Improving living conditions of the crisis-affected in hard-to-reach areas of the Eastern D.R. Congo through Integrated emergency assistance

The Issue

For more than 30 years, the security situation in the DR Congo has led to a complex and prolonged humanitarian crisis, of which the acuteness and scope has increased over time. The ongoing crisis has caused immeasurable human and material damage, and compounded with the impacts of COVID-19, is plunging a large part of Congolese population into a situation of extreme vulnerability. Civilians continue to pay a heavy price because of multifaceted conflicts, with nearly 5.7 million people internally displaced, making the DR Congo the country with the largest number of internally displaced people on the African continent, and with more than 26.4 million cannot meet their basic food needs, and some 6.4 million of those people are affected by acute malnutrition (OCHA, 2023).

The Project

The project provides multisectoral lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance, protection services and resilience-building to support at-risk and vulnerable people in hard-to-reach areas in four areas in North Kivu (Walikale, Masisi, Rutshuru and Lubero territories). The activity’s multi-sectoral purpose is to improve humanitarian access, economic recovery, and basic living conditions of appoxematly 160,000 conflict-affected persons through cash-for-work, water, sanitation, and hygiene, shelter, and protection interventions in hard-to-reach areas of North Kivu.

The Change

DCA and HEKS/EPER is intervening in the sectors of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Shelter and Settlements, Protection, and Economic Recovery and Market Systems. HEKS/EPER is rehabilitating infrastructure key to enhance the population’s access to humanitarian assistance through Cash-for-Work, and the emergency distribution of water, sanitation, hygiene, and shelter- non-food items.

DCA is implementing emergency distribution of shelters and non-food items and a preventive and responsive gender-based violence intervention, including the provision of livelihoods support including New Livelihoods Opportunities and the support to survivors of and women at risk of gender-based violence.

The Results

DCA has distributed more than 13,000 Shelter and non-food item-kits to people displaced by the conflict in North Kivu. Moreover, DCA has provided preventive and responsive gender- based violence- intervention across the four territories in North Kivu. More specifically, this has involved, the setup of nine local protection committees and the training of their members on gender- based violence, the training of 35 community leaders and authorities on gender-based violence, the establishment of three women safe spaces, the identification on 20 community-based volunteer psychosocial agents, the identification on five positive masculinity groups, the identification of one local theatre troop and two local radios for the broadcasting of five different gender-based violence-related messages, and the provision of cash for protection to gender-based violence survivors

Our Work

DCA provides integrated humanitarian assistance focused primarily on protection and distribution of cash as well as shelter and non-food item kits. In addition to the humanitarian assistance focused on North Kivu, DCA is the only international NGO still doing humanitarian mine action in DR Congo. By providing Risk Education and clearing contaminated areas, DCA helps save lives in the conflict-ridden country.