FEAR and FLIGHT an UPROOTED GENERATION of CHILDREN at RISK in DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC of CONGO Cover Photo: Displaced Girl in a Settlement in North Kivu Province

For further information, please contact:

Jean-Jacques Simon UNICEF DRC [email protected] +243 826541004

....Marixie Mercado UNICEF Geneva [email protected] +41 22909 5744

Chris Tidey UNICEF New York [email protected] +1 917 340 3017

FEAR AND FLIGHT AN UPROOTED GENERATION OF CHILDREN AT RISK IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Cover photo: Displaced girl in a settlement in North Kivu province. © UNICEF/LeMoyne FEAR AND FLIGHT AN UPROOTED GENERATION OF CHILDREN AT RISK IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Published by UNICEF DRC www.unicef.org/drcongo

64 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo Several thousand displaced people live in Loda IDP camp, located in a region which has suffered severely from conﬂict, and where basic services are very limited. © UNICEF/UN0381748/LeMoyne ESTIMATED DISPLACED POPULATION IN KEY AFFECTED PROVINCES

PROVINCE IDPs CHILD IDPs

North Kivu 1,800,500 1,053,292 Ituri 1,710,100 921,675 South Kivu 687,800 394,659 Tanganyika 489,100 301,725 Total in 4 provinces 4,687,500 2,671,351 Whole DRC 5.2 million 3.04 million

(source: OCHA November 2020)

2 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo INTRODUCTION 8

CHILD PROTECTION 15 Caring for survivors of militia violence RAPID RESPONSE 20 Delivering lifesaving assistance to the displaced LIVES IN LIMBO 26 Displaced families cope with tough conditions PEACEBUILDING 32 Supporting communities ﬁrst steps towards co-existence HEALTH AND NUTRITION 36 Disease and poor diets strain weakened services EDUCATION 43 Children clamour to learn despite violence and pandemic WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE 48 Looking beyond IDPs’ immediate needs

CALL TO ACTION 54

UNICEF DRC: RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS 57 UNICEF FUNDRAISING NEEDS 2021 58 Dawn breaks in a displacement site sheltering several thousand people in Ituri province. © UNICEF/UN0381756/LeMoyne

6 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo Introduction 7 INTRODUCTION

The militia descended on 14-year-old Sami. “They caught “I watched them kill Sami’s village at night, bringing me and my family. I watched mayhem and bloodshed under them kill my family on the spot my family on the cover of darkness. The terrified and then they attacked me with a spot and then they inhabitants managed to flee into machete.” attacked me with a the surrounding fields. For many however, there was to be no Somehow, Sami managed to machete.” escape. hide, despite a severe injury to his right leg. He was later found “They caught a young boy and by UN peacekeepers who took forced him to show them where him to hospital where his leg was Sami lost his leg in a militant attack in which his parents and siblings were killed. © UNICEF/UN0377454/ people were hiding,” recalled amputated. LeMoyne

In the violence-wracked eastern According to official UN data , 91 In the wake of the region of the Democratic Republic children were confirmed killed in of Congo, attacks like that of Ituri province alone as a result of fighting, whole August 2020, near the town violence between January and communities of Boga, in Ituri province, have August 2020. The actual number abandon villages and become a brutal norm. was certainly much higher. flee with only the In the wake of the fighting, Violence against girls and women barest of possessions. whole communities abandon is rampant, and largely responsible villages, homes and livelihoods, for making the DRC the world’s and flee with only the barest of biggest sexual and gender-based possessions. Villages are razed protection crisis. to the ground. Schools and health centres are ransacked and The factors behind the conflict destroyed. are numerous and complex. Disputes over land and resources The scale of the displacement is combined with deep-rooted ethnic huge. More than 1.6 million people animosities, a militarized informal were driven from their homes in economy, the ready availability of the first six months of 2020 alone. arms, and weak governance have produced a surge in violence during The perpetrators use heavy the last three years. weaponry as well as machetes and knives. Entire families are By November 2020, official figures Displacement site in Boga, Ituri province. hacked to death, including children. showed there were around 5,2 © UNICEF/UN0377451/LeMoyne

8 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo Introduction 9 million internally displaced people Just over 3 million of the IDPs are Most displaced (IDPs) in DRC, mostly in the four children, including nearly half a eastern provinces of North and million under the age of 5. families are South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika. absorbed into local communities that ESTIMATED DISPLACED POPULATION IN KEY AFFECTED PROVINCES are barely able to provide sustenance PROVINCE IDPs CHILD IDPs for themselves. North Kivu 1,800,500 1,053,292 Ituri 1,710,100 921,675 South Kivu 687,800 394,659 Tanganyika 489,100 301,725 Total in 4 provinces 4,687,500 2,671,351 Whole DRC 5.2 million 3.04 million

Source: OCHA November 2020

They lack almost everything, not the total in the entire country. least food. According to the latest IPC classiﬁcation, 8.2 million people Most displaced families are in the four provinces are acutely absorbed into local communities Daily life for displaced families is a struggle just to food insecure – almost one third of that are barely able to provide survive. © UNICEF/UN0390907/LeMoyne

sustenance for themselves, let repeatedly in waves of violence “The displaced know alone support those arriving from perpetrated by armed groups, other areas. some of whom may operate across nothing but fear, the borders with neighbouring poverty, and violence Those living in informal settlements Uganda. and can think only of face even harsher conditions. Families of six or more persons “Displaced children know nothing survival.” share cramped tarpaulin and but fear, poverty and violence. palm-leaf shelters which serve as Generation after generation can living, sleeping and eating quarters. think only of survival,” said Edouard Families rely on untreated water Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative that they collect from nearby for the Democratic Republic of streams or ponds. Latrines are Congo. “Yet the world seems often blocked or unusable, making increasingly indifferent to their fate. open defecation commonplace. We must do more to encourage A displaced family carry water and supplies along a these children’s hopes of a better road in North Kivu province. © UNICEF/UN0390910/ Many families have been displaced future.” LeMoyne

10 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo Introduction 11 In a region where the rule of law a powerful lure. Recent instances The task of delivering and the international community “Now is not the time to cut back “Without sustained is limited, the task of delivering of sexual exploitation and abuse has a crucial part to play. So much on assistance for the DRC,” said life-saving assistance is complex involving aid workers have added life-saving assistance is at stake. Bordered by nine other Beigbeder. “Without sustained humanitarian and dangerous. Access is often to these concerns. is complex and nations, the DRC has a large, fast- humanitarian intervention, intervention, hampered, whether by insecurity or dangerous. growing and youthful population thousands of children will die thousands of because of the region’s inadequate Little by little, the Congolese armed that is projected to reach 120 million from malnutrition or disease, and transport infrastructure. In South forces are trying to curb the power in the next decade. displaced populations will not children will die Kivu, there were nearly 30 of the militia groups and re-assert receive the basic lifesaving from malnutrition incidents targeting humanitarian the authority of the state. The Yet global solidarity with DRC services they depend on.” workers in 2020. region has also beneﬁtted from the shows signs of fraying. In 2019, or disease.” improving national rates of child a shortage of funds meant that “Instead, the world should be Corruption is another major mortality and education. But in just over half of 9 million people seizing the opportunity to help challenge to the humanitarian many areas, the situation remains needing lifesaving assistance steer the country and its people community, an unavoidable reality highly volatile. were actually reached. As of towards stability, while supporting in a setting where governance November 2020, the DRC’s 2020 their efforts to build safer and is weak, and proﬁts from the Building on these tenuous signs of Humanitarian Response Plan was better lives for themselves and Loda IDP site on the outskirts of Fataki, Ituri province. region’s rich natural resources are progress must now be the priority, © UNICEF/UN0377439/LeMoyne only 34.7 per cent funded. their children.”

12 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo Introduction 13 CHILD PROTECTION Caring for survivors of militia violence

Days after his family was murdered “They started burning everything Amid the unrelenting by rebel fighters, 14-year old down,” recalled Gabriel. “My uncle Gabriel became a militia fighter was killed and I ran into the forest conflict of eastern himself. to escape.” DRC, children can be perpetrators of the His parents and younger sister But the rebels caught him and took were killed, their throats slit, as him to their camp where they gave violence as well as its Anwarita (centre) with her new family. they were taking their cassava crop him military-style training. victims. © UNICEF/UN0377452/LeMoyne to sell in the local market. Gabriel escaped and took shelter with an Amid the unrelenting conflict of A UNICEF-supported rehabilitation centre for uncle. Three days later, the rebels eastern DRC, children can be children and youth demobilised from militia groups or separated from their families.© UNICEF/ Girl left for dead in the bush relishes life with her new family came into the village. perpetrators of the violence as UN0383537/LeMoyne

Aquatemba was collecting wood in the forest “It was terrible. I saw mutilated bodies. We near the town of Boga, in Ituri province, when he tried to bury them but as we were doing so, we stumbled on the aftermath of a massacre. could hear the militia coming again. They were shooting and macheting people to death.”

It was then that he heard a child’s pleading voice. “Even though they were still shooting, I thought to myself: I can’t abandon this child.”

Aquatemba picked up the young girl, who was bleeding from a machete wound to her foot, and carried her to the local hospital.

“For the ﬁrst two days she didn’t speak, said Aquatemba’s wife, Kasemira. “I realized that she was very traumatized.”

Before long, Anwarita had settled in her new home and was getting on well with the couple’s two young daughters.

“I love playing with my sisters and helping doing things around the house,” said Anwarita.

“I don’t know what the future will bring,” said Aquatemba. “But whatever happens we will look © UNICEF/UN0402428/LeMoyne after Anwarita as our daughter.”

14 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo CHILD PROTECTION 15 well as its victims. In Ituri alone, A youth uses a home-made barbell at a rehabilitation centre for former child militia ﬁghters. © UNICEF/ an estimated 400 children were UN0390933/LeMoyne recruited into armed groups during the ﬁrst half of 2020.

Child recruitment is one of six grave violations of children’s rights that are systematically recorded and monitored by the UN. In DRC overall, there was a 16 per cent rise in violations against children in January to June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

“We attacked people and we destroyed their villages,” said Gabriel. “We poured petrol everywhere and we set ﬁre to everything. They started shooting people and I also shot people.” other reasons why some children A former youth militia ﬁghter shows his battle scars join armed groups. at a shelter in North Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0390921/ LeMoyne, © UNICEF/UN0390925/LeMoyne During a clash with the Congolese army, Gabriel was captured and “Some children voluntarily choose taken for interrogation. to join because they want to defend their family,” said Rossi. UNICEF Child Protection Specialist “They want protection, and Remedial learning for boys at a centre for separated children in Goma, North Kivu Flore Rossi says that there are sometimes they see it as better © UNICEF/UN0390927/LeMoyne

than being stuck in an IDP camp.” helped 365 children previously Those who avoid associated with armed forces and Amid the turmoil of mass civilian militant groups trace their families, recruitment by displacements, children can reintegrate within the community militias face other easily become separated from and receive psychosocial support. major risks, including their families. Those who avoid recruitment by militias face other In some cases, mediation or sexual or gender- major risks, including sexual or other assistance is needed to based violence. gender-based violence. prepare families and the broader community to accept the child Providing temporary care and back. A case management protection to all child victims of approach, taking into account violence is the focus of UNICEF’s the child’s speciﬁc situation and work with various implementing needs is especially important for partner organisations. Between girls who can face rejection or January and June 2020, UNICEF isolation within their communities,

16 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo CHILD PROTECTION 17 especially if they return with a dependent child.

After being released by the army, Gabriel underwent rehabilitation at a specialist transition centre in Bunia, the main town of Ituri province, run by a UNICEF local partner NGO. There, Gabriel and four other boys have been learning carpentry and other vocational skills.

“I’d like to stay here for the time being, because the area I came from is still not safe,” said Gabriel. “The rebels are still there, and I risk getting killed.”

The psychologist at the transition centre, Deogratias Bavi Baglu, said that the process leading to Gabriel’s release should not be rushed. children are psychologically healthy, Children at a rehabilitation centre in Bunia, Ituri that they can lead normal lives in province. © UNICEF/UN0383536/LeMoyne “What we aim for is that when their communities, in society and in Carpentry and other vocational skills help former child ﬁghters and separated children return to they leave the centre, these their families,” Baglu said. normal life. © UNICEF/UN0383535/LeMoyne

“I love this work because it helps me care for my baby,” says Anabelle. © UNICEF/UN0410360/LeMoyne

Sewing project offers girls path to independence

To the whir of treadle-powered sewing According to Grâce Malosi, who supervises the machines, 17-year-old Anabelle* and a dozen project, such initiatives allow the girls to gain other adolescent seamstresses stitch ear-loops some independence in the camps where they face onto brightly coloured COVID-19 facemasks. a severe risk of sexual violence. Anabelle joined this UNICEF-supported sewing project in Kingonze IDP site in Ituri province after “The money they make here allows them to buy experiencing firsthand the sexual violence which clothes, food, everything they need,” said Malosi. is such a feature of the conflict in eastern DRC. “They’ve even told me that they’re starting to invest, they’re starting to buy little things that “It happened while we were fleeing from the could help them in the future.” militia,” said Anabelle. “A group of them caught me and then they raped me. That’s how I became During the first six months of 2020, UNICEF pregnant.” provided 68 child victims of sexual violence with medical, psychosocial and legal support. Anabelle says that without her earnings from the sewing project, she wouldn’t be able to feed her *Name has been changed child, who is now one year old.

18 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo CHILD PROTECTION 19 RAPID RESPONSE Delivering lifesaving assistance to the displaced

The aid convoy had just reached their homes by violence, had been its destination, a remote village put on hold. in North Kivu province, when an urgent message crackled over the “It’s very discouraging,” said In radio. A car belonging to another Hye Sung, UNICEF emergency organization taking part in the specialist and the leader of that operation had been ambushed day’s mission by UNICEF’s Rapid nearby and four staff members Response team (UniRR). seized. The mission, delivering urgent assistance to hundreds of “It’s lifesaving assistance and UN peacekeepers accompany a UniRR mission in families recently displaced from (the families) need it right now,” North Kivu province. © UNICEF/UN0410362/Hubbard

said Sung. “We’re in touch with less likely to sell parts of the aid “We had nothing but partners to understand the security separately. situation and reschedule the the clothes on our distribution as soon as possible.” Receiving them were around 350 backs, that’s all,” displaced families. For several Riziki recalled. “We Thankfully, the kidnapped staff weeks, they have been sheltered were soon released unharmed. by the local community. Bauma lost everything else But the incident was a reminder Riziki and her 7 children were we had.” that in large parts of eastern DRC, among the newcomers. She recalls aid distribution can be fraught with fleeing to the forest after the brutal risk. It also helps explain why – as a attack on her village during which last resort – UN field missions may her husband was shot and killed. be accompanied by peacekeepers from the UN stabilization force, “We had nothing but the clothes MONUSCO. on our backs, that’s all,” Riziki recalled. “We lost everything else On the previous day, the UniRR we had.” convoy had reached a different village without mishap. Within Riziki and a crowd of other minutes, staff from the Red women and children listened as Cross, UNICEF’s partner in the a supervisor used a megaphone area, were unloading sacks of to explain the supplies that each household items provided by family would receive. They clapped UNICEF along with rice and other as he held up pots and pans, soap, food essentials contributed by the tarpaulins, water purification tablets World Food Programme (WFP). In and buckets, followed by sacks of

this way, people receive life saving rice and ﬂour, bottles of cooking oil Unloading supplies from a UniRR convoy in North assistance in one package, and are and other items. Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0390949/Hubbard

20 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo RAPID RESPONSE 21 Preparations for a UniRR distribution of non-food items at Mukawa village, Tanganyika province. © UNICEF/UN0410379/Acland 22 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo RAPID RESPONSE 23 bring assistance to the affected response that looks to address a “These emergency population within seven days family’s broader needs in health, of their needs being assessed, nutrition, WASH or education,” said distributions help reducing the chance that the Typhaine Gendron, UNICEF Chief deal with the families will turn to negative coping of Emergency. “Just as critical immediate shock strategies to survive. is the involvement of partners, both at the local level, supporting of being displaced, “These emergency distributions the distribution itself, and more but they are also help deal with the immediate strategically, working alongside shock of being displaced, but WFP or another agency.” part of an integrated they are also part of an integrated response”

UNICEF RAPID RESPONSE (UNIRR) JANUARY TO NOVEMBER 2020

Provinces # Households # People Ituri 40,951 240,245 North Kivu 30,474 176,862 Tanganyika 6,241 32,816 Soﬁa Awaizayi's family was one of around 1,000 to South Kivu 4,991 24,955 receive essential supplies from a UNICEF-led rapid Total 82,657 474,878 response mission in Tanganyika province. © UNICEF/UN0410347/Acland

When her name was called, areas where calm has now been UniRR teams perform Riziki ran forward to collect their restored. supplies. Sofia Awaizayi is a single mother a critical function, who returned to her home village delivering assistance “We haven’t received any help until in Luizi to find almost no trace of to nearly 500,000 now,” she said, hoisting a heavy her former home. Since then, she sack onto her head. “Life is going and her five children have had to people in the four to be much easier with the things I survive without even a tarpaulin most conflict-affected have received today.“ to protect them from the seasonal rains. Other returning families, provinces. As violence forces communities to most of them from the ethnic move empty-handed, the UniRR Twa community, are in a similar teams perform a critical lifesaving predicament, with little food and function. Between January and few work opportunities. November 2020,they delivered assistance to nearly 500,000 To help address the situation in people in the four most conflict- Luizi, UniRR made distributions to affected provinces. some 2,470 households in eight villages between August and In Tanganyika province, UniRR October 2020. teams have helped facilitate the Families wait to receive supplies from a UniRR mission in Mukawa village, Tanganyika province. return of displaced families to As far as possible, UNiRR teams © UNICEF/UN0410341/Acland

24 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo RAPID RESPONSE 25 Children play at a child friendly space in a displacement site in Ituri province. © UNICEF/ LIVES IN LIMBO UN0377404/LeMoyne Displaced families cope with tough conditions

Sixty kilometres of rutted track Nearly all Tsuya’s inhabitants are connect the 24,000 inhabitants Hema, farming people who have of Tsuya IDP site with Bunia, the suffered repeated attacks by main town of Ituri province. Set in armed ﬁghters claiming allegiance the rolling hills of eastern DRC, the to a rival ethnic group, the Lendu, settlement feels especially remote who they accuse of trying to take during the September to October their land. Having abandoned their A disused church building forms part of Tsuya wet season, when deep mud can homes, the IDPs now live in long displaced persons’ site in Drodro. The site is home to about 24,000 displaced people. © UNICEF/ make the route impassable. rows of ﬂimsy grass and tarpaulin UN0377411/LeMoyne

shelters clustered on a hillside Sixty-year-old Anastasia Ndroyi If the setting seems below a disused Catholic church. lives in Tsuya with her daughter, son-in-law and ten grandchildren. peaceful, the prospect Some of the IDPs walk to their The family is one of several of violence and fields to bring back cassava and occupying the church’s crumbling further displacement potatoes to eat and sell. But they outbuildings. are too frightened to stay overnight is never far away in their former homes, many of Early in 2020, one of Ndroyi’s three -- and children are which have in any case been sons was killed by a rebel group. destroyed. Other IDPs rely on That led to her third experience of especially vulnerable. handouts or on finding day work being displaced from her home. with which to pay for food and She doubts it will be the last. other necessities. “I would obviously like my If the setting seems peaceful, the grandchildren to have a good life,” prospect of violence and further she said. “But I am not hopeful. displacement is never far away The situation here is so bad.” -- and children are especially vulnerable. Looking after the children is a problem, especially when Ndroyi “There is a sense of tragedy and the other adults are away about this camp,” said UNICEF working in the fields. Many Emergency Field Officer Hugo children in Tsuya join games and Kambale. “Many of the people here other activities organized at a are skilled farmers, yet the militants UNICEF-supported Child Friendly will not let them live on the land.” Space (CFS) which operates in the

26 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo LIVES IN LIMBO 27 Ferceta cares for six orphaned or unaccompanied after were killed in attacks by the In August 2020, a visiting UN children. © UNICEF/UN0377458/LeMoyne Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a mission painted a bleak picture of Uganda-based armed group blamed the situation there . for numerous attacks. “Homes have been burnt in their “I felt I had to look after these majority, crops pillaged, cattle children because I didn’t know that stolen and whatever basic social anyone else would,” said Ferceta. infrastructures existed destroyed,” the report stated. Living conditions In mid-2020, an improvement in the in the large camps in the area security situation in Ituri opened up were inadequate. “Children do access to some violence-ravaged not receive education, there are areas that had been out of reach problems with WASH, major for many months. protection issues, and in general a sense of people living in squalor Playtime at a UNICEF-supported child friendly space One such area was Djugu territory. over the years.” in Ituri province. © UNICEF/UN0377403/LeMoyne

church courtyard. These CFS are experiences of conflict and often used by UNICEF and other displacement. agencies during emergencies, allowing children to gather and play “There are some that keep to in a safe and supervised setting. themselves, that don’t play. So, you take the child, and the child “I fled with my family when the tells you lots of things,” said militia attacked our village,” said Madasilove. “It’s important to 12-year-old Emmanuel. “I enjoy distract them.” learning songs and the new games as well. And I enjoy playing football Single-headed households are and cards.” common in the camps. Ferceta, a single mother herself, takes care The CFS supervisor, Stephanie of six unaccompanied children in Madasilove, says psychosocial Izinga settlement, one of five sites activities help staff identify the near Boga. She believes that the children worst affected by their parents of the children she looks

28 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo LIVES IN LIMBO 29 Raising children in an IDP site - one mother’s experience

Mweso IDP site lies in hilly relative safety of the seven IDP sites in the area. countryside four hours’ drive north of Goma, the Most of the 6,000 people who live in Mweso capital of North Kivu province. IDP site are Congolese Hutu, but there are other In a region scarred by attacks by ethnic groups too. The sole primary school armed groups and counter measures by the reopened in October after months of closure Congolese military, tens of thousands of people on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among have abandoned their homes and moved into the the ﬁrst families to register their children was

caption?

Displaced woman on the outskirts of Mweso, North Kivu. © UNICEF/ UN0402442/Brown

Nyiramahire, a single mother of six. She described come back home after work, my neighbours will her daily routine. alert the camp authorities and take care of the children. “I get up at around 5 am to go and look for work in the farms that surround the camp. Otherwise The most common diseases are malaria, diarrhoea I pick vegetables from nearby farms and take and malnutrition. (Nyiramahire lost two of them to the town to sell. It takes about eight hours her children to malaria and malnutrition). In to walk there and back. It’s often difficult to find September, the twins and I had malaria. We work, in which case the family goes hungry. received [outpatient] treatment at the hospital in Mweso. “I usually come home from work at 4 and spend a few hours preparing the food [on a wood fire] We “I came (to the school) today to register my eat fou-fou (a popular local food made of cassava children because if they get an education one of Niyiramahire (left) watches as four of her and green plantain flour). We can never afford them might become a politician or a teacher. children are registered to join the primary school in Mweso IDP site. © UNICEF/ meat, not even a chicken. We have been told to bring our children here UN0390904/LeMoyne and someone will teach them without us having “There is good security in the camp. If I don’t to pay.”

30 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo LIVES IN LIMBO 31 past twenty years. It is against this mix together and play together,” “Before children backdrop that, as part of a UNICEF- said school director Brigitte Sagali PEACEBUILDING supported initiative, teachers Kihilu. played in separate Supporting communities’ first steps trained in mediation and conflict groups [...]. But now resolution are helping students Efforts to improve relations they mix and play learn why stealing and score- between Tanganyika’s ethnic towards co-existence settling with violence are wrong, groups come at a time when the together,” and why having good relations with central government is extending neighbours is so important. its grip on the province, reducing the influence of the militias, and “Before children played in separate improving security. A government UNICEF Emergency Officer, Rose Bubuya Namira, groups, and the animosity between strategy paper noted that the speaks to children during peacebuilding classes Children from ethnic Twa and Bantu communities at a primary school in Nyunzu, Tanganyika province. Bantus and Twas was reflected in security situation in Tanganyika are taught why stealing and score-settling with © UNICEF/UN0402433/Acland [Left] their relationships. But now they had improved substantially since violence are wrong. © UNICEF/UN0410342/Acland

On the long and difficult path what they can do to encourage towards peace in eastern DRC, the message of harmony and the children of Mapatano Nyunzu reconciliation in a region blighted primary school play a small but by vicious tribal conflict. significant part. The school is one of 20 in Tanganyika province where Militia groups have frequently children from the two main ethnic targeted Tanganyika’s schools. groups – Twa and Bantu – come More than 150 have been together each week to discuss destroyed or badly damaged in the

32 PEACEBUILDING 33 communities and the huge number 2018 led to the displacement of 1.7 of IDPs – especially those from million people, including 600,000 in other ethnic groups -- frequently the ﬁrst six months of 2020. spill over into violence. Around 80,000 of these IDPs are In Ituri, the Lendu and Hema now in Djugu territory, on the fringe ethnic groups share a long history of Lake Albert. While the majority of animosity that originates in of the IDPs are Hema, some disputes around land tenure Lendu families live alongside them, and opportunities for social enduring the same harsh living advancement. An upsurge in conditions. violence that began in January

2018, with large numbers of Twa Representative Edouard Beigbeder. “We are encouraging and some Bantu militia laying down “This means working alongside their arms. However, the paper the government to provide more the transition from noted that tensions remain, with a basic social services -- sanitation, emergency conditions continuing potential for violence. water, education and health towards long-term centres. We match the resources That has not deterred the from the community with those of development that will Charlotte (left) and Francoise. authorities from moving ahead the government and partners. In lay the foundations © UNICEF/UN0381753/LeMoyne with plans to move some 70,000 the process, we are encouraging IDPs from the sites they currently the transition from emergency for peace.” occupy and resettle them within conditions towards long-term existing communities. UN agencies development that will lay the Friends across the ethnic divide including UNICEF are supporting foundations for peace.” the plan by providing more durable “Our village was attacked by militants who are One of Tabo’s current– and former -- neighbours solutions for displaced populations. While Tanganyika has made supposed to be sympathetic to us Lendus,” said is Francoise Nzale Rhuye, a Hema who used to progress, the situation is very Charlotte Ngayelle Tabo, who lives in Loda camp live in the same village. “We want to help communities different in Ituri and North Kivu, with her husband and seven children. “But who have welcomed displaced where killings and outbreaks they destroyed everything, even though the “We were on friendly terms with them,” said Children at Mapatano Nyunzu primary school are two communities lived in separate parts of the Rhuye. “But since we were forced to move families by supporting them in their of violence continue, and playing their part in efforts to improve community development,” said UNICEF DRC where tensions between local relations. © UNICEF/UN0410344/Acland village.” to this camp we have become much closer.”

34 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo PEACEBUILDING 35 HEALTH AND NUTRITION Disease and poor diets strain weakened services

Overturned furniture, discarded via a steep and treacherous path. medical records and empty vials But what affects villagers is not so are all that remains of the health much the isolation of their homes centre serving the mountaintop here in the Haut Plateau region as village of Mikenge, in South Kivu the recurrent ﬁghting between rival province. militia groups. UNICEF Communications for Development ofﬁcer Astrid Nsuka Muzita inspects a ransacked UNICEF- Until recently, this remote spot The health centre and adjoining supported health centre near the small town of was reachable only by helicopter or school were wrecked after coming Mikenge, South Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0410359/Kivuyu

under ﬁre during clashes in August The area’s chief medical ofﬁcer, Dr In rural areas of DRC, 2020. A government doctor was Jen De Dieu Murhala, said it was killed in a separate incident. unlikely the centre in Mikenge, attacks on health which received support from services by armed Previously, the health centre’s UNICEF – would reopen in the groups trying to deny resident nurses were able to short term. visit Berta Namujamba’s home services to their rivals to provide vaccines and other “Although we are experiencing a are not uncommon. essential care for her children, period of calm at the moment, that including the youngest, three- can change very quickly,” he said. month-old Nabintu. But not anymore. In rural areas of DRC, such attacks on health services by armed groups “Doctors used to visit regularly, trying to deny services to their but now it’s too dangerous,” rivals are not uncommon. In Ituri Namujamba said. “I am worried alone, 18 health centres were about my child. If she falls sick destroyed between January and there is no medical provision.” June 2020.

While baby Nabintu is left without The deterrent effect on health staff protection against diseases like is understandable. tuberculosis and Polio, expectant mothers in the village must now “Our couriers are sometimes either make the arduous journey to caught in the crossﬁre,” said hospital 25 kilometres away or risk Lusandja Toussaint, the nurse in giving birth without any medical charge of vaccinations. “It’s not Monitoring a child’s weight. Displaced children are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition.© UNICEF/ help. safe for them to make the journey.” UN0390892/LeMoyne

36 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo HEALTH AND NUTRITION 37 Once banished from their Malaria is the deadliest, killing Children are left areas, many of them in eastern for nearly 70 per cent of the DRC’s communities, displaced families around 17,000 people in 2019, provinces. entire cholera caseload. find it especially difficult to access mostly young children. 2019 also vulnerable to adequate healthcare including saw the worst measles outbreak in potentially lethal Cholera is another threat, with In addition, eastern DRC was the immunization. This can have fatal DRC’s history, with nearly 320,000 diseases. more than 20,000 cases recorded focus of a nearly two-year-long Ebola consequences for children who cases and over 6,000 deaths from January to October 2019. In outbreak which killed around 2,300 become even more vulnerable recorded, again, mostly children. the first 41 weeks of 2020, the people before it ended in June 2020. Nurse Ange Amani (centre) provides nutrition to the potentially lethal diseases UN data shows that 3.1 million provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu By that time, DRC was also battling guidance to outpatients at a UNICEF-supported clinic in Kizimba, North Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0390898/ which affect the country. people live in measles-affected and Tanganyika were responsible the global coronavirus pandemic. LeMoyne

38 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo HEALTH AND NUTRITION 39 “Ishara was not eating properly Emma Mapendu is director of Malnutrition is a and was getting very thin,” said nursing at Drodro General Hospital Nyirasabimana. “Last week a in Ituri province. UNICEF supplies major threat to community health person advised the hospital with therapeutic children in eastern me to bring him here.” milk for the steady stream of Congo, especially malnourished children who come That advice came none too seeking treatment. among displaced soon: Ishara was found to be populations. suffering from the most severe “Since September 2020, we’ve (and potentially lethal) form of seen a lot of cases of malnutrition, malnutrition. He was prescribed especially children, the majority of vitamin supplements and antibiotics. whom are displaced.” Mapendu said. “The cases are still rising Malnutrition is a major threat and we’re afraid we’ll be totally to children in eastern Congo, overwhelmed.” especially among displaced populations. The rates of malnutrition among children reﬂect a broader national “When they are displaced, people crisis. 3.3 million children under are forced to abandon their food 5 years are malnourished, and 1 stocks, their ﬁelds and their million suffer from severe acute livestock,” said UNICEF nutrition malnutrition (SAM). In 2019, specialist, Nelly Malela. “This 35 per cent of deaths among results in a reduction in food children under the age of 5 were intake that will eventually lead to directly or indirectly linked to

malnutrition if no food assistance is malnutrition. Outpatients at a UNICEF-supported nutrition clinic in provided.” Kizimba, North Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0390891/LeMoyne

Against such a backdrop, the and health workers are not there.” Against such a task of providing basic healthcare in conflict-torn eastern DRC is Important lessons have been backdrop, the especially challenging. learned from the country’s recent task of providing Ebola outbreaks, not least the need basic healthcare in “When we have distressed to win the trust and support of the people in a secure area, our basic local population. conflict-torn eastern priority is to work closely with our DRC is especially partners to provide basic health “We are seeing more community services focusing on immunization engagement when it comes to challenging. for children, taking care of killer health issues specifically,” Crespin diseases like diarrhea and malaria, said. and working on malnutrition, because rates among this It was this kind of community populatioin are very high,” said work that persuaded Odette UNICEF chief of health, Xavier Nyirasabimana to bring her five- Crespin. year-old son Ishara to a UNICEF- supported health centre at Kazimba “But its very challenging village, North Kivu province. She especially in areas where health and her family have lived in a Measuring the height of a malnourished child. structures have been destroyed nearby IDP site for several years. © UNICEF/UN0390894/LeMoyne

40 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo HEALTH AND NUTRITION 41 Porridge for displaced children EDUCATION Antoinette Bideni set up what she likes to call a “porridge club” when she moved to Minembwe, Children clamour to learn in South Kivu, and noticed the effects malnutrition was having on the children. despite violence and pandemic

“Many had faded hair, bloated stomachs and sallow cheeks,” Bideni recalled. “But after two weeks eating one bowl of porridge daily, they started to look healthy again.”

There are now 16 kitchens each serving daily up to 150 customers, mostly displaced children. At the start of the project, she received guidance from a UNICEF partner NGO, Medecins For years, conflict between the area to send students home. Ethnic conflict has D’Afrique. Tanganyika’s main ethnic groups, The school briefly re-opened in the Bantu and the Twa, has taken October and then was forced to taken a heavy toll on “I wanted to help people on the Haut Plateau who a heavy toll on children’s hopes close again at the end of 2020 children’s hopes of are suffering,” Bideni said. “We can’t always rely of gaining an education, leaving because of the worsening crisis. Children at a porridge club in South gaining an education. Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0410363/Brown on the outside world to feed us.” dozens of schools burned down or destroyed. When it was open, 1,500 primary school students busily engaged in a UNICEFsupported “catch up” But when Mapendano primary programme. The classes in school closed in early 2020, it reading, writing and mathematics was for a different reason. With run for three hours every Children at a catch up French class in Mapendano fears of COVID-19 surging, the weekday afternoon. primary school, Nyunzu. © UNICEF/UN0402434/ authorities ordered all schools in Acland

Porridge clubs have proved popular especially among hungry displaced children and their families. © UNICEF/ UN0402417/Brown

42 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo EDUCATION 43 10-year-old Fataki Luak has A stark reminder of the conflict can tents have been positioned, part in Tanganyika province, sheltering A boy stands to answer a question at a catch up French class in Mapendano primary school. ambitions of becoming a doctor be found in the town of Nyunzu, of an initiative to allow classes to nearly 70,000 people. A larger © UNICEF/UN0410340/Acland and had been waiting impatiently where the charred remains of two resume while destroyed schools number of displaced people live for school to resume. incinerated school buildings are are being reconstructed. within the local community. still visible. They were destroyed “I have fallen behind in my work, in March 2020 during an attack by Besides taking a toll on education, With so many schools rendered so nothing will stop me from Bantu militants. the ethnic conflict has created a unusable, finding classes for coming to do these extra classes large IDP population. There are children displaced by the conflict as often as I can.” Nearby two large white UNICEF currently 11 displacement sites becomes even harder.

44 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo EDUCATION 45 “In the worst instances, the Teachers use crumbling walls as The learning displaced children arrive in a place a makeshift blackboard. During where local schools don’t want the rainy season, water comes experience can play to accept more students,” said cascading through the roof. an important positive UNICEF education staff. “So we Once the classroom gets too role in bringing the have to create learning spaces waterlogged, the children are sent where children can get over the home. rival communities shock of being displaced and together. recover their routine.” “It was this school that helped us become such friends, despite Even in the bleakest settings, the the age difference between us,” learning experience can play an Kalega said. “Our friendship has important positive role in bringing also brought our families closer the rival communities together. together.”

15-year-old Patient Katoba Masudi Patient, smiling and gripping his – an ethnic Twa -- and 12-year- friend’s arm, agrees. old Kalega Kahengele -- a Bantu --attend a dilapidated school in “I know we will remain friends as Kalombo village, south of Nyunzu. we work to become teachers once Learning conditions are primitive. we are adults.” Teacher Simon Mwenu wa Mwenu teaches science There are no windows, no latrines to primary school students at a dilapidated school in Kilunga IDP site, Tanganyika province. © UNICEF/ and plaster is falling off the walls. UN0410345/Acland

Children sift sand looking for tiny pieces of gold at an informal mine near the city of Bukavu, eastern DRC. © UNICEF/UN0402419/Brown

Children follow the lure of DRC’s mineral riches

School is a distant memory for 13-year-old Cinza up there after gold was discovered in the area in Yamangu and his friend, Espoir Kalembo, 15, as May 2020. they squat near a gold mine a hill above Luhihi On a good day, Espoir and Cinza might make village, South Kivu. They sift through piles of 5,000 Congolese Francs each, (US $2.50). They use sand, looking for tiny pieces of gold, while nearby, the money to buy clothes and food. Even so, their men wearing head torches clamber out of deep shoes are broken, and they eat just one meal a holes in the brown earth. day. “Some days I find gold, some days I find only dust,” says Espoir. “Sometimes the guards chase us away with sticks,” says Cinza, “Because we are minors and we are UNICEF data shows that some 40,000 children not supposed to be in the mine.” They always work in mines in the country’s south-east, mostly manage to sneak back in. digging for cobalt used in mobile phones and electric cars. Further north in the embattled The boys dropped out of school five years ago Kivu provinces, children toil in gold, tin and when their families could no longer afford to buy coltan mines often run by militia groups. “Many them books or uniforms. They spend six days are trying to earn money for school fees,” said a week either in the mine or down at the river, Adelard Mahamba, WASH officer for UNICEF in panning for gold. A makeshift town has sprung South Kivu.

46 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo EDUCATION 47 The floodwaters that surged But the floods – on the shores of through Uvira on 16 April 2020 Africa’s second biggest freshwater WATER, SANITATION were the worst in local memory. lake -- also underscored that while Following heavy rains, a raging water scarcity is rarely an issue AND HYGIENE torrent swept through the town for DRC, delivering safe water for at the far northern end of Lake a large population, including many Looking beyond IDPs’ immediate needs Tanganyika, leaving behind a thick IDPs, is a much bigger challenge. layer of mud and debris. The problem is apparent beside a Thousands of people had to road on Uvira’s outskirts, where abandon their homes – a reminder a group of women and children that in eastern DRC, nature as well scoop brackish water from a People collect water from a broken water main in Uvira, South Kivu. Waterborne diseases such as as conflict can destroy livelihoods muddy pond into 20 litre jerrycans. cholera are a major threat to displaced populations. and communities. © UNICEF/UN0402425/Brown

48 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE 49 Across DRC, such sights are than double that number when “Emergency common. According to UNICEF there is a cholera outbreak.” data, just 5 per cent of the assistance is only population has access to a safely After the April ﬂoods, UNICEF and a band-aid. It’s not managed water service. The its partners provided clean water, going to solve longer majority rely on unprotected public soap and other emergency WASH water sources for their drinking and assistance to more than 100,000 term water supply other needs, despite the risks of affected and displaced people and sanitation diarrheal disease. From January to in Uvira, many of them children. October 2019, more than 20,000 According to UNICEF DRC WASH challenges for cholera cases were recorded. manager, Nick Rice Chudeau, which we need a much more severe challenge the infrastructure” “Cholera is one of the major comes when displaced populations problems in Uvira but so too is need support over the longer term. diarrhea, typhoid, measles, malaria and respiratory illnesses,” said “Emergency assistance is only a local epidemiologist Dr Yollande band-aid. It’s not going to solve Ramazadi. “The hospital (here) has longer term water supply and Joseph Mbarato surveys the damage done to his a 56-bed capacity, yet often the sanitation challenges for which home by ﬂoodwaters that surged through the city of Uvira in April 2020. Almost 78,000 people were left number of patients can be more we need the infrastructure,” without shelter. © UNICEF/UN0410348/Brown

said Chudeau. “You can have a on vacant land in the centre of In addition to these gathering of people at the site, Bunia, in Ituri province. The IDP but there could be land ownership population soon grew, creating sensitive issues issues that prevent you drilling a tensions with local people in the there is the question borehole to supply water. Then densely-populated town. To help of funding. there is the sanitation – if its private address the issue, UNICEF and an land would the owner allow you to NGO partner have recently installed build latrines?” a series of tap stands.

In addition to these sensitive issues “These tap stands are primarily for there is the question of funding. use by the Bunia host community,” Donors are more responsive when said UNICEF Bunia Chief Field the needs are acute. Convincing Ofﬁcer Dr Cisse Ibrahim. “They them to provide support for a also offset any impression that displaced population’s longer-term agencies (like UNICEF) only serve needs is harder. IDPs and not the local population.”

On occasion, however, local WASH In displaced families and host solutions can help defuse tensions communities alike, the laborious between host communities and routine of fetching water usually Children queue at a handwashing point in Kigonze IDP camp, in Ituri province.© UNICEF/UN0383628/ IDPs. Some years ago, IDPs settled falls on women and girls. LeMoyne

50 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE 51 Widowed mother-of-ﬁve Francoise provides sustainable access to safe A woman carries a container of water near her home in Uvira, South Kivu. © UNICEF/UN0402424/ lives in Kalunga IDP settlement, drinking water, adequate sanitation Brown three kilometres north of the and proper hygiene. Beneﬁting Women leave empty-handed from a water pump Tanganyika provincial capital, over 8 million people in total, the near Kalunga camp, Tanganyika province where Kalemie. She and one of her Healthy School and Village National rationing is a regular occurrence. © UNICEF/ children make four trips daily to Programme (PNEVA) is also helping UN0410346/Acland the water pump located near the tackle the stigma and other issues settlement perimeter. that girls face around menstrual hygiene. “Even early in the morning there is a queue at the well,” said “Women and girls are still Francoise. “We need water daily menstruating when they are for our cooking and washing and displaced or when they are have to collect it so often because returnees,” said Chudeau. “We its rationed.” need to ensure that they have the means to manage their In some regions, IDPs have menstruation safely, in dignity and access to villages and schools stay healthy without any fear of covered by a huge UNICEF- stigma or marginalization.” backed development initiative that

52 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE 53 . End the killing, maiming and brutal assaults – including rape and other WE CALL forms of gender-based violence -- which have led to the displacement of CALL TO ACTION ON ALL PARTIES civilian populations in many areas TO THE CONFLICT . Adhere to international humanitarian law and ensure the safe and unrestricted access of humanitarian actors to displaced children and IN EASTERN their families CONGO TO: In the Democratic Republic of these desperate families to flee It is vital that humanitarian . Cease all attacks and threats against health facilities, schools and their staff, and to ensure that children have safe access to all essential services the Congo, one of the world’s their homes continue. But there efforts are maintained and worst humanitarian crises is an urgent need to strengthen stepped up, while confronting . End the recruitment and use of children and to hold perpetrators accountable continues to unfold. More than the basic services on which the challenges of a uniquely 5 million people are displaced, the displaced and affected complex environment. To including some 3 million host communities depend, that end, UNICEF makes the UNICEF CALLS . Redouble efforts to bring peace to the eastern provinces and all areas children. Efforts to stem the both for their survival and for following Call to Action. affected by ongoing conflict, ensuring that those responsible for acts of conflict which caused most of their longer-term sustenance. ON THE violence face justice GOVERNMENT . Take firm measures to stem the flow of funds which has allowed armed groups active in eastern DRC to expand their activities at the expense of OF DRC TO: local communities Loda IDP camp in Ituri, eastern DRC. . Allocate increased resources from the national budget to extend the © UNICEF/UN0381747/LeMoyne provision of essential health care, nutrition and immunization services for pregnant women, new-born and young children . Prioritise the strengthening of WASH, education and other essential basic services for displaced and host community populations

. Commit generous, multi-year resources to the Government of DRC’s UNICEF CALLS efforts to revamp and strengthen basic health, nutrition, WASH and ON THE education services for displaced, returned, and host community child INTERNATIONAL and family . Provide assistance that is ﬂexible and responsive to the needs of an COMMUNITY TO: evolving, complex humanitarian crisis, supporting both emergency response as well as long-term interventions to sustainably reduce humanitarian needs . Ensure that the mechanisms for relief delivery fully mitigate the risk of fraud and protect recipient populations from sexual exploitation and abuse . Invest in DRC’s local and national capacity to deliver humanitarian and development assistance to ensure sustainability of aid activities and accountability to affected populations

UNICEF has been active in the DRC since 1963. We reiterate our commitment to realizing these critically important priorities and to working in partnership with the Government of the DRC and civil society partners to achieve common goals for children, women and vulnerable groups – regardless of ethnicity, religion or any other status.

54 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in DemoDemocratic Republic of Congo CALL TO ACTION 55 UNICEF DRC: RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS Between January and November 2020, UNICEF and partners have:

GIVEN MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDED OVER 3,000 UNACCOMPANIED SUPPORTED THE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL AND SEPARATED CHILDREN WITH REINTEGRATION OF NEARLY SUPPORT TO 181,00 ACCESS TO FAMILY-BASED CARE OR 3,000 CHILDREN SEPARATED CHILDREN APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE SERVICES FROM ARMED GROUPS

PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT AND CHILD PROTECTION

PROVIDED 478,000 DISPLACED PEOPLE WITH ESSENTIAL HOUSEHOLD ITEMS, AND SHELTER MATERIALS

RAPID RESPONSE

VACCINATED NEARLY DELIVERED PRIMARY HEALTH ADMITTED OVER 272,000 540,000 CHILDREN AGED CARE IN UNICEF-SUPPORTED SAM-AFFECTED CHILDREN 6 MONTHS TO 14 YEARS FACILITIES TO OVER 71,000 AGED UNDER 5 YEARS FOR AGAINST MEASLES CHILDREN AND WOMEN NUTRITION TREATMENT

HEALTH AND NUTRITION

PROVIDED 104,000 CHILDREN TRAINED 2,400 FEMALE AND AGED 6 TO 17 YEARS WITH MALE TEACHERS ON LEARNER- ACCESS TO FORMAL OR NON- CENTRED METHODOLOGIES FORMAL EDUCATION AND PEACE EDUCATION

EDUCATION

PROVIDED WASH ASSISTANCE AT HEALTH PROVIDED ACCESS TO WASH SERVICES CENTRES OR HOMES TO MORE THAN 12,000 TO OVER 391,000 PEOPLE AFFECTED SEVERELY MALNOURISHED CHILDREN, AS WELL BY NATURAL DISASTERS, POPULATION AS PREGNANT/ BREAST-FEEDING WOMEN MOVEMENTS AND/OR CONFLICTS

WASH

REACHED 14,700,000 PEOPLE WITH KEY LIFE- SAVING MESSAGES ON HUMANITARIAN SERVICES

56 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo UNICEF DRC: RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS AND FUNDRAISING NEEDS 2021 57 9% SECTORS 2021 REQUIREMENTS (USD) UNICEF FUNDING NEEDS 2021 OTHER* 9,5% Nutrition 175,088,235 WASH 9,9% Health 43,598,460 RAPID US$384.4 45,5% WASH 36,698,249 UNICEF requires US$384.4 million to ensure the continuity and expansion RESPONSE MECHANISM million NUTRITION of its support to meet the acute needs of children and women in the Child Protection, GBViE and PSEA 16,198,380 Democratic Republic of the Congo. This represents a 37.5 per cent Education 56,955,555 increase over the 2020 appeal, which corresponds to the 32 per cent 11,3% increase in the total number of people to be reached. HEALTH Social protection and cash transfers 7,100,000 These funds will enable UNICEF to scale up its rapid response, promote 14,8% C4D, Community engagement and AAP 7,080,400 integrated life-saving interventions and use a community-based approach EDUCATION to provide more timely, effective and efﬁcient support to vulnerable Rapid response mechanism 37,942,810 children. Without timely and adequate funding, UNICEF and its Cluster coordination 3,750,000 partners will be unable to provide critical services addressing the acute *This includes costs from other sectors/interventions: humanitarian needs of 2.9 million Congolese children and their families Child protection, GBViE and PSEA (4.2%), Social Displaced people who have returned to their homes protection and cash transfers (1.8%), C4D, Community TOTAL 384,412,089 and uphold and promote their rights. in Tanganyika province. © UNICEF/UN0410378/Acland engagement and AAP (1.8%), Cluster coordination (<1%).

58 FEAR AND FLIGHT: An uprooted generation of children at risk in Democratic Republic of Congo UNICEF DRC: RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS AND FUNDRAISING NEEDS 2021 59 Author Simon Ingram

Reporting Alastair Lawson-Tancred, Guy Hubbard, Olivia Acland, Hossanah Kivuya

Photography Roger Lemoyne, Patrick Brown, Olivia Acland

Layout and design Giovanna Burinato

Introduction 61 For further information, please contact:

Jean-Jacques Simon UNICEF DRC [email protected] +243 826541004

....Marixie Mercado UNICEF Geneva [email protected] +41 22909 5744

Chris Tidey UNICEF New York [email protected] +1 917 340 3017