What does it really look like when someone leaves an armed group? How do communities experience reintegration? And how can we design better policies and programmes that support these transitions?
These are the kinds of questions that UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project is addressing through the launch of a new set of interactive data dashboards.
A closer look at life after conflict
Launched this month, the Data Dashboards for Managing Exits from Armed Conflict are an open-access portal where users can explore de-identified, individual-level data collected from surveys with former associates of armed groups, affiliates of community security actors (e.g., militia groups), and unaffiliated community members affected by conflict.
The first three dashboards cover Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria — countries that have all experienced the devastating impacts of the Boko Haram conflict. The dashboards shed light on trajectories out of armed groups, community experiences with conflict and perceptions on reintegration, local security dynamics, and more.
And these are just the beginning. UNIDIR’s Project has been conducting similar surveys in other conflict-affected contexts — including Colombia, Iraq, and Niger — with new dashboards to be published as data becomes available.
Turning research into practical tools
Traditionally, findings from peace and security research are shared through detailed reports. While these offer valuable depth and analysis, they can sometimes be difficult to navigate for practitioners who need quick, targeted insights to inform their work on the ground.
Digital tools such as the dashboards change that. Users can now filter and explore the data based on their own interests — for example, comparing how men and women experience reintegration, or how trust in security actors differs across communities.
This flexibility makes the platform useful not just for researchers, but for anyone working on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, peacebuilding, prevention, or community development.
From field research to actionable insights
The dashboards bring together the Project’s extensive field research from Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Iraq, Niger and Nigeria, and turns it into interactive tools that are easy to navigate. Whether you are a practitioner, policymaker or researcher, you can explore the data in ways that matter to your work.
This is about closing the gap between data and decision-making — and ensuring prevention and reintegration efforts are informed by the real experiences of people living through conflict and recovery. Their perspectives should be the starting point, not an afterthought.
Dr Siobhan O’Neil, Head of UNIDIR’s Managing Exits from Armed Conflict Project