Frères des Hommes
A virtuous circle for the empowerment of women in DRC
Location of impact : Democratic Republic of Congo
Grant : 5000€
Project supported in 2023-24
The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most vulnerable countries on the African continent and one of the poorest on the planet. More specifically, it continues to be a highly unequal country that discriminates against women.
Stricken by a series of conflicts, as well as a wave of political instability and weak governance, the DRC is struggling to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants in general. Population displacement, food insecurity, a massive drop in income: in this context, women are the first victims of this precarious situation.
Women are confronted with situations of great socio-economic vulnerability, structural inequalities and relationships of power. In most cases, they develop a relationship of dependence on their husbands, who are solely responsible for managing the family income and making decisions within the household.
Given the context and the high level of vulnerability identified, our challenge is to strengthen the socio-economic and political capacities of women in vulnerable situations in the city of Bukavu in order to contribute to their empowerment.
Supporting women’s emancipation involves strengthening and improving their economic situation, as well as raising their awareness of their rights. An individual and collective emancipation to initiate a dynamic of social transformation in the region.
Our social mission through this project is to create a virtuous circle through employment for women by integrating all the dimensions that exclude them socially and economically.
Three specific levels of action to achieve our objective:
- Raising women’s awareness of their rights and strengthening their psycho-social skills and technical skills in cutting and sewing by setting up a series of technical/skills, literacy and emancipatory training courses.
- Develop income-generating activities for women by supporting their socio-economic integration at individual and group level through specific entrepreneurship training modules, the distribution of installation kits for certified women and the possibility of joining a large cooperative called “Le Grand Collectif”.
- Implementing actions for social change by women in alliance with local players to achieve greater social justice through leadership and advocacy training for certain women known as “women leaders”.
the organisation carrying the project
Prioritising its commitment to vulnerable populations, Frères des Hommes takes concrete action to promote individual and collective emancipation.
Abroad, we work directly with our local partners in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, India, Haiti and Peru to carry out collective actions aimed at reducing situations of inequality and injustice. Women’s rights, small-scale farming, professional integration: a wide range of issues that emerge directly from local problems.
In France, we work through our “Pépinière de la Solidarité Internationale” scheme, which supports anyone wishing to carry out a solidarity action with one of our partners. For a year now, we have also been experimenting with social transformation initiatives in our own region.
Together with our partners, we are working to produce resources on the theme of social change through the “Train to Transform” collective. This is a space for collaboration between peers, where we take a cross-sectional look at our structures and our methodologies.
Frères des Hommes is determined to promote social transformation by encouraging change for the people and, above all, by the people themselves. The notion of “working with” people is the common thread running through the working approach of Frères des Hommes and its partners.
key figures
- 2002, year in which the 1st collective action was launched in the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside APEF, our local partner, a historic partnership relationship
- 37 women trained in literacy in 2022
- 92 women were trained in tailoring in 2022
- 30 men trained and made aware of positive masculinity in 2022
- In total, 5 groups of women learners have completed the entire training programme!
