ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a preliminary overview of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) program in Gorongosa National Park. It proceeds with a historical overview of Gorongosa National Park during Mozambique's civil war, and follows with a preliminary analysis of how and why former combatants were hired as resource management personnel. The initial experience of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique illustrates that excombatants can be effectively deployed as parks and wildlife management personnel. In 1994 the Direccao Nacional de Florestas e Fauna Bravia (DNFFB) hired seventy-six former combatants to work as game guards, scouts, and informants in Gorongosa National Park. The chapter reviews the contextual factors specific to post-conflict Mozambique that helped make the project successful. Finally, it concludes with recommendations for further research and a summary of lessons learned from the Gorongosa National Park project that should be considered when contemplating and designing similar projects in other post-conflict environments.
