DR Congo
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Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Our strategy
Respond to the immediate needs of displaced families in eastern Congo. Help them lessen the impact of the current crisis and set the stage for recovery.
The context
Fighting between the government and various rebel groups continues in eastern Congo, this after a 1998-2003 war that killed five million people. One in ten people is displaced in the province where Mercy Corps works. Congo ranks last on the 2011 UN Human Development Index, a measure of countries’ social and economic well-being. More than 70 percent of its population lives below the poverty line.
Our work
- Emergency response: Provided temporary shelter and emergency food to displaced families during spikes in rebel fighting
- Water: Rebuilding Goma’s municipal water system to serve 400,000 people and improving sanitation in overcrowded displacement camps
- Agriculture & Food: Helping farmers grow more with new production and disease prevention techniques
- Environment: Teaching women to build and use fuel-efficient stoves
- Economic opportunity: Creating jobs to build classrooms, health centers and community farms
All stories about DR Congo
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DR Congo: Tracing History's Route January 17, 2009
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DR Congo: Returning to Africa January 16, 2009
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DR Congo: Thousands Besieged in Eastern Congo November 12, 2008
Amid the uncertainties of peace negotiations on the heels of ferocious fighting in eastern Congo, Mercy Corps is supplying more than 100,000 displaced people with the most critical resource of all: clean, fresh water.
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DR Congo: Congo: Fuel Efficient Stoves June 6, 2008
The lives of thousands of people living in the camps of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been dramatically improved thanks to the highly successful Fuel Efficient Stoves project.
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DR Congo: Mercy Corps Reaches Families Torn by Conflict in Congo May 7, 2008
Mercy Corps is helping more than 50,000 displaced people meet their most basic needs in areas of conflict-ravaged northeastern Congo near the Rwandan border.
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DR Congo: Rainstorms, Lava and a Human Flood February 27, 2008
I recently watched as the rain fell for hours over Goma. From the comfort of a house, rain in tropical Africa is spectacular, even magic. But for the thousands displaced Congolese waiting out the storm in their twenty-four square foot huts made of sticks and banana leaves, it is hell.
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DR Congo: Lost and Found September 12, 2007
Yesterday I went out on the food distribution, our first. We got lost, somehow, driving the minivan over the rough farm paths of Lac Vert.
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DR Congo: It's nice to be wanted September 11, 2007
Everyone at the hotel wants to work for us, sell us something, get something from us. They approach the matter politely, with deference. Feliciane wants to work in admistration. She also raises chickens and submitted a proposal to us, asking for $70,000 to launch a larger enterprise.
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DR Congo: The Key is Hope September 11, 2007
Like thousands of Congolese children, young Giselle's path to relative safety in Goma has been grueling. But, with your help, Mercy Corps is offering them much-needed support once they reach their destination.
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DR Congo: 'L’eau, c’est la vie!' September 10, 2007
I never found Eduardo, but the distribution was exciting. Mercy Corps' first work in Congo. We helped AVSI, an Italian NGO, set up and distribute water to 2,500 families. It started off a bit rocky.