Economic Growth Congo, Democratic Republic of the Project #57652

Support small busness to 250 refugee women in DRC

by Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in DRCongo (COJESKI/DRC, Coordination of North Kivu

Project Report | May 3, 2025
Training also leaders in online fundraising

By Kulihoshi M | Coordinator

Refugee women training in Goma in neating

Online fundraising trainings have been our priorities in order to capacitate refugee initiatives

For the last three months we focused on helping refugee leaders and all those projects to explore online fundraising opportunities in order to continue with their projects. This came in as we realized that people have great ideas but they limited in terms of funding.

In Goma, so far 39 people were trained, in Uvira so far 13 people have trained and the next training will focus on people in Kalemie. In these trainings also opportunities with GlobalGiving have been explored and some have already projects running on the site of GlobalGiving, we have also linked to COHERE and at the same time connected COHERE to local initiatives.

Being aware that we may not solve everything ourselves, we are trying to solve challenges refugees have.

In the same way, we held two trainings in Goma on how to create an organization and how to manage it. We have also helped 6 refugee leaders to make the constitution of their organizations among them 2 in Uganda, 3 in Goma and one in Uvira. The next training will focus on people in Kalemie who have also expressed the need.

We hope that they raise money and continue with their activities in order to solve community problems.

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May 3, 2025
Support women in Goma, Uvira, Kalemie and Burundi

By Kulihoshi M | Coordinator

This young women doing small business in the camp

Expanding this Project to South Kivu, Tanganyika Provinces and to refugee camps in Burundi. The best and sustainable approach is supporting local initiatives at the community level.

Refugee women continue to strive and are still active in various ways in order to survive and help their children at least to eat.

As the current war hit Goma and Bukavu, we observed the movement of both refugee women and Congolese women towards Uvira in South Kivu and in Kalemie Tanganyika where they are all in camps but also another group crossed the border and entered Burundi where they are now living in refugee camps, actually Burundi has received a big number of Congolese since this year started.

With current Trump’s Administration of stopping relief aid, we have actually released that most of international relief organizations depended on the USA funding in order to operate. Currently many NGOs have stopped working claiming they do not have funds, and others just have left many parts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In this situation women economic resilience becomes the only option in order to survive in camps and face this dire life in IDP Camps. In each camp and each setting we have so far visited there is economic opportunities and most of small trade and small businesses in all camps are being done by women.

In Kalemie for example, this IDP camp was put here in March but as now here are the economic activities IDP women are involved in to solve the problem and provide solutions to the shortage in their camp. This also to survive by getting some money in this situation where there is no relief aid anymore.

The question is now how best to amplify what they doing and support them to move forward in order to become economically independent. This is our task.

Creating with small businesses in order to survive

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Jan 18, 2025
These Refugee women remain the role model now and earning a living because of this project

By Kulihoshi M | Provincial Coordinator of North Kivu

She makes this and sells it to the public

Two groups of 25 refugee women resist to the current humanitarian crisis in Goma, North Kivu the Democratic Republic of Congo. We need to do better and maximan availlable opportunities for more others to benefit. This project should reach at least 300 refugee women in Goma this year

First of all, we humbly thank our dear donors for their generous contributions towards this cause, and we wish them a very happy and wonderful year 2025. We shall be happy to journey with you this year also and it is for us a privilege that you choose to donate to us.

Last year our projects suffered for the lack of funding, generally we received one donation per month and the amount was between10-50$, generally from our previous donors. Our aim to reach at least 100 donors was not achieved. However the work could not stop, money will get us on the way.

Each group has 25 refugee women, they were given starting cash and they are involved in various economic activities. They meet once a week and in the meetings a lot things happen which were not before. They save some money in their group and this money saved helps them to resist to economic problems especially in terms of loss, this money helps them to recover and move forward. They also contribute little money for social assistance among themselves this money helps in case one is sick, is facing problems with house rent, has lost a relative, and for social functions.

As a result so far much as they are struggling however these women are not a burden neither to the humanitarian actors nor to the communities. They are economically independent and far different from others. Each morning they know they will hustle the whole day and earn a living. The most important thing current is to get food at home, pay the house, and then the care for the body, these remain the top priorities.

Generally because of the current war in North Kivu and the influx of Internally Displaced Persons which has caused a humanitarian disaster that has effected many parts of Goma, the objectives of this project which aimed at refugee women economic empowerment in order to reduce poverty has now reduced to surviving mechanisms. So currently these women are working in order to live today and not to save for the future, this is more realistic, safe and keeps them together.

Beyond that the mere fact of meeting every week helps these women to get information, share experiences among themselves, explore opportunities and a strong relationship together. These meetings have helped them to explore big ideas in which they can get involved in once the war is over.

We are so glad that at least this objective of helping these women to aim high, to discover potential in them and to look at opportunities around them is being achieved, this is the begging to reduce poverty.

Challenges

What we have missed during this period of war and which we should have done should have been Adult Education Programme and yet this is the favorable time because these women are not so much busy with moving and traveling in different parts. Adult education for them means to learn how to read, write, calculate, plan, access to SmartPhone and look for information through internet, learn French and some English and get trainings in business management among other skills they need.

This has not been becaus

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