Advocacy Activities towards a holistic Humanitarian Response in Goma DRCongo and the involvement of all
Report on the activities in line with the Internal Day for Relief Aid in Goma, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo, here is the media link to the activity in Bulengo IDP Camp” https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=fxlfVldJHKqZ11Zl&fbclid=IwY2xjawEv3TVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVSERAx0Gp6_xq09rp182j-6445CErlmDktdv3fMkFrIkaljXDZnklmjvg_aem_KD_QjWK1QCGbBnosxwz9Tw&v=5YmYxOIOLyU&feature=youtu.be
Lavegrie Choir during the lunch at Mount Carmel Parish in Goma on Sunday August 18th, 2024
Background information
Goma in particular and the North Kivu in general are among the areas that are severely hit by the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as you may know it, the DRC has the most forgotten humanitarian crisis in the world according to the United Nations, with more than 10million Internally Displaced Persons currently, Goma a small city of less than 2million resident among them 60% are forced migrants is now once again hosting more than 4million Internally Displaced Persons.
Life in Goma and in IDP Camps is extremely difficult, it is a challenge to get food, to pay a house rent, to access to water, to have clothes and in this situation all other rights related to leisure are highly compromised. We are now facing challenge of the increased number of people begging in various places, actually each single day there people moving around in order to look for what they can eat, the streets are full of people among the elderly, children and women are the most affected, the number of those dying with curable diseases, malnutrition, increase of urban criminality especially house-break into, use of guns in order to steal and use of drugs and highly concentrated alcohol are among the problems. On top of that the city is highly militarized and again in this we have observed various forms of assassinations and killings including the insecurity even in IDPs Camps.
The most ignored humanitarian crisis
At the international level, there is nothing much being said about this crisis in mainstream media, forums and from influential people at the globe in order to shift the cameras towards Goma. At regional levels also it is the same, at national level there is nothing at all focusing on this crisis as a national issue, and now in North Kivu still also there is a culture of silence among all actors including the local population.
What can we do, and where can we start from in order to change the situation?
For the last seven months, since January 2024 we are so much concerned, and we are every day wondering what can be done in order to promote solidarity at local, national, regional and international levels towards refugees and internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of Congo and especially in North Kivu.
What do we want to be done?
Members of other invited Choirs sharing with Lavigerie
Solidarity for us means three main things which people in North Kivu in particular should enjoy
Urgent relief aid: Right now people in camps must have food, shelter, medicine, clean water, security, clothes among other things, they need to be supported in order to survive and such aid should be perceived as reparation of the prejudice they have been subjected to by those believing in wars. This is lacking at all levels. At the local levels only some people of good will have tried their best to offer what they can to some few people in camps, again here it is not really a movement of people and many people in Goma do not feel like they a duty to share what they have with IDPs. At national level, there is nothing at all in order to help those is difficult situation, at regional level nothing at all and now at International level there is a slow reaction. Yesterday in an interview the United Nations Representative for Human Response in DRC indicated that the UN has received only 35% of the relief aid they wanted yet the need is extremely high.
What can we do in order to mobilize people and help them to take actions?
Economic Development Activities:
A long side efforts to provide relief aid to IDPs, there is a great need to integrate development activities in all interventions, so that IDPs can become more productive, we are convinced that the promotion of livelihood activities will reduce pressure on urgent relief aid and promote self-reliance of IDPs especially that even with the current situation of war there are still opportunities to promote livelihood activities. We have observed the close relationship between poverty and destitution and marginalization in IDP Camps, those living in camps are the poor, those who are highly marginalized are the poor and those who only depend on relief aid are the poor.
What do we do in order to address this?
Lasting solution of peace, human rights and justice: We are conscious that people will not continue living in IDP Camps, we must get a lasting solution especially that for the last 30 years people have been on the run. And this time it should be a lasting peace.
Our Interventions
The President of the New Dynamic of the Civil Society in North Kivu, addressing the Audience on Sunday August 18th, 2024.
Advocacy
In this way the relief aid to this humanitarian crisis should be holistic and should include these three sectors above listed, this is our first advocacy orientation which is suffering from resistance by concerned parties. On this point we have managed to write various letters to all those in relief aid, and at the same time we have held media briefing which has brought some changes but the progress is extremely slow.
Awareness
We are involved in various awareness activities which directly involves local actors and targets the local population. Two Choirs are now involved in these awareness activities through Music and Concerts, these choirs include Armee du Ciel from Goma, and now Lavigerie from Bukavu, we hope to get more other people involved at the national level, and the process two events have been organized which we believed have attracted the attention of people, and in order to make this activity more effective, we have brought in a Choir for Internally Displaced Persons St Joseph Choir from Bulengo around Goma.
Relief Aid
We have so far managed to put in place two strategies in order to mobilize the relief aid, the first one is online fundraising activities which are being done through GlobalGiving, and which moving very slow and the second one is the direct local contributions and donations during Music Concerts here and which are quickly distributed to IDPs.
Livelihood activities
As we give direct relief aid, we are also promoting livelihood activities through skill development and supporting economic activities with direct money. However our fundraising campaigns are now moving well in this direction.
The management of relief aid
We are aware that even the existing aid is diverted for personal use by various actors and some cases the aid is highly channeled to cover administrative activities of International Aid Agencies, and some cases the most vulnerable communities in camps do not get the necessary aid they need but they are given what the relief aid agencies want to give. We are also documenting all these challenges and engaged in advocacy towards a fair management of the available relief aid.
Promotion of peace
Our advocacy team is also working on peace issues in order to restore stability and security in most affected areas, this is done in terms of policy analysis and direct activities in order to promote peace. While the DRC Government, the region and the United Nations are pushing for negotiations among all actors which we also support, we are at the same time thinking and pushing for a responsible government which should be able to provide peace and security to its citizens and this cannot be subjected to negotiations.
On Wednesday August 14th, 2024 we published a an open letter addressed to OCHA in Goma which addressed the current challenges of the relief aid and which encouraged the Relief Aid Agencies to ensure the transparency of the Relief Aid, to ensure that the available aid is not spent in their administration, and to ensure that relief aid is holistic as we have mentioned.
In response to this letter OCHA Goma invited us for a meeting on Friday August 16th, 2024 in which came up with some points which we shall work upon together, it also looked at the challenges and the opportunities but also issues about the mandate of actors.
Activities for the World Humanitarian Day
On Friday August 16th 2024 we held a public debate on the theme: The Humanitarian Relief Aid: An opportunity or a problem. The audience was particularly members of the Civil Society who despite being the only opinion leaders they appear confused and lack information about this particular sector. The two hours debate addressed number of things and made number of recommendations which will be presented in a separate report.
The same Friday we received the Choir Lavigerie from Bukavu in South Kivu and also held a meeting with the OCHA Representative in Goma.
On Saturday August 17th, 2024 we moved with the Choir Lavegerie to Bulengo IDP Camp and distributed the aid to 102 people, and at the same time held a Press Briefing about the activity.
On Sunday August 18th, 2024 the Choir Lavigerie animated two Masses at Mount Carmel Catholic Parish in Goma in which their particular mission towards IDPs was clearly pointed and encouraged other people to join the team of those who are engaged towards this, not only that the audience enjoyed another different music style but also the congregation was ushered into solidarity with IDPs. And lastly on the same Sunday and vibrant Concert was organized in order to mobilize people about the need to support humanitarian activities in one way or the other.
Conclusion
It is our view of satisfaction that during this week on humanitarian aid we have done what we were able to do and have done something unique. Our activities focused on the common citizens, the IDPs, the media, Actors of the Civil Society and Relief Aid based in Goma.
We are happy that we remain the lead among local actors and members of Civil Society highly engaged in this thematic.
However we regret that we could not focus on Government and actors at the international level.
We remain optimistic that as we move forward we shall also reach these actors and bring them on board of a movement of solidarity for Humanitarian Response in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Coordinator
