devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Civic Education and the Promotion of Participatory Democracy in the Diocese of Bukavu (DRC) The end of last year was highly challenging, the country faced political, security and human rights issues because of the missed elections. The President Joseph Kabila who was supposed to step down at the end of his second and last term did not do, and the opposition called for demonstrations. The violence from security forces has caused hundreds of deaths alarming the international community. The President had to convene a Political Dialogue between the presidential and the opposition parties, but as the Dialogue was not inclusive the Agreement was rejected by local people and the international communities. The Catholic Church that raised voice for peace and respect of the Constitution remains credible for presidential and opposition political parties. So the Church was called to mediate the new Dialogue, an Agreement was signed on New Year’s Eve 2016. The agreement’s commitment stated that the presidential elections will be held before the end of 2017, the President will not seek for a third term and there will be no referendum nor changes of the Constitution. 

Unfortunately, four months after, the Agreement was not applied because of blockage from presidential camp, so the country is missing his first political alternation, and the political crisis has worsened, even the President declared working for election in time. .
Concurrently, the democratic and human rights space are seriously reduced.
Through this project, The Catholic Church, through the Justice and Peace Commission’s at the national (CEJP) and diocesans (CDJP Goma and CDJP Bukavu) are seeking to tackle this unstable context by preparing youths, marginalized and women to face tensions, manipulations, and  upcoming challenging elections. People need fairly-elected leaders to deliver basic services, and improve security issues around the country. This project aims to improve knowledge about the election process by disseminating programs of voter and civic education, starting now before the local elections and continuing throughout the election process and ensure that the material used is accurate and politically neutral. The Project plans to use sport and music to bring youth together and help them understand the importance of peaceful elections process and how to peacefully claim its rights. We also plan to use SMS messaging to inform youth on the progress of the democratization process and what the church is doing while educating them about civic matters. This project is implemented in Bukavu, is simultaneously established in Goma and Kinshasa by other partners with specific activities.
Multisectoral emergency assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by storms in  Kalima On the night of the 5th March a torrential rainstorm accompanied by devastatingly strong winds in Kalima, Maniema destroyed the houses of 851 families (more than was initially anticipated at the alert stage). Houses in the area are typically made from mud and straw and they were no match for the weather. These people are now homeless, some are lucky enough to have found refuge with host families, but others are sleeping in schools and other public buildings, while the worse off are sleeping outside with no shelter. Most of those affected have also lost their livelihoods as 250 hectares of farmland was destroyed at a critical time in the agricultural calendar as many crops have just been planted and others are ready to harvest. The Central Health Zone has predicted a rise in malnutrition as food insecurity dramatically worsens. They have also predicted the spread of water-borne diseases and the local health centres are ill-equipped to deal with any outbreak, lacking drugs and equipment. 
CAFOD and Caritas Kasongo will target 1275 household or 7650 people. The cash will be done through mobile money which means people will not have to wait in long queues to receive their cash.
Promoting an inclusive and peaceful electoral process in Goma and its surrounding areas The DR Congo has been committed to democracy since the 2006 elections. Since then, however, elections have been marred by acts of violence and calls for hatred based on tribal, ethnic or political affiliations. These incidents have undermined the electoral culture that needs to be consolidated. Some legislatures have also failed to meet the constitutional deadline, despite the need to commit to democracy and good governance. This project aims to ensure that elections are always a high-stakes event and that everything possible is done to bring the current electoral process to a successful conclusion by preparing the entire population to take ownership of the process and make a commitment to help calm the electoral climate. This project is a response to the invitation from the Catholic Church and the Church of Christ in Congo to accompany the electoral process at grassroots level by preparing the population to take a patriotic interest in this historic event by promoting a peaceful climate before, during and after the elections. This is the prerequisite for paving the road to democracy and avoiding the road to anarchy. Through this project, the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace, which is the structure that will be implementing it, aims to become actively involved in civic and electoral education in order to facilitate responsible citizen participation in the building of democracy from the outset.
Supporting the training and reintegration of the youth The ongoing war in eastern DRC has affected thousands of people in local communities, especially women and children.  Armed groups such as CNDP, M-23 and the Mai-Mai as well as foreign groups such as FDLR and FNL recruited numerous children from this region who were used on the frontline of fighting. Indeed, the violent conflict in North and South Kivu creates circumstances conducive to the recruitment of child soldiers. Once abducted, the children are brutalised and forced to serve as soldiers, porters and in the case of girls, sex slaves.

Since 2006, there has been an effort to demobilise many of these children and youth.  An estimated 31,000 children have been demobilised from DRC’s battlefields, with a further 3,500 to 8,000 children who may still be with armed groups in the eastern DRC provinces alone. 

Demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration projects have previously tried to bring children out of the conflict and back to their communities, homes and families but limited resources and endemic conflict have made it difficult. There are significant barriers to peaceful and safe reintegration such as lack of access to education, to vocational training, and to food and shelter. Limited funding for reintegration projects has also restricted real safe reintegration and sustainable support for children and youth.

This project in North Kivu (Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), aims to promote sustainable reintegration of youth at risk including ex-combatants in Masisi, Rutshuru, Nyiragongo and Goma Town. The specific objective is to equip these youth with the needed social and livelihoods skills for sustainable reintegration into society and help to enhance government’s capacity for tackling youth unemployment. The expected outcomes are sustainable reintegration of youth at risk including ex-combatants and train teachers, parents and community leaders about the effects of violence and conflict resolution skills.
Shifting the Power: strengthening the humanitarian and leadership capacity of PPSSP The need to strengthening local capacities in humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is crucial as local NGOs are usually the first responders in a crisis. DRC has been beset by multiple security crises subjecting civilians to extremely high level of violence and prompting large-scale and frequent population displacements. Moreover, there is adequate civil society space in DRC but humanitarian response have been lead and managed by international organizations. On one hand this is due to the logistical difficulties of the country and on the other hand, local organizations have been labelled as having poor management, systems, corruption, etc. The consequence is that INGOs have, in many instance, undermine existing capacities. Shifting the power Project in DRC aims at strengthening the humanitarian and leadership capacities of 11 local actors and so to be able to play a crucial role within the current humanitarian architecture in DRC. From the capacity self-assessment and the SWOT analysis undertaken with PPSSP,  the organisation has elaborated a one year capacity strengthening plan with 4 objectives and 14 activities focus on leadership, influence and preparedness and response.
Capacity Strengthening for partners with specific needs on Safeguarding Mechanisms Quality program delivery is primarily a responsibility of implementing Partners as they are the first responsible for the implementing and monitoring  projects on ground to the benefit of community participant. In the current context, it is important to re-visit partners' some of our partners ways of working in consideration of the current humanitarian context. A recent online meeting with partners such as socoac, caritas kindu and kasongo just to name these have revealed a pressing need to have some refresher localized trainings on Safeguarding and strengthen their capacity on safeguarding. This includes partners such as Caritas Kasongo, Caritas Kindu and SOCOAC just to name a few. Previous training targeted the directors that unfortunately have either changed or evolved into other lines. Additionally, there is need to ensure internal ownership so that there can be quality in program delivery
This project aims to support the operationalization of this activity that is among the key requirements for CAFOD especially when implementing initiatives that are funded by institutional donors. 
CAFOD will lead on this to support partners and will eventually ensure that local staff are trained and refreshed on running local assessment that are followed with clear and feasible action plan that respond to identified 
Partners needs. Attention is to improving on program quality and making sure that our program do not leave community in a more vulnerable situation after any intervention.  When running this,  team will remain keen about important aspects that are related IEPM and will remain sensitive while implementing various interventions in the COVID context as well.
This will also help to train partner on quality targeting and the use new methodology as we adjust into the current ways of working that are more online.
Integrated Community Development Project in Kabare, Kalehe and  Beni-Butembo territories, DRC The social economic situation of the people in the eastern DRC has been seriously affected by the instability and poor governance that has settled in a country since some years back. Our experience on the just ended ex combatant project has shown that even though army’s groups could stop activisms, the impact of these is still felt in the broader community. Past project experience demonstrated the willingness of communities to deploy themselves in livelihood activities that can significantly contribute to the community recovery in case a conducive environment is set.  To survive the crisis, majority of population has been left with limited choices; some people have decided to join the agricultural sector, small business in which they are not gaining much profit and others have joined informal sector. Youths are facing problems as they are not landowners, thus cannot practice agriculture economically, while others do not have capital to start their own business. This has resulted in majority idling at home this making them vulnerable to joining militia groups or engaging in petty and/or organised crimes. Following the global financial crisis, many humanitarian organizations closed and left behind a number of uncovered needs. The current project aims by June 2024 to contribute to an integrated community development effort by improving the socio-economic conditions of 2010 people of rural communities in the territories of Kabare-Kalehe and Beni Butembo. This will be achievable through improving food security and incomes of 2010 local communities though sustainable agriculture practices, cooperative and small enterprise development. The project will also reinforce the capacities of 120 youths through vocational training and support activities that reduce domestic and gender-based violence against women and young girls. The project will also raise awareness against COVID19 in 14 villages across Kalehe, Kabare and Beni-Butembo territories.  Cafod is  part of  aid localization agenda, this project will be implemented by Cafod in partnership with   its long term local partners namely Caritas Bukavu and CAJED that are well grounded in the community with strong community based network which is key for project sustainability.
Supporting the church role in promoting social justice Several analyses have shown that there is a close link between the conflict in the DRC and the exploitation of natural resources. The major consumers of these precious mineral resources are mainly the Western countries. In the effort to break the link between mining and armed conflict, CENCO in partnership with CIDSE has been working and lobbying with the EU decision makers to adopt a European ACT regarding the responsible sourcing of minerals from conflict regions of conflict.
This project is to support the work of the bishops towards international advocacy. The major aim of this is to promote justice and in the Congolese society and also to adopt some sort of regulations in regards to the exploitation of natural resources.
In 2015, the European Parliament passed a law on the management of conflict minerals. However, this law must be ratified by all member states. It happens that the EU calendar plans this year a meeting between the Parliament and the European Commission and the Heads of Governments to study the feasibility of EU legislation on this matter. In order to convince European countries to adopt a binding law that would break the link between minerals and conflict, our CIDSE partners invited a delegation from the CENCO for an advocacy trip in Brussels and the Hague.
CEJP is the main project holder of this project as the national commission for peace and justice. Its coordination office is located in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. CEJP coordinates the actions of all the 47 CDJP scattered throughout the country. However this project will mainly have a strong advocacy component to take forth the information and data collected from various observatories of natural resources of the country to inform an evidence based advocacy at the international level. In this line, this project will also facilitate the return of an activist back to his home. In the past the later had testified about challenges that community and artisan miners faced in their areas and it happened that he became the target of the multinationals who severally threatened him. In order to save his life, he had to temporarily take refuge in Kinshasa. Now that the situation has calm down, this project will as well facilitate his return back to his home area and re-unite with his family. 
CAFOD has worked in partnership with CEJP to implement various extractive and governance programs that have been a success and there is no doubt that this project will greatly contribute in promoting justice to the most vulnerable who live in communities that under-take natural resources exploitation.
Supporting youths and women civic participation through CLGPs in Baraka (Uvira Diocese) The project aims to promote a civic dialogue that will bring young people and women to make the Baraka authorities in South Kivu province accountable. To achieve this, the project plans to organise exchange meetings with local authorities, discussions and capacity strengthening sessions, as well as advocacy actions towards local authorities in Baraka. The aim is to influence them to apply good governance principles in day-to-day management of the town.  The project also includes a range of activities aimed to contribute to social cohesion. These include raising awareness of non-violence, creating a climate of trust between the authorities and citizens through sensitising local authorities to the principles of good governance and accountability.
This project responds to the need for Congolese youth and women and the entire population to integrate citizenship education, to exercise their critical thinking on participatory governance and to engage them more in the management of public affairs in their local entities. The project will be implemented by CDJP Uvira staff with support from CAFOD Governance and Peace building Program
Protection of Girls and Children working in mining This project aims to contribute to the protection of girls, children from abuse, Child labour in mining areas and help them to re-integrate into normal and/or recuperation schooling system while strengthening the livelihood means around their family livelihood systems. It is a 30-month project. 

The project will seek to significantly reduce child labour in mining areas by providing sustainable alternative livelihood opportunities to parents. The project will be undertaken in  Kabare and Walungu territories in South Kivu Province, DRC. The project will seek to reach a total of 1750 direct participants and 5500 indirect participants.
This will include entrepreneurship training on small start-up businesses of their choice and the provision of start-up funds which will develop to establishing links with other local existing credit access firms intended to the parents for sustainability purpose. Increase access to and support for primary education, particularly in mining communities. In order to maximize the impact of this activity, the activity will be done through the parent (preferably mothers) of the child who will benefit from the income generating activity in order to be able to pay the school fees of the child in the local school. In the same line, it will also strengthen the family livelihood means helping the child to have food in order to divert the attention of the parent to send them to work in the mining. This support will be extended to children especially girls who are unable to continue to secondary schools due to their inability to pay school fees.
Emergency assistance to Burundian refugees victims of pre-electoral violence in Uvira, DRC Since March 2015, socio-political tensions have been increasing in Burundi ahead of the general elections to be held in June. The upcoming Presidential and Legislative elections are considered critical for long-term peace and stability of the country. Tensions, however, are continuing to increase. Protests between supporters of the opposing political parties have become increasingly violent, mostly in the capital Bujumbura, which is causing an increase in numbers leaving Burundi as fears grow for their safety and they seek refuge/protection in neighbouring DRC. During the demonstrations, there are some cases of wounded persons across the country and particularly in Bujumbura who are channelled in different hospitals, also internal IDPs are seeking protection in some secured public sites such as churches, parishes, schools... 

As the situation in Burundi remains tense, unstable and unpredictable it is expected that more Burundians will flee the country. The UNCHR Regional Response plan (May 2015) has indicated that there will be 30,000 refugees by September 2015. A joint rapid multi-sectorial assessment (20-22 May 2015) undertaken by CAFOD, Caritas Uvira, CODEVAH and Action Aid in the localities around the Ruzizi river, which separates DRC and Burundi, confirmed an increase in numbers of refugees crossing the border each day and estimates that in Uvira alone this will reach 20,000 people by August. 

Current analysis demonstrates a large proportion of refugees are women, children and older people. They are extremely vulnerable as they cross the border, and seek refuge in transit camps or with host communities. There are reports that the influx into Ruzizi plain, may exacerbate existing tensions between Burundi and Bafulero communities which will cause additional tensions and place already vulnerable groups at increased risk. Increasing demands on already over-stretched basic services, such as water services, is expected to intensify tensions and the health of refugees is likely to deteriorate as they cannot afford to pay for clean water. At present there is no sign of price inflation in the local markets, or for services, but due to rise in demand by increasing populations and by international actors procuring goods this could alter the local market economy. This will make already vulnerable groups extremely vulnerable and place their lives in greater danger.

Through this project, Caritas Uvira aims to provide food and easy access to essential household items to 900 refugees and 300 host households.
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION THROUGH METHANISATION in  MASISI TERRITORY CAFOD is implementing a pilot project on BIOGAS digesters in the Masisi Territory through INNOVATION Fund. The present  project aims to reinforce that initiative with a new project in order to meet more villages for a more wide demonstration.  The project proposes to pilot 2 biogas digesters as sources of renewable clean energy in selected local communities, to share their use and benefits with the local population, and encourage tree planting. The project will capture learning from the pilot in order to inform CAFOD and partners’ future work. This is inspired by a previous experience of a biogas digester built by a farmer in the same area for his own needs. The action was a success but stopped quite suddenly before it became widely disseminated, due to the onset of conflict. The project will build 2 bio digesters in 2 villages (Kalonge and Rutonya) and plant 1000 trees on 3km alongside roads. Due to the temperate climate, the Masisi territory in North Kivu, eastern DRC was long ago deforested into ranches for cow breeding. Trees were so systematically eliminated that access to firewood has become a problem. Cases were reported in Kagusa area where people steal household firewood stocks or cut trees down under cover of night This complaint came to CARITAS and CAFOD staff during a monitoring trip to the ongoing WASH match funded project. The burden of firewood collection is generally on women, taking away time which could be used on childcare, income generation or other tasks