What we do
We started working in the DRC in 1994. We’re currently working across the country, including in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces that are worst impacted by the conflict.
Save the Children’s work in Democratic Republic of the Congo focusses on:
Primary Health Care
We are ensuring children and families have access to primary health care, by supporting Health Centres and Hospitals and running mobile clinics to reach more remote communities, including underserved displacement sites. This includes treating sick and injured children, managing disease outbreaks, and assisting the delivery of newborns.
We are also supporting patients with complicated cases with specialised medical care by providing transport and treatment costs.
Treating malnutrition
We are treating and screening children for malnutrition via health and nutrition centres and community outreach centres. This is some of our most critical work as over 4 million children are currently facing malnutrition.
Supporting survivors of gender-based violence
We are supporting survivors of gender-based violence with mental health and psychosocial support, hospital and legal referrals, support groups, awareness-raising activities about children’s rights and information about support and medical attention to help prevent HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and unwanted pregnancies.
Installing WASH facilities
We are helping children access safe water and hygiene and sanitation facilities by building latrines, showers, and waste disposal systems, essential to keep communities safe from disease.
Education
We are helping children access an education by building classrooms, providing school furniture, training teachers, organising reading clubs, working with parent associations, and distributing learning materials. We’re also running catch-up clubs to help children who have been cut off from formal schools to return to learning.
Providing psychosocial support
We are helping children overcome the mental toll of this crisis. This includes creating spaces where children can play and learn, delivering psychosocial first aid training to parents and teachers and referring children to specialised help where required.
Supporting children who have experienced extreme violence
We are supporting children formerly associated with armed groups and survivors of sexual violence by providing mental health and psychosocial support, social and economic reintegration measures, awareness-raising activities about children’s rights and how to response and prevent exploitation and abuse.
Supporting families with income-generating activities
We are providing support to help the most vulnerable families start income-generating activities such as poultry farming for egg production, tailoring businesses, and small-scale agriculture so that children have enough to eat.
Responding to climate disasters
We are supporting families to access safe water, hygiene, and sanitation services when natural disasters such as flooding occur.
