach to prevention focuses on prioritizing the protection of children from factors that make them susceptible to recruitment, as well as understanding the significant distressing psychological impacts and operational challenges faced by security sector actors who come face to face with children who have been recruited.
View our Handbook for security-focused organizations engaged in peace operations and learn more about capacity building programs.
Integrating community perspectives to prevent the recruitment and use of children
The recruitment and use of children in armed violence has devastating effects for children and their communities. The Dallaire Institute believes that strategies to prevent children’s recruitment and use must be community-based and context-specific. Collaboration between communities and security actors is key to developing effective prevention strategies and to increasing the accountability and responsiveness of security actors to the community. By prioritizing the needs of children and championing their roles as key agents of change and advocates of peace, we can further strengthen a global peace and security agenda. The Dallaire Institute’s research on community perspectives is central to how we understand and analyze how community engagement helps shape prevention strategies. We work with local partners to create platforms that build trust between communities and the security sector actors charged with their protection.
Read our Children, Peace and Security: A Policy Checklist on Building the Agenda Together