A CEeS in Congo, Democratic Republic of.

05 Dec 2011 1 Comment

by Rebe in Uncategorized

The following is an article I wrote for the Oxfam Québec bulletin called “Inter Agir” or “Inter Acting” in English.

“On attend beaucoup de toi” was what the siege kept telling me during the pre-departure training. What exactly that means has become slightly clearer in my first few weeks in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

So far the job feels similar to a Masters degree in that I am doing so much research just to be able to wrap my head around the complexity of the status of women in this context. The DRC has been plagued by centuries of colonization, slavery, exploitation of both human and natural resources, dictatorship, war and sexual and gender based violence (SGBV).

Keeping all the intersections straight is going to be my challenge in the next year trying to put together a participative gender justice strategy. This strategy “est beaucoup attendu” especially given that in this vast country Oxfam Québec has two offices, one in the West, Kinshasa and one in the East in the town of Goma, plus four project sites in its environs. There are also three other Oxfams here; Great Britain, Solidarité Belgique and Novib all of whom await a harmonized strategy for their gender programming.

DRC has an area of 2,345,409 km2 an estimated population of 71,712,867 and as many as 250 ethnic groups. Since the Rwandan genocide there has been an influx of Rwandan and Ugandan refugees and armed forces killing approximately 5.4million people. Although it is considered ‘post-conflict’ rebel groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), The Forces Democratique pour la Liberation de Rwanda (FDLR), Forces Armées du République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), and the Mai-mai continue to terrorize civilians but cannot be blamed solely as even civilians (neighbors, local authorities, family members etc.) have become so traumatized and corrupted by war that just about anybody will commit a human rights violation.

The cycle of violence is continual and vicious and Women are suffering from SGBV at alarming rates, and with utter impunity; in South Kivu out of a documented 14 200 victims of SGBV a mere 287 accepted to stand before tribunal . People are very aware of the weakness of the judicial system and fear repercussions and stigmatization therefore the population remains vulnerable.

However, individuals and organizations are collaborating to build hope, power and resistance. Thousands of I/NGOs are spending/donating millions to reconstruct a semblance of ‘Peace and Security’; 1.5 billion USD per annum is pouring into the country for humanitarian efforts in DRC. Projects specific to VAW are among the most highly funded given the regions difficulties; 15 million USD goes directly to such projects from funders like the Pooled funds (of which Oxfam Quebec is a part of) and STAREC.

Two types of projects are going on here, humanitarian relief and development oriented. Oxfam Québec is implicated in both types, as are many other organizations.
One might begin to wonder why the situation for women remains so dangerous despite the presence of thousands of well intentioned folks like me…

To attempt to answer this question I have been looking at research that has been coming from Congolese academics and field researchers as well as NGO monitoring committees. OCHA and Care called for the Fenistein Centre to conduct a study of I/NGO practices in DRC. The Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (SADD) study called Sex and Age Matter criticizing NGOs for not collecting sex and age disaggregated data and in many cases no data at all. “They claim that many I/NGOs operate on analogies and observation only, that they are not founded in research.”

This insight struck me as extremely important for me to incorporate both theory and practice or praxis into my planning, I have thus drawn on articles such as Desiree Lwambo’s (2011) “Men and Masculinities in Eastern DR Congo, before the war I was a man’. This article has given me hope that we can break the cycle of violence by changing our approach from humanitarian and development programmes destined solely for women and sometimes children to one that takes a community approach and fosters the renewal of gender relations.

The article produces glaring results showing that men who receive no or less assistance than the women in their communities become jealous, resentful, and feel abandoned and uselessness. This ultimately leads to the loss of their masculine identity. Often the only way they can manage to regain any control or ‘respect’ is from violent domination of women and resistance to ‘social change’ that helps to advance women’s status. Heal Africa contributed to Lwambo’s research on men’s perceptions of Gender sensitization programs:

Promoting women’s economic activities without combating men’s unemployment or even responding to their feelings of disempowerment is a recipe for male resistance against “gender sensitive programs”. Moreover, male respondents stressed that they, too, were victims of wartime and other forms of violence and needed protection as well as psychosocial and medical help.

Lwambo goes on to say that many of men’s perceptions of gender programs is subjective and not validated by their research but the fact that there is such a resistance is exactly why it should be taken seriously.

In many conversations I’ve had with Congolese colleagues and acquaintances so far have stressed that not enough is being done for men by I/NGOs. Frequently I will introduce myself as the Conseillère en matière d’Egalité entre Femmes et les Hommes and they get all excited saying ‘Yes! It has to be for both women AND men”.

It would seem that according to Lwambo very few other organizations here are doing anything based on men’s needs or on repairing the relationships between men and women. I see this as a great opportunity for Oxfam Québec to take the lead in gender justice in an avant-garde way that will ensure a more community based approach and hopefully a more durable one.

References:

ACORD, 2010. La protection et la réparation en faveur des victimes des violences sexuelles et basées sur le genre en droit Congolais. pg7.

Agama, M., 2008. Legacy of War: An Epidemic of Sexual Violence in DRC. UNFPA

Lwambo, D., 2011. “Men and Masculinities in Eastern DR Congo, before the war I was a man’. p.21

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