In 2014, the mass abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, thrust Boko Haram’s violence against women and girls into global consciousness. The #BringBackOurGirls movement spurred regional governments and international partners to pledge protection and support to bring these schoolgirls home and put an end to the insurgency. Since then, efforts have centred on encouraging exits from the Boko Haram factions— Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād (JAS) and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)—and implementing reintegration programmes under the banner of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). Yet, nearly a decade later, the question remains: What does (re)integration truly mean, and for whom?
Despite global commitments to gender-sensitive and gender-representative reintegration programming, there has been little realization of these aims for women and girls exiting Boko Haram. For them, demobilization is not truly an option; many of these women and girls remain married to the very men they were forced into relationships with while with Boko Haram. Few legal avenues and dire economic necessity mean that women and girls remain tethered to their Boko Haram ‘husbands’ (often for their very survival). Other women and girls have had more positive experiences and have come to appreciate their husbands and the care they have provided for them, showing the often-missed nuances of the experiences of women and girls who are exiting armed groups.
The question remains as to what reintegration can truly look like for these women and girls. UNIDIR’s report Survival and Struggle: The Experience of Women and Girls With and After Boko Haram evidences how reintegration processes must not be viewed as an acute, singular moment, but rather as an ongoing reckoning. The impact of remnant legacies of violence and prolonged isolation do not disappear upon return; rather they continue to shape these women and girls, their children, families and communities at large.
Legacies of violence past the point of return
Women and girls who leave Boko Haram do so under vastly different circumstances. Narratives from the extensive field research from UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project with women and girls in the Lake Chad Basin region highlight tales of women and girls fleeing in the middle of the night and having to select an opportune moment to escape with their children as safely as possible. Upon their return, many women and girls bypass screening and formal support, due to being viewed as passive victims and not viewed as a threat. Women and girls then arrive (often with multiple children in tow) directly into communities, sometimes those of origin, and sometimes entirely new ones, where they struggle to directly access support.
The absence of targeted reintegration efforts highlights a broader issue within reintegrating programming—its failure to address the distinct needs of women and girls.[1] These processes largely focus on men, with benefits such as financial and material assistance primarily being allocated to men and boys. Women and girls, in contrast, often receive minimal support, reinforcing gendered disparities and placing them and their children at a heightened risk of economic insecurity. Without adequate support, women and girls are often forced to engage in precarious and dangerous survival strategies.[2] Many are forced to sell portions of their limited assistance kits for food, embark on hazardous forest trips to collect firewood, or exchange sex for money and other essentials. These actions underscore the false notion of ‘choice’ in their reintegration—many women and girls have no viable alternatives to meet their basic needs. The structural barriers they face further entrench their marginalization, limiting not only their opportunities for economic independence and social reintegration, but those of their children too.
Past the point of return, communities’ responses to returning women and girls vary vastly. While survey data from UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project indicates that most communities demonstrate high levels of acceptance and sympathy, pockets of fear, stigma and rejection persist in some. For women and girls reintegrating into situations of displacement, a fundamental problem arises when they do not speak the same language as their peers, making it almost impossible to communicate their peaceful intentions. In addition, the enduring impact of prolonged forced isolation while with Boko Haram has also meant a loss of social skills, with some women and girls finding it difficult to adjust to their newfound freedom and engage with other community members.
Beyond this, women and girls reintegrate into an environment shaped by broader crises of displacement, economic instability, and climate-related challenges. Many return to communities experiencing severe livelihood difficulties and resource shortages, making reintegration even more difficult. While humanitarian actors, military personnel, and government agencies attempt to provide basic needs such as food, water and shelter, these efforts fall short in fostering long-term stability. These women and girls do not reintegrate into stability and often find themselves reintegrating into situations of protracted and even secondary displacement.
Indeed, reintegration does not happen in a vacuum – it is shaped by innumerable facets, from bureaucratic hurdles, entrenched gender norms to a polycrisis of overlapping humanitarian challenges. To pretend otherwise is to ignore the lived realities of women and girls within this process. Ignoring these structural barriers does not just risk failing women and girls; it perpetuates their marginalization, deepens insecurity, and threatens the very foundation of lasting peace and recovery.
Temporal bounds of reintegration
When viewing the experience of reintegration as a singular, and temporally bound process ending soon after the point of return, we lose sight of the valuable insights to be learned from the lived realities of women and girls and ignore the continued impact that violence endured has on everyday lives. For women and girls, reintegration is not a finite process but an ongoing negotiation with identity, stigma and survival. The ‘present’ of reintegration cannot be disentangled from the ‘past; of violence or the ‘future’ of societal change.
The phenomenon of forced marriages can provide one example of these challenges. Many screening processes do not attempt to identify victims of forced marriage and other forms of gender-based violence. As such, many women and girls who were forcefully married whilst with Boko Haram remain tethered to these relationships upon leaving the group. In Chad, which is the only country in the region to have a legal statute that requires marriages to be voluntary, women and girls were offered the option to separate from their ‘bush husbands’.[3] This reality, often complicated by economic dependency and the threat of losing their children from that relationship, rendered this notion of choice obsolete. Further, in such societies where arranged marriages are common, even if these women and girls were to secure a divorce, they would often be remarried immediately after and, likely not to a man of their choosing. Many women and girls therefore remain in these marriages, potentially perpetuating cycles of violence and control.
These dynamics underscore the need to expand our temporal frame, recognizing reintegration as a process influenced by past traumas and future uncertainties.
Holistic reintegration for women and girls
If reintegration is to be meaningful, and reflective of the lived realities of women and girls, it must be approached as a holistic process. This means addressing not just the immediate needs of women and girls but also the structural and societal factors that hinder their full inclusion. The Survival and Struggle report offers a roadmap, highlighting several key areas for intervention:
- Gender-sensitive programming: Women and girls’ meaningful participation in reintegration policy and practices is missing. Reintegration programming must move beyond viewing women and girls as passive victims. Acknowledging their agency—both during their time with Boko Haram and in their efforts to rebuild—is crucial. Tailored support that considers their unique experiences, such as physical and psychological trauma, economic dependency and caregiving responsibilities, is also essential.
- Community engagement: Stigma, fear and rejection are community-level issues that require community-level solutions. Dialogue programmes that foster understanding and reconciliation can help bridge the gap between returnees and their neighbours. Working with community-based associations to provide lasting and meaningful participation in all aspects of DDR-like processes ultimately aids in supporting returning women and girls, fostering strengthened capacities and skills.
- Economic empowerment: Livelihood opportunities are a cornerstone of sustainable reintegration. Providing women with skills training, funding or access to markets can reduce their dependence on others and enhance their social standing. Programmes must be designed to account for the specific barriers women and girls face, such as limited mobility, displacement and time constraints due to caregiving roles.
- Policy coherence and inclusivity: Governments must align their policies with the realities of women and girls’ experiences and give them choices. This includes creating legal frameworks that address forced marriages, trafficking and gender-based violence. Moreover, involving women and girls in the design and implementation of reintegration programmes can ensure that their needs and perspectives are adequately represented.
Towards a deeper understanding
To build truly effective and long-lasting reintegration efforts, we must bridge the gaps between research, practice and experience. Whilst there is growing recognition of the challenges women and girls face upon exiting Boko Haram, critical gaps remain. First, reintegration is not a singularly gendered experience—understanding how men, too, navigate vulnerability is essential to shaping effective interventions. Second, despite persistent calls for gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches, funding remains inadequate, and many programmes are inaccessible to and unable to address the needs of women and girls. Moving forward, we must invest in ongoing, participatory research with women and girls to ensure that their evolving needs inform policy and programme design in real time. Without this, reintegration risks being a well-intentioned aspiration rather than a lived reality.
Francesca Batault is an Associate Researcher with UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project. Previously, Francesca worked on humanitarian mine action and weapons dynamics in the Lake Chad Basin for Mines Advisory Group, as well as the ICRC and the International Crisis Group. She received a master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a bachelor’s degree in with honours in politics, philosophy and economics.
Jack Conneely was a Graduate Professional with UNIDIR’s Strategic Communications team. He is currently Project Lead at Everyone’s Invited in the Violence against Women at Girl’s sector and acts as a Research Assistant at Oxford University. Previously, Jack worked at International Alert and at Ireland’s Think-tank for Action on Social Change. He holds an MSc in Gender, Peace and Security from LSE, and a BA in Sociology and Social Policy from Trinity College Dublin.
[1] Julia Palik and Hana Salama “Five steps towards gender-responsive disarmament, demobilization and reintegration” UNIDIR, Geneva 2024
[2] Chitra Nagarajan, Francesca Batault, Siobhan O’Neil and Fatima Yetcha Ajimi Badu, “Survival and Struggle: The Experience of Women and Girls With and After Boko Haram” Findings Report 39, UNIDIR, Geneva, 2024
[3] Chitra Nagarajan, Francesca Batault, Siobhan O’Neil and Fatima Yetcha Ajimi Badu, “Survival and Struggle: The Experience of Women and Girls With and After Boko Haram” Findings Report 39, UNIDIR, Geneva, 2024