This project provides business training, provisions, & consulting for more than 60 women. We serve the remote, DR Congolese community of Rwenena, where economic development is essential to break away from subsistence farming & chronic poverty. Yet, economic progress in this post-conflict community is unsustainable without peace. Our facilitated peace summits have become well-regarded beacons of hope in and beyond Rwenena. The elected Development Committee is similarly well regarded.
A former refugee camp, other communities & international agencies have considered Rwenena too conflict-prone to be safe and too remote to access due to lack of adequate infrastructure. Women have long been deemed inferior to men, who make all decisions and who don't hesitate to abuse women with sexual- and gender-based violence. Women's voices & self-esteem are lost. Sudden crises inevitably result in food insecurity. Rwenena must withstand shocks to prosper and break the cycle of poverty.
We provide tools & training for the development of women's micro-enterprises, including business literacy. Women share best practices & lessons learned. We encourage socioeconomic growth of the household unit: With weekly planning meetings & collaborative labor, they advance what becomes a family business. We coordinate well-respected peace summits conducted by a local leader. These events offer an inter-ethnic platform for residents & multi-level leaders to hear & address grievances.
People and families aligned with the community-led development approach in Rwenena will continue to work together to maintain peace and advance economic prosperity. These successes will spread to more residents & communities. Peace summits will continue as a forum for holistic communications, reforms, & new initiatives. More young people will marry inter-ethnically for love & family. Today's women changemakers are giving their daughters newfound hope & confidence for their futures.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
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