It’s all in the delivery (pun intended)

Encouraging and facilitating the peaceful surrender of LRA combatants is one of the most effective ways to reduce threats to communities in central Africa and weaken the LRA’s ability to effectively operate. That is why defection fliers are an essential part of our Protection Programs.

Invisible Children works with partner organizations and local leaders to send “come home” messages directly to LRA groups by planting fliers alongside known routes that the LRA travel, as well as dropping them from the air across Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). They have proven successful, with 79% of LRA who have surrendered in the past year citing “come home” fliers as influential in their escape.

We have designed various versions of these fliers over the past few years. They typically are written in several different languages and feature photos of former LRA members who have escaped and instructions for surrendering safely, often with specific locations of where to do so. The newest flier is ultra-special and features Mr. Johny ‘Lacambel’ Oryem.

Lacambel is the man. One of the earlier innovators of FM radio in northern Uganda, he developed the “Dwog Paco” or come home programming in 2001 and quickly gained prominence among LRA members as a trusted voice. Because of his established rapport with them, he had our newest flier include his personal contact information so LRA combatants can reach out to him directly. There were 30,000 of these fliers recently printed and dropped.