Psychosocial Support and Reintegration of Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Implementing Partners: Cooperazione Internationale (COOPI)

Funding Period: December 2008 - December 2011

Amount: $4,945,045

Purpose: Respond to the suffering of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, raise awareness in communities of the incidences and ramifications of violence, and enable communities to act to prevent future incidences of violence

Program Components:

• Enable individuals affected by sexual and gender-based violence in Ituri District of Orientale Province and in Maniema Province to resume their roles within family and community
• Strengthen community responsiveness to sexual and gender-based violence to protect individuals against future incidents of violence, particularly at the local level

Since 2003, USAID has supported projects in DROC that focused on ensuring the care of men, women, and children who had been subjected to sexual violence and/or torture. Since 2006, USAID's efforts have been directed toward preventing gender-based violence. Under the current project, USAID works in selected towns in Province Orientale and Province Maniema, encouraging citizens to take measures to prevent incidences of sexual and gender-based violence, ensuring that survivors of such violence receive necessary treatment, and assisting those individuals in reintegrating into their families and communities.

The project's approach is holistic, multi-sectoral, and community based. It addresses the physical, psychological, and social needs of survivors, providing medical, psychosocial, socio-economic, and legal aid to individuals. A key partner for this project is CIP, the Centre d'Intervention Psychosocial, a national NGO comprising psychologists who assist survivors of violence or natural disaster in reintegrating into society. The project also works with public institutions, human rights and legal organizations, community leaders, and community based organizations—primarily women's groups that promote women's empowerment and gender equality within communities.

Breaking the Cycle of Vulnerability and Violence Facing Women and Girls in Eastern DRC

Implementing Partners: International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Funding Period: September 2009 – September 2012

Amount: $7,000,000

Purpose: Break the cycle of vulnerability and gender-based violence in eastern DRC so that women and girls can actively and safely contribute to and access the benefits of reconstruction and peace

Program Components: The program aims to reduce the vulnerability of women and girls and to mitigate the impact of torture and gender-based violence at individual, family, and community levels. Project effects are:

• Community-based groups actively contribute to enhancing the participation of survivors of torture (primarily gender-based) and women and girls in educational, socio-economic, and leadership opportunities, and in the decision-making processes in families, organizations, and communities.
• Service providers deliver specialized health, psychosocial, and legal services that address the evolving needs of women and girls, including addressing the short- and long-term effects of sexual and physical violence.
• Community-based groups and representatives of civil society advocate for the security and protection of women and children in the private and public spheres at both community and national levels

Since 2002, USAID has provided support to the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) programs to assist survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the Kivus of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Initially, IRC worked across the DRC to train and establish partnerships with local NGOs and CBOs (community-based organizations) that provided essential, holistic services (health, pschosocial, legal, and socio-economic) to survivors of sexual violence. The organization also provided support to grassroots women's associations to provide quick-impact projects that aimed to ensure the psychosocial well-being of survivors and facilitate their acceptance in their communities. During the course of its first three-year program, IRC gradually expanded the number of NGOs and CBOs that it worked with. As a result, the program made considerable progress in establishing services, in the number of survivors accessing services, and the quality of services provided. More than 30,000 survivors of sexual violence received services from that USAID-funded program during its initial phases of operation (2002-2004).

Now, IRC implements a program in the Eastern DRC that provides services to address the short- and long-term needs of women and girls who are survivors of violence or torture and to advocate for their protection and safety. IRC continues to work through local NGO partners who work together and with local community based organizations to provide services to survivors of violence.

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