DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
context
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa and is one of the poorest countries in the world, falling in the bottom ten countries on the Human Development Index. In the DRC, food insecurity and malnutrition are the consequences of a complex web of factors, including insecurity and lack of economic opportunities with armed conflict and widespread displacement prevailing for the past 25 years. In addition to the millions of internally displaced people, the country also hosts about 527,000 refugees, mainly from Rwanda, Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The education system is plagued by low coverage and poor quality. Today almost 7 million children aged 5-17 are out of school. Poverty is a major barrier to education as parents in DRC carry the burden of direct education costs contributing $2 for every $1 the Government invests in primary schooling. In addition, there are entrenched socio-cultural barriers to education and other vulnerabilities such as child labour, early and forced marriage, early pregnancy and disability.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO IN NUMBERS
15.6M
People are in need of humanitarian assistance.
7m
Children aged 5-17 are out of school.
5.5M
People are currently displaced in the country, making DRC one of the countries most affected by internal displacement worldwide.
what we are doing
Street Child, through its subsidiary Children in Crisis and its local partner Ebenezer Ministry International (EMI), has been working in the remote, conflict-affected High Plateau region of Uvira, Mwenga and Fizi in South Kivu since 2007, to revitalise the education system and improve communities’ ability to support their families and their children’s education.
Our integrated approach includes school construction and rehabilitation, teacher training, school quality management, parental engagement, removing economic barriers to education and tackling social and cultural barriers that prevent the most marginalised children from receiving a quality education.
Together, Street Child and EMI have successfully trained 2,180 primary and secondary school teachers in 353 schools, improving the quality of education for 69,000 South Kivu children. Through the creation of 225 Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), we have supported the enrolment and retention in school of around 19,000 children and contributed to the economic empowerment of 7,500 households. We have also transformed 24 primary schools and 4 secondary schools into high quality, durable environments.
We will soon be launching a pilot of our Family Business for Education model with 50 of those caregivers and will support others with equipment grants to start or grow an income-generating activity. We also plan to use this model to support the reintegration of out-of-school children back into education, included street-connected children.
In Lusenda refugee camp, housing approximately 33,500 Burundian refugees who fled the 2015 political crisis in Burundi, we have trained secondary school teachers and provided teaching materials, student kits and uniforms. We have also engaged the most vulnerable young refugee women in a social enterprise scheme which focused on the manufacturing of reusable sanitary towels and soap-making to help tackle the lack of available economic opportunities available to these women and period poverty in the camp.
Street Child is supporting local organisations to be at the forefront of COVID-19 prevention efforts, such as EMI who have to date installed 105 handwashing stations and trained community volunteers to sensitise over 200,000 people with life-saving messages on COVID-19 in the High Plateau. At the same time, in the town of Uvira, they were amongst the first on the ground to respond to devastating floods which left 70,000 displaced in April 2020. Partnerships with other local organisations are supporting responses to child protection, meeting the basic food and hygiene needs of street-connected children and mental health support.
YOUR IMPACT IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1,685
Teachers trained
44,485
Children reached through protection services, school improvements or direct enrolment into education.
6,579
Adults reached, with 4,239 benefitting from VSLA membership.