Seven Ways Canada Can Help Africa's Great Lakes Region

A long-term, community-based approach to rebuilding the DRC requires that Canada help locals help locals.

HEAL Africa was built on the experience of many years working in Congo, responding to the needs of the Congolese people during periods of relative calm, as well as insecurity and conflict. Since 2003, our programs such as “Heal my People,” “Gender and Justice,” and “Ushindi” have responded to the needs of survivors of sexual violence in North Kivu and Maniema provinces.

Most notably, the UNICEF-funded “Heal my People” trains women chosen by their communities to be counselors for survivors of sexual violence and creates an outreach and referral system to provide them with treatment and healing. It has provided psychosocial, medical, and socio-economic assistance for 30,000 women and girls. Heal My People works in close partnership with the health, political, and faith authorities to provide a holistic approach. The program enlists men and women to become real partners in change as it builds capacity among local actors to be initiators and agents of this change.

Microcredit and training are provided to equip women with the skills necessary for them to once again lead a productive and integrated lifestyle. As the pillar of the family economy, it is important that women have enough money to cover their households’ basic needs. In addition, financial independence provides them with more rights and decision-making power at the household and community level, thereby contributing to their empowerment and making them vocal participants in the development of their communities.

In order to pursue this kind of long-term, community based approach, close cooperation with local partners is crucial. However, the search for viable partners can pose a dilemma: potential donors are met with a myriad of local organizations and associations on the ground, of which many are far from meeting professional organizational standards. It is also a fact that often, these “local NGOs” do not serve the population, but are created and operate only for the benefit of their founders.

The resulting prejudice towards local partners damages the numerous serious initiatives that do have the right motivation and the right solutions to the problems at hand, but often lack basic skills (such as IT, English language, accounting, monitoring, and evaluation) in order to qualify as partners for international donors. Yet the solution cannot be to discard local partners. Much rather, international donors should improve their coordination and develop common standards and guidelines for cooperation with local partners. It is crucial to evaluate the vision and local relevance of community-based initiatives and then provide them with training and guidance in order to build their capacities.

In this regard, training and microcredit for the socio-economic reintegration of survivors – but also other community members – may be the most efficient form of local investment. In three years working in Eastern DRC, I do not cease to admire the entrepreneurship, the resilience and success of local economic solidarity and savings groups. If economic support was accompanied by equal investments into rule of law, education and better infrastructure, Congolese communities will eventually be able to take the combat against sexual and gender-based violence into their own hands.

Photo by Aubrey Graham