AFEM works to promote women's rights and empowerment through media. Chouchou Namegabe (head coordinator of AFEM) and her colleagues work tirelessly to bring justice, comfort, and information to survivors. 

They provide training for female journalists though a fellowship program that includes short sessions as well as in-depth training. They also arrange program exchanges and networking with foreign media outlets. 

AFEM has ongoing awareness campaigns for rural women in South Kivu on various issues (particularly good governance and gender). They offer conferences, media coverage and other news services to NGO's and partner media companies. Their main objective works to bring the truth, rather than what government officials dictate, to the people. AFEM fights against all forms of sexual violence and promotes peace by using the media.

Youth organizations like Collywood are rising up to challenge other young people to join their quest to influence the very nature of their society. These bright young students attend the nearby University in Goma and are studying to be teachers, doctors, lawyers and professionals. They use film, dance, music, drama, television and radio to educate the population on the issues of sexual violence, government accountability, exploitation, etc. They are also in the process of developing and seeking funding for an original television series and several films. The group hopes to see their effort grow to the likes to Bollywood, Nollywood and even Hollywood. With adequate funding, Collywood has potential to reach a lot of Congolese people as music and art lie at the heart of Congolese society. 

These youth have joined forces under a bold dual mission:  to restore one million artists to the Congo and to create quality programming with a positive message.  As Monet, a twenty-three year old law student and one of the group’s founders, put it, “we saw immoral things happening and we decided to ‘make a movement’ to eradicate these things from our society.” He continued: “The artist is the best person to speak because [the] politicians are liars.  Artists express truth because the artist went through these things with the people. Journalists have been murdered for speaking the truth.  But by using comedy and drama we can pass a message without fear.”  

This initiative is an exciting example of the types of organically grown movements that if properly funded could have a lasting legacy for the situation on the ground. These mediums can be used to affect change or reverse the societal norms that have evolved over two decades of war and a history of exploitation. As Monet made a final appeal, he said that he “hoped other artists from around the world [would] come to help the Congo and partner with them.”  For now, the organization struggles to fund their initiatives.  They have creative, bold ideas, but little funding and support.  As Monet eloquently pointed out, however, “we don’t work for money, we work to carry a message.”

Visit The Collywood Commitment to learn more about the importance of their work. 

DOCS runs a medical centre in the heart of Goma. It provides operations to physically rebuild women after violent rape, as well as psychological counseling to help them cope. Since 1994 DOCS has been working to improve health care in developing countries in Africa. It provides training through experience for local doctors which benefits the local communities. 


As DOCS describes it, "Africa is a continent struggling against an increasing health care crisis. Health care systems are crumbling, unable to meet the present needs. Most African physicians are working in over-burdened hospitals and clinics, most who haven't had any additional medical training or education since graduating from medical school." 

This educational training provides a sustainable solution to the current crisis as DOCS programs allow physicians to receive continuing medical education near their communities and families. The services they provide to the survivors of sexual violence help women heal and move forward. DOCS, however, lacks the resources, facilities, and space to help the overwhelming number of women that come to them for assistance.

Camille and Esther Ntoto created an organization called Un Jour Nouveau (A New Day) and in the process are starting a revolution. Un Jour Nouveau works in many capacities throughout the city of Goma and beyond. Through leadership classes (the Leadership Academy), and social activism (Sons of Congo and Generation Hope) they are changing the way an entire generation thinks and evaluates their surroundings.  They are challenging the youth to become active participants in the fight to reclaim control of their country. 

Through the Ntoto’s, we encountered intelligent youth who’s passion and zeal for a better Congo was contagious - civil engineers looking to improve the countries infrastructure, former child soldiers working to improve opportunities for other children, and leaders teaching their compatriots to truly analyze the world around them. The hope we found was through the eyes of the youth and the leaders helping them reach their full potential.

As part of A New Day, Generation Hope provides for Congolese children by covering school fees, the cost of uniforms and other needs. These young people receive support including after school activities (choir, music etc.), additional courses such as English and geography, as well as studying leaders who have influenced countless generations. 

By encouraging the youth to expand their horizons and dialogue with one another, as well as providing a safe haven for children to visit after school, it is indeed bringing hope to the next generation. 

The Leadership Academy works to train and mentor young people in leadership. Most of the young people studying at the Leadership Academy are intellectuals who have completed or are pursuing their studies at the University of Goma in various fields. The Academy organizes training sessions on the principles of leadership and teaches them how to influence, guide and manage those around them. 

One university student training to become a civil engineer said he hoped one day to start his own company to build roads and connect cities, because now low infrastructural development keeps mines isolated and corruption high.  When asked his solution to a more stable and peaceful DRC, his response was simple but would ultimately be extremely effective, “build roads.”  

The first Leadership Academy graduation recently awarded 55 students, who had been attending classes three times a week for the past four months, with their certificates of accomplishment. An additional 45 women, who took literacy and vocational skill classes,  graduated from the program as well.

Sons of Congo (SOC) works tirelessly to change men's attitudes towards their wives and women in general. The need to end violence in the DRC begins in homes. And men are not as resistant as many first thought they would be.  In reality, they needed a space where they could lay down their burdens and be shown a pathway toward transformation.

The unquenchable desire that many men have for these types of programs is undeniable. In their first year, SOC planned to reach 500 men.  With limited funds, they have already reached over 5000. How did this happen? Men are passionate about the message and program.  Parishes, schools and villages are asking for training and requesting formal groups. Men, unpaid and on fire, are spreading Sons of Congo everywhere. 

Esther shared: "At first, I thought that Sons of Congo was a way to fix the problem by fixing the man. So they could get their act together. But now I realize that as much as women have been wounded by all kinds of violence, men have also been wounded and lost their way." 

Perhaps the best testimonies and call for investments come from wives like Ale Yemima who said: 
"My husband humiliated me a lot, even in front of visitors. After he went through the Sons of Congo program I saw that my husband had changed. Now when I ask him a question he answers very gently. I realized that there was a change in my husband's heart." 

Synergie des Femmes pour les Victimes de Violences Sexuelles (SVFS, Synergy of Women for Sexual Violence Victims) is a coalition of 35 local organizations. Mara and Liz had the privilege of meeting with Justine Masika Bihamba, coordinator and one of the founders of SFVS, who is a prominent activist in the DRC. She and her colleagues work with survivors of gender-based violence in North Kivu to bring them access to many opportunities otherwise unknown to them. 

SFVS mobilizes women in an effort to end violence against women in the eastern Congo. The organization goes into rural communities and through it's partner organizations, is able to lobby for justice, provide medical care to victims of sexual violence, offer psychological counseling, legal and economic assistance and raise community awareness on this violence and its effects. 

UWAKI works to promote the socioeconomic improvement as well as women’s rights in North Kivu. North Kivu is one of the hardest hit provinces in terms of conflict and sexual violence. They provide agricultural loans to encourage food security and empowerment and also work to combat environmental degradation.   

The small staff of UWAKI uses low-cost microfinance modeled farming co-operatives to help women who are survivors of sexual violence, or those who are at risk, re-build their lives.  Additionally, they sensitize both women and men to rape and refer women to hospitals after they have been attacked.  The women of UWAKI say because they operate in the fields and communities where attacks happen, they are the first line of response for many.  But because they are small and under funded they often refer women to larger organizations.  

One of the most remarkable things about UWAKI is that when there is a big problem or event that takes place—mass rapes or an outbreak of violence, or perhaps during the recent election--they mobilize women of otherwise isolated communities together to find solutions. 
   
Empowering and funding organizations like UWAKI has enormous potential for sustainable programming. International organizations also run programs in farming and sexual violence, but by increasing the capacity of this local organization one can ensure the work will continue regardless of international organizations involvement.