Integrated emergency response Project summary:

This project is a follow up to the GAC-funded intervention currently being implemented in the Kamango Health Zonein the DRC. The project aims to improve access to water, sanitation, hygiene and immediate severe food needs for conflict affected population in Kamango, which is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, with a myriad of challenges due to insecurity, lack of access to food, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, and lost livelihoods due to conflicts. The insecurity of the population will be addressed by providing the community with the tools to address these issues, which they can rely on way beyond the projectperiod. Some returnees continue to flow back to Kamango from Uganda and some areas within DRC to whichthey fled during the war.

This phase of the project intends to reach out to vulnerable returnees (former refugees in Uganda), and displaced people in other villages not covered by the first phase in the health zone. Project activities will include installing new and rehabilitating existing WASH infrastructure destroyed during the conflict, thereby contributing to reduction in WASH-related challenges facing the target population in the Kamango health zone. It is also expected to address food insecurityissues through supporting the beneficiaries with means of gaining back their livelihoods.

The WASH, EFSVL and protection interventions will target 30,000 (19,500 women) in villages close to Mayi Moya, targeting returnees and IDPs coming from Mayi Moya, Oicha and Kokola who are beig displaced by the fighting. This will build from phase 1 which could not cover all needs due to limitations of the resources and also new needs arose due to fighting in Oicha and Eringeti areas. The project will address the immediate needs of the conflict affected people and reinforce their resilience and that of the host communities. The most vulnerable target groups will be the elderly (above 59 years old), women and children under 5 years and the disabled.

Improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene will lead to reduced incidence of water-bornediseases like diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, respiratory infections, etc. Improving access to immediate food needs and livelihoods through access to food and essential NFIs will assist the beneficiaries to recover from shocks, feel protected, and slowly recover their livelihoods.

Enabling communities to use the opportunities available to them to resolve existing protection problems will make for a resilient population thatcan protect itself from different  rights violations and abuse, and work towards its development.

Theexpected results by the end of the initiative are as follows:

# Increased access to minimum daily food requirements and essential items for 10,500beneficiaries (2,100 households);
# Food security and livelihoods of  9,000 beneficiaries are protected and assistedto recover through the distribution of cash (1,800 households), agricultural inputs and NFIs in a healthy environment;
# Increased access to safe drinking water for 30,000 beneficiaries in Kamango (19,500 women and 10,500 men);
# Increased access to sanitary structures for  9,000 beneficiaries;
# Increased knowledge on health promotion and improved hygiene practices/habits for 30,000 people;
# Target communities have safe, equitable and dignified access to WASH and EFSVL services and are aware of how to access local medical, psychosocial and legal referral services in case of protection incidents.