Democratic Republic of Congo

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WPHF is filling crucial funding gaps for local civil-society organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, supporting them to end violence against women and girls, protect human rights, lead humanitarian response, strengthen economic resilience and respond to COVID-19 in contexts of conflict and crises.

DRC EMERGENCY FUNDING APPEAL

Our Work

In the DRC, the WPHF and Spotlight Initiative partnership is channeling urgently-needed financing to grassroots women’s organizations working to end violence against women and promote human rights and gender equality in peace and security contexts.

WPHF is also supporting grantees to ensure that women meaningfully participate in local decision-making processes and humanitarian assistance mechanisms, improve women’s access to economic recovery opportunities and respond to COVID-19 in crises settings.

Our Partners

WPHF has supported 30 projects implemented by 51 women-led and women’s rights civil society organizations in DRC: 

WPHF and Spotlight Initiative Partners: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Crisis Settings

  • AFPDE on project based in South Kivu (Uvira, Fizi and Walungu) tackling the impacts of SGBV by reinforcing the capacities of women’s organizations and associations.
  • CAUSE RURALE on a project based in Mayi Ndombe, Kwango, Kwilu and Kongo-Central contributing to peace construction and humanitarian aid through reinforcing the operational and structural capacities of women, and other social and humanitarian actors, on peace and gender in crisis and humanitarian interventions.
  • GRACE on a project based in North Kivu (Bwisha, Bwito and Bashali) promoting peace and gender equality in the midst of conflict and multifaceted violence.
  • IDHE on a project based in South Kivu aiming to eliminate harmful practices affecting widows through the formation of customary chiefs and female leaders, community education and legal aid.
  • LOFEPACO on a project based in North and South Kivu (Masisi and Kalehe) aiming to promote human dignity through empowerment and the socioeconomic reintegration of vulnerable women.
  • PIFEVA on a project based in South Kivu (Mwenga) contributing to the reinforcement of local women’s rights protection mechanisms and the socioeconomic empowerment of vulnerable women and girls, including women and girls who are marginalized as a result of armed conflict.
  • SAFI-Maniema on a project based in Maniema providing support to Citizen Alert and Action Committees to promote women’s and girls’ rights and reduce harmful practices and SGBV.
  • SFAW on a project based in South Kivu (Walungu and Kalehe) reinforcing income generating entrepreneurial activities, promoting indigenous rights and training female leaders.
  • Fondation Moyo on a project to build the capacities of the heads of 100 NGOs, provide psycho-social, judicial and socio-economic services for 200 survivors of SGBV and establish ten groups of peacebuilders in local communities.
  • Sauti Ya Mama Mukongomani (SMM) on a project – implemented in partnership by 2 civil society networks including a coalition of women’s organizations – to advocate for the implementation of laws against violence and tackle sexual and gender-based violence in the family through sensitization targeting police forces, students, teachers and religious groups, and provide legal support for victims through the establishment of a legal clinic.
  • Bureau d’Elaboration et de Mise en oeuvre des Projets de Developpement Communautaire (BEMPROOEC) on a project to eliminate harmful practices and empower survivors of SGBV through the provision of holistic care (medical, psycho-social and legal services) in the town of Tshikapa, Kasai Province.
  • Fondation Femme Plus (FFP) on a project to support income-generating activities to improve the living conditions of vulnerable women, strengthen the knowledge of young people about reproductive health and combat violence against women in Central Kasai Province.
  • Association pour la Defense des Droits de la Femme (ADDF) on a project to provide psycho-social support to survivors of sexual and gender ­based violence and sensitize community members on Ebola virus response targeting women and youth in Lubero and Beni territories and the city of Butembo.
  • Association des Femmes Autochtones Engagées dans la Protection de l’Environnement et la Lutte contre la Pauvreté Féminine (AFPE) on a project to improve local women’s safe access to natural ressources and land in Mai Ndombe Province.
  • Union pour l’Emancipation de la femme autochtone (UEFA) on a project to support the involvement of women from pygmy communities in eradicating SGBV and building peace in South Kivu Province.

Other WPHF Partners: Protection of Women & Girls, Peacebuilding & Recovery

  • Action pour la réinsertion sociale de la femme (ARSF) on a project to support the socio-economic recovery of marginalized women and survivors of multiple forms of discrimination to consolidate peace in the Walungo territory of South Kivu province.
  • Union de Femme pour le Développement et Incorporation (UFEDE) on a project to strengthen the capacities of women and girls to prevent harmful practices and recurrent conflicts at community level in South Kivu province.
  • Association Dignité on a project to empower women survivors of community conflicts, building their leadership by enhancing their economic resilience in Kinshasa province.
  • Ensemble pour la Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille (EPF) on a project to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights and to provide holistic assistance to survivors of sexual and gender based violence in the Fizi territory of South Kivu province.
  • ONG Congo.Ju/RDC on a project that improves the living conditions of women and girl survivors of SGBV by providing them with holistic care ranging from psychosocial and medical assistance to legal counseling and socio-economic reintegration. The project sets up an SGBV essential services referral system, supports survivors with professional learning and builds local actors and medical service providers’ capacities on the management of GBV cases.

Humanitarian & Crisis Response, Peacebuilding & Recovery

  • PROVAH, DAFED, and CERACOD on a joint project to rehabilitate 15 km of agricultural tracks, 4 football fields and 4 cultural spaces in the context of peace awareness, and to generate socio-economic opportunities for women returned from refugee camps in the localities of Tumbwe, Mulange and Kalemie-Tanganyika in Tanganyika province.
  • ATDERBI on a project to support the agro-pastoral activities of 500 female heads of households after the Ebola outbreak in lkoro, lmpenge, Bokeya-Ngombe and ltipo villages, Bikoro territory in Equateur province.
  • SAFI, UMAMA, AFELMA and ATK on a joint project to rehabilitate the economic activities of vulnerable women affected by armed conflict in southern Maniema province.
  • SOFEPADI and FOMI on a joint project to involve women in community initiatives to enhance their resilience, promote gender equality and participate in peacebuilding in Ituri and North Kivu province.
  • AFPDE on a project to improve the health conditions of internally displaced and refugee women in the health zones of Ruzizi and Nandu in South Kivu province.
  • CEFIDI on a project to support to the socio-economic rehabilitation of women and girls through apprenticeship and income-generating activities in post-conflict zones in the rural communes and outskirts of North Kivu province.

Responding to and Surviving COVID-19 in Crisis Settings

  • Aide à la future elite feminine (AFEF) on a youth-led project to ensure access to education for marginalized young women, girls and boys during the pandemic by improving their access to IT and online platforms.
  • Réseau National des Associations des Femmes Rurales en RDC (RENAFER) on a project to economically empower women entrepreneurs in order to reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their income generation, further protecting them from SGBV and promoting their participation in decision making within households and communities.
  • AGIR Ensemble on a project providing a holistic response to the escalating incidents of SGBV during the COVID-19 pandemic by organizing awareness campaigns and engaging with community leaders, women’s organization, survivors of SGBV, men and boys in Kinshasa and to facilitate survivors’ access to legal services and justice.
  • Collectif des Femmes Journalistes to sustain its work training women journalists, acquiring equipment, and improving their access to internet, which will ensure quality dissemination of critical information on COVID-19 and combat misinformation.

Explore our Full List of WPHF COVID-19 Emergency Response Window Partners Around the World

COVID-19 Emergency Response Window Projects

Background

For nearly two decades, the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been the epicenter of one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. As the conflict morphed from a regional war to a series of tenacious local insurgencies, the civilians caught in the middle have paid the steepest price.

The eastern Congo’s minerals power the world’s consumer electronics, and the country’s largely untapped farmlands have the potential to feed the rest of Africa. Yet disputes over these vast resources often drive conflict as rebel groups seek to control them to fund their own campaigns, resulting in kidnappings, lootings, killings, mass rape of women and the burning of villages. Armed groups continue to cause insecurity and massive population displacement, preventing stabilization and sustainable development in eastern DRC.

Women bear the brunt of conflict, constituting over 3.6 million of the total 7 million people demonstrating humanitarian need. They suffer from serious human rights violations, sexual and gender-based violence, massive internal and external population displacement, the degradation of production means and socio-economic discrimination. Congolese women in humanitarian and conflict settings live at risk of violation of their human rights and are in urgent need of protection caused by armed conflict and displacement.

Our Vision

In the DRC, WPHF aims to ensure the financing and coordination of local civil society organizations to empower women as key actors in ending violence against women, protecting human rights, leading humanitarian action, and strengthening economic resilience and recovery on the road to sustainable peace.

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