New project in DRC: Reintegration of women in Katogota

A new project that helps reintegrate women victims of sexual violence in Katogota, DRC.

Context
The Itara grouping in the Katogota health area is located in the north of the territory of Uvira in the DRC. The population lives mainly from agricultural activities and petty trade. Most of the young people are unemployed, which exacerbates insecurity because armed groups recruit from among these young people.
Since 1994, with the arrival of Rwandan refugees, the security situation in the Ruzizi plain has never stabilised. The strategic position of the border area with neighbouring Burundi and Rwanda provides a base for armed groups. The houses are on the road but the fields are sometimes more than 10 km away from the inhabited areas. Women who are often alone in the fields become easy prey. The supply of water poses the same problem because the water courses are far from the houses and these long journeys expose the women to rape and other violence.
 
Initiation of the project
FH began supporting survivors of sexual violence in Kavumu and works in coordination with Panzi Hospital and the Denis Mukwege Foundation. As FH is one of the only actors in the socio-economic field, Dr Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2018, directed us towards the Itara grouping where there are many cases like in Kavumu and where no one is involved in socio-economic reintegration. In the Itara group we identified the OBC* group (Community Based Organisation) affiliated to the Katogota Health Centre and which is a partner of the Panzi Hospital in the care of survivors of sexual violence. In addition to medical care, OBC accompanies these survivors so that they can support each other.
 
The project beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries are 90 women aged between 17 and 49. As almost all of these women live from agriculture, they wanted to be supported in this area to increase their production and income.
 
Approach and activities
The beneficiaries will be trained in agroecological practices to increase production and food security in their households.
- To preserve the anonymity of the beneficiaries, 8 OBC facilitators will be trained on agroecology and in turn they will train each of 12 beneficiaries per group according to contiguity and villages.  With the facilitators constituted as model farmers we will then be able to follow the fields of the beneficiaries without direct contact with them to avoid any kind of stigmatisation by observing the principle of confidentiality.
- Seeds and animals will be distributed for the breeding of small livestock and poultry.

Thank you for your support!
For your donation, please specify the project number: P330B


*The OBC Katogota structure was created in 2000 on the initiative of the women of the Katogota health area to help victims of sexual violence who had difficulty confiding in male health workers or social workers during their treatment. A team of four members manages referral activities and psychological support for members after the acute phase of their trauma. The group supports its members in craft activities, agriculture and animal husbandry.