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USAID Information:
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
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Funding Period: June 2002 - March 2006
Amount: $3,188,688
Purpose:Provide holistic services through a fully integrated program to treat
survivors of torture and sexual violence in eastern DRC.
Activity I: Support Survivors of Torture and Gender-Based Violence in South and North Kivu Provinces
Implementing Partners: International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Funding Period: June 2002 - March 2006
Amount: $2,400,096
Purpose: To increase access to and quality of essential medical,
psychological, economic, and legal care for survivors of
torture and gender-based violence in South and North Kivu Provinces.
Objectives:
- Enable approximately 12 first-contact health centers
to provide quality services in health response related to HIV, gender-based
violence and sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing and counseling,
as well as appropriate referral to psychosocial, economic, and legal services
- Reinforce the technical and organizational capacities
of 12 local NGOs and 20 CBOs to manage and sustain their own
institutions while providing quality services to survivors of sexual
violence, their families, and communities
- Strengthen the referral network of services,
including but not limited to, health, psychosocial care, legal,
and economic integration
Accomplishments:
- As of December 2004, 14,147 survivors of gender-based
violence received direct services from local NGOs and community-based
organizations supported by IRC; 32,680 community members were sensitized
on issues of gender-based violence
- The number of women receiving medical assistance,
including post-rape reconstructive surgery, has increased due to the
referral system set up by the program; in the first quarter of 2005
alone, 1,942 women survivors and five of their male partners benefited
from medical services provided by local organizations
- Five new NGO partners have been selected
to receive support in providing services to survivors in
target sites, bringing the total number of partners to
12; to date, IRC has supported 13 NGOs and 26 CBO partners
in providing psychosocial, medical, economic, and legal
services to survivors and strengthened the referral network
among partners
- IRC provides comprehensive technical
assistance and training every six weeks to strengthen the
organizational capacity of their twelve grantees
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IRC has provided emergency support to five health structures in Kalehe in response to mass
rape and pillaging in the area following the events that unfolded in South Kivu in May/June
2004.
In early 2005, a human rights grantee enabled a woman survivor to win a case against the
Captain of Police in Bukavu; he was convicted of rape, sentenced to 20 years in prison and a
$40,000 payment, and was expelled from the national police force. Local partners successfully
won 57 of the 60 cases of sexual violence brought to court, and mediated another 23 cases
winning compensations for victims and families in out of court settlements with
perpetrators.
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Activity II: Assisting Survivors of Torture and Gender-Based Violence in Maniema and Ituri Province
Implementing Partners: Cooperazione Internazionale-COOPI
Funding Period: September 2003-March 2006
Amount: $1,000,000
Purpose: To provide psychosocial, medical, and socio-economic
assistance to victims of torture and gender-based violence.
Objectives:
- Strengthen the capacities of local NGOS to provide
psychosocial assistance to survivors
- Identify victims needing services and link to local
service providers
- Raise community awareness about women’s rights, prevention,
and available assistance
- Inform teachers about women’s rights and sexual education
- Provide psychosocial, medical and socio-economic
assistance to survivors
Accomplishments:
- 237 people attended training modules; provided continuous
supervision and follow up to psychosocial agents and others involved in
provision of services to survivors
- Agents and NGO staff have received training and refresher
courses on physical and social consequences of sexual violence, prevention,
helping and listening skills, psychosocial support, and cultural context issues
- 3,133 victims identified and documented
- Project services expanded to reach victims living in outlying
areas where communities remain isolated and access to medical and psychosocial
care is limited (mobile teams comprise trained psychosocial agents and NGO staff)
- 161,242 people reached through community awareness about
women’s rights, medical and psychological effects of violence; activities
included door-to-door contacts, meetings with community associations and
vigilance committees at water sources, in communal fields, and schools and
churches
- Created new forms of media to reach communities, including
radio messages in local languages, street theatre, debates in local languages,
songs for and by children, and video; themes include community reintegration,
care of survivors, and rapid response to cases of rape; these approaches have
had a positive impact on identifying new victims
- 45 teachers trained to improve protection, prevention and
information to students about sexual violence
- Psychological assistance provided to 2,877 victims, many of
whom continue to suffer from flashbacks and nightmares requiring ongoing
care and treatment, especially cases involving medical complications related to
the assault
- Organized group therapy sessions organized for young
victims of rape
- Medical treatment was provided to 3,022 victims and 755
partners, and psychosocial agents work with medical staff to ensure follow-up;
the importance of including partners is emphasized in community awareness
activities
- 1,130 victims of gender-based violence received social and
economic assistance
- Community associations were formed to organize efforts and
build skills in areas such as agriculture, animal husbandry, soap making, tailoring,
sewing, phytotherapy, baking and production of cooking oil
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Activity III: Legal and Judicial Strategies to Combat Torture and Gender-Based Violence during Armed Conflict
Implementing Partners: Global Rights
Funding Period: October 2005 - March 2006
Amount: $300,000
Purpose: Build the capacities of civil society organizations to systematically
document human rights cases, compile a joint report on torture against
women and girls, lead education and anti-torture sensitization and
advocacy campaigns, and combat impunity for sexual and gender-based
crimes in DRC.
Objectives:
- To build the capacity of Congolese women’s and human rights
organizations to investigate and document information on sexual and gender-based
crimes for future prosecution
- To empower Congolese organizations to increase awareness and
understanding among the Congolese population, authorities, government,
combatants and the international community about sexual and gender-based violence
committed in DRC and the rights of women
- To support and accompany Congolese women’s and human
rights organizations in advocating for legislative reform and a commitment
to put an end to sexual and gender-based violence
Accomplishments:
- Held a series of six workshops in Goma, Beni, Bunia,
Kisangani, Katango, Kindu and Kinshasa on proposed legislation to curb
sexual violence and create a publicly supported victims unit to care for
survivors
- Informed legal analysis of legislative, judicial, and policy
actions aimed at ending impunity for sexual and gender-based violence; it
was presented at a national workshop attended by 21 advocacy organizations
and other legal and human rights experts
- Produced a document synthesizing legal provisions related
to sexual violence and judicial mechanisms, and distributed it to organizations
and members of the national campaign to end sexual and gender-based violence
- Wrote legislation to modify provisions and procedures
related to sexual violence as contained under present penal and family codes
and to strengthen measures to assist victims
- Raised awareness of the need for legislative action through
a broad-based, national workshop organized in conjunction with leading UN
agencies, Catholic Relief Services, and the Catholic Commission for Justice
and Peace (over 49 civil society organizations, members of public institutions,
deputies, magistrates and lawyers participated)
- Developed Terms of Reference and reviewed tenders on
developing a protocol for documenting, classifying, retrieving, and protecting
stored data on cases of sexual and gender-based violence and torture
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Activity IV: Attending to the Medical and Health Needs of Victims of Torture and Sexual Violence in Maniema Province
Implementing Partners: CARE International – DRC
Funding Period: October 2004 - September 2006
Amount: $186,806
Purpose: Improve the health of survivors of torture and sexual violence
in the Kibombo Territory of Maniema Province.
Objectives:
- Build the capacity of health providers to treat and counsel
survivors of gender-based violence
- Distribute medicines and testing kits to health clinics specific
to illnesses and problems associated with gender-based violence
- Increase referrals of survivors for treatment at health centers
- Develop community based advocacy strategy which will
increase number of survivors accessing services
Accomplishments:
- Treated 1,660 cases, of which 1,176 people (70.8 percent)
directly incurred sexual violence and 484 (29.2 percent) were survivors’ partners
- Trained 42 nurses in Kibombo Territory in the two health
zones of Kibombo and Tunda; the nurses work in health centers and the
reference hospital
- Distributed medicines (antibiotics) in 13 health centers that
provide treatment activities for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence
- Provided these centers with equipment, including examination
tables, surgical sets, and gowns; the reference hospital in Kibombo has already
provided surgical treatment for four patients
- CARE hpartnership with COOPI in Kibombo, which provides
psychosocial support and refers survivors to CARE-supported health centers for
medical treatment; CARE, COOPI, and the health zones where CARE works have
signed Memorandums of Understanding clarifying their roles and responsibilities
- CARE staff maintain regular contact with the network of
traditional birth attendants and community health committees that have been
trained and regularly supervised since 2002 under a separate ECHO-funded
primary healthcare project (58 traditional birth attendants and 99 peer educators have been trained)
- CARE is in the process of finalizing an operational research
study to better understand the phenomenon of torture and gender-based violence
in Kibombo territory—the information from this study will help CARE to better
respond to the survivors and develop an appropriate advocacy strategy at the community level
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is recovering from years of war among
various foreign-backed factions that took the hardest toll on the women and children in villages
in the eastern provinces. These areas have been terrorized by armed groups and their citizens
have witnessed the destruction of the vital fabric of their communities. The physical and social
service infrastructure of the region has been severely weakened; in many areas, it no longer
functions. The second civil war, which began in eastern DRC in August 1998 and ended recently
with a hard-brokered cease-fire and the installation of a transitional government, left 3.4 million
people displaced from their villages, and tens of thousands recovering from trauma, abuse, and
gender-based violence.
Despite the hope that the transition from war to peace presents, human rights abuses
continue, particularly in parts of eastern DRC where local-level guerilla wars and banditry have
raged. Acts of torture and gender based violence constitute a serious threat to the medical,
psychological, and social health of the Congolese men, women, and children caught between
rivaling militias and armed groups. Local and international organizations have documented
thousands of incidents of torture involving sexual and gender-based violence in the rural areas
and urban centers of North and South Kivu provinces. It is expected that the magnitude of the
problem is much larger than these numbers suggest. Many attacks have occurred in remote areas
to which these groups have had little access. Even in accessible areas, under-reporting of abuses
(as a result of the stigmatization of rape victims in some communities), fear of reprisals,
collusion of authorities, or a lack of awareness about avenues of justice and available services
limit the accuracy of estimates about the extent of the problem.
USAID's Victims of Torture Fund is addressing the issue of gender-based violence as torture
in the provinces of the east through a series of four grants which cover the geographical areas of
North and South Kivu, Maniema and Ituri.. Though this project, the Fund is addressing one of
the most hidden yet traumatizing acts of torture perpetrated against women, especially during
periods of conflict and unrest. Our four grantees—IRC, Global Rights, COOPI and CARE—
provide integrated services that address the multiple needs of women who have been sexually
violated and traumatized during the conflict. The IRC is expanding services to over 10,000
female survivors of torture, rape, and abduction. CARE provides health services to survivors of
gender-based violence through its work with more than 100 health centers. In addition to health
supports, the interventions include psychological services and re-integration activities to help
survivors become productive participants in their communities. COOPI provides the
psychosocial component and such re-integration opportunities as participation in income-
generating activities. Global Rights is addressing gender based violence through legal and
judicial strategies based on strengthening technical capacity to build dossiers for prosecution,
building public and official awareness, and advocating for an end to sexual and gender-based
violence through legal and policy reforms.
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