Economic Growth Congo, Democratic Republic of the Project #51955

Advance Economic Growth for 50 women in DR Congo

by Reach Out NGO

Project Report | Sep 13, 2021
Rwenena Hosts Hundreds of Displaced Persons

By Annette Scarpitta | Director and U.S. liaison

A Rwenena home before the 2020-21 arrival of IDPs

Since April, the Rwenena community, along with other parts of Uvira territory and South Kivu province, has experienced 2 large influxes of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). At the height of this crisis, IDPs in Rwenena numbered 626. According to a June 2021 report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), with more than 6 million forcibly displaced people, DR Congo has at least a third more displacement than any other country in Africa.

The first of these 2 groups fled from their homes in the highlands (Hauts Plateaux) of South Kivu province following a resurgence of longstanding violence dating back to 1996. More IDPs followed in May and June. Out of some 487 IDPs who arrived in Rwenena in May, 439 remained as of June 25.

The second group of IDPs arrived in late May and early June, following the catastrophic eruption of the Mount Nyiragongo volcano in North Kivu province. Thousands fled in all directions, with 139 arriving in Rwenena, located more than 100 miles from the site. As of June 25, some 39 people remained primarily because humanitarian agencies ended transportation services back to their homes.

So how have these influxes impacted the Rwenena community?

Residents have experienced ongoing food insecurity since April 2020 due to a series of unfortunate events including devastating floods and lockdowns due to the threat of COVID-19. Despite not having ample food for themselves, 134 host families came forward to accept the 478 IDPs. Temporary shelters and provisions at schools and churches were far away, and people preferred to stay with family or friends. Unfortunately, authorities failed to recognize Rwenena as a site needing humanitarian assistance.

These events have caused changes to our project activities. We postponed our long-awaited community peace summit as well as our training for a limited number of women in the Pama Kaci enterprise. Each has just been implemented, and after all the data and media have been processed, we will share the results with you in our next report.

FOPAC has extensive experience with IDPs relocating to local communities in S. Kivu province. They know that some IDPs will remain and may well be integrated into the permanent community, as were 75 families last year. Sometimes the team needs to adjust programming to accommodate new conditions. But we are all committed to the Pama Kaci women who continue to make sacrifices as they work tirelessly for success, despite inadequate funding. We will continue to facilitate a climate in which disadvantaged women can attain lasting economic growth.

Your donations are needed now more than ever to provide the women of Pama Kaci the boost they need for them and eventually for fellow residents to prosper. Please consider a donation of any amount, for example, $20 for a market stall shelf, $200 for preparing more women with their own microenterprises to help alleviate hunger, or even $2,000 for a robust array of production-related supplies and materials to transition to a large-scale operation, along with additional training.

Thank you in advance . . . and don’t forget to spread the word about this project to your friends, family, and other connections. This simple act is key to our success.

Annette Scarpitta

Director and U.S. liaison

The Rwenena Project

FOPAC

A Rwenena home before the 2020-21 arrival of IDPs

A Rwenena home the 2020-21 arrival of IDPs

A Rwenena home before the 2020-21 arrival of IDPs

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May 27, 2021
Facilitating Peace in Rwenena, DRC Congo

By Annette Scarpitta | Director and U.S. Liaison

3 leaders with crops

We begin this report with a reminder that this project is implemented by the Congo Federation of Smallholder Farmers Organizations of South Kivu (FOPAC-SK, or FOPAC). Thanks to your generous donations received in April, we are pleased to report that the “Pama Kaci” women are now excited to begin a pilot program of launching individual micro-enterprises that will assist them in providing food and other necessities for their families. After the program launches with training and seed funding, updates will be shared in our subsequent reports.

How did the vulnerable women of Rwenena—living in chronic poverty—become a driving force in their community? For ten years, an American woman remotely directed small-scale programming through a series of 5 Congolese organizations. She introduced a literacy and human rights training program bringing together mothers from 3 ethnic groups who didn’t even share a common language. Over time, they learned to understand one another as a sisterhood emerged. A subsequent program for the women provided training & practice in shared permagardening—growing food throughout the year in small gardens—and livestock production activities, during which a 5-person management team was elected. Group members formed a cooperative and named themselves Pama Kaci, a Shi term meaning “Let’s Cultivate Love”. The term has since become the name of their current enterprise.

This year, thanks also to your donations, we look forward to a peace summit in late June. To understand why this event is so critical to the success of Pama Kaci, we look back to the previous peace summit, held in November 2019. FOPAC conducted interviews and explored initial pathways to community-led development. Outsiders have long considered Rwenena too much of a security risk to include in organizational programming. Tantamount to this perception was a longstanding rivalry between 2 chiefs of different ethnicities. Besides residents, the summit included representatives of major sectors, including the police, the army, health services, & education. Their inclusion was key to a newfound understanding with the community. As significant was the inclusion of women in the male-dominated society. As FOPAC senior officer Jean-Marie noted, “We focus on the woman in our programming because she is at the center of the household and of community activity in general.”

A key outcome at the 2019 summit was the election of 2 gender-balanced committees—one for general, community-led development and the other for women’s issues. Both groups remain active today. Among those elected were some of the women of Pama Kaci, further securing their places as leaders across ethnic divides. Two months after the summit, the first elected committee had facilitated high-level peace and reconciliation between the rival chiefs, while the second lobbied successfully for the service of a licensed midwife to reduce or eliminate maternal and neonatal fatalities. Through earlier programming experiences, the Pama Kaci women have subtly demonstrated to men how peace can lead to community and economic growth.

It must be pointed out, however, that some of the sector representatives at the 2019 summit—namely, the police and the military—have been replaced by new ones who do not yet understand the complexities of the community and its ultimate desire for peace. Male jealousy & disdain have emerged toward Pama Kaci. Therefore, at the June 2021 summit, we will invite a broader array of current stakeholders—including representatives from organizations that may reconsider the value of Rwenena in regional growth. And just as in 2019, this year will feature a new segment on the value of women & Pama Kaci in the long-term economic prosperity of Rwenena.

We depend on your continued donations to implement more components of our programming and to ultimately set Pama Kaci on a path to profitability. Included will be providing additional micro-enterprises for more women, training, and development for the sales and marketing team, and offsetting of production costs.

Attached to this report are a few pictures with captions of the Pama Kaci women from the field.

Sincerely,

Annette.

Director and U.S. Liaison,

The Rwenena Project

FOPAC.

FOPAC_summit_Nov2019_men and women laughing

Generose_jardin_BEST w-smile

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