Working to prevent the use of children in war and the re-recruitment of former child soldiers in conflicts around Africa
Morris Matadi
Morris, born 1981, is a former child soldier that lived through the horrors of the Liberian civil war. He eventually managed to escape and later decided to become a social entrepreneur by founding IDEFOCS to help other girls and boys sharing his own experiences. Morris was an Unreasonable Institute fellow in 2011 and is extremely passionate about his cause and the expansion of his organisation.
Morris took part in SE Forum’s SE Outreach Accelerator in 2013.
IDEFOCS
Initiative for the Development of Former Child Soldiers (IDEFOCS) is a grass-root civil society organisation founded by former Liberian child soldiers dedicated to the prevention of the use of children in war and the re-recruitment of former child soldiers (FCS) in conflicts around Africa. Through the means of rehabilitation and trauma counselling, coupled with a focus on services that provide employment opportunities, IDEFOCS aims to reintegrate former child soldiers into the society and the labor market. As an example, the organisation has set up the FCS Botanical Reintegration Village, an agriculture program that has been designed for counselling, training and empowerment of former child soldiers. An expansion of other such programmes are in the pipeline, and among other things, the aim is to soon set up a green charcoal business.
