Food for thought in DRC

Together, we’re giving children hope

Across the world, the number of people enduring hunger crises is on the rise. Nearly 50 million people are on the edge of famine in 45 countries. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) estimate that there may be a further deterioration in 19 hotspot countries between December 2022 and January 2023.

Children are the most vulnerable and affected by this growing global crisis – severe hunger has an impact on all aspects of a child’s life, jeopardising their immediate and long-term health, wellbeing and future.

Here, we can show you the impact you’ve had on hungry children in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2021 your generous support, in partnership with the WFP, helped set up a school feeding project in east DRC to help address the issue of food insecurity. This meant thousands of children who were attending school hungry, unable to concentrate or worse still having to drop out, received the rations of food they desperately needed.

Watch the video to see how creative solutions helped feed minds and stomachs in east DRC.

And the results were amazing. When 73 schools distributed essential food items for 45,000 students:

• school attendance went up,
• malnutrition rates were down,
• student mental health and community wellbeing improved.

Dangerous places, where children suffer extreme levels of violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect, are often called fragile contexts and the DRC is no exception. They are complex places for children to grow up in.

Currently, due to renewed conflict in eastern DRC, 90,000 people have recently been displaced, leaving women and children exposed to violence and protection risks. They are facing these issues, along with worry about when they’ll get their next meal, each and every day. These recent events threaten to increase food insecurity and the hardships women and children face. Your ongoing support is vital now more than ever.

Thanks to you, together we can help to save and protect the most vulnerable children living in the world’s most dangerous places. Helping them survive, recover and build a future.

Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in natural resources, including diamonds, gold, cobalt and oil. However, most of its 95 million population have not benefitted from this wealth, making DRC among the five poorest nations in the world.

Issues affecting the DRC:

• Ongoing conflict causing people to be displaced – almost 30 years of conflict has left 5.3 million people displaced as of the end of 2021.
• Violence against women, including sexual violence – women in DRC face significant barriers to economic opportunities and empowerment, including high rates of gender-based violence and discrimination.
• Education – the DRC has made significant improvement towards universal access to primary school education over the past few decades. The overall attendance rate has increased from 52% in 2001 to 78% in 2018. However, 7.6 million children aged 5–17 are still out of school.
• Food insecurity as a result of conflict – 25.9 million people in DRC are at crisis levels or worse of food insecurity, which is 25% of the population (source: Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Food Programme).

Impact through Childhood Rescue in 2021

The rural programme in Binza, supported through Childhood Rescue, aims to help poor farming families, and families displaced by armed violence. They continued to suffer from attacks of armed groups, which also meant that many farmers couldn’t access their fields to grow food, and Covid lockdowns limited market activities to sell their crops. Thanks to your support:

• 4,034 malnourished children received treatment and made a full recovery.
• 930 farmers learnt to produce better crops resulting in an improved diet for their children.
• 11,615 people can now drink safe, clean water.

Learn more