Current Campaign - North & South Kivu

Modern schools.

 
 

In a country that has been named the worst place in the world to be a woman – where women are often used as weapons of war – there are long-term negative consequences for every member of DRC society.

1 out of every 2 women in the DRC is illiterate, therefore women’s education is one of our key activities. Over 7.5 million children aged 5-17 are not in school, 3.9 million of whom are girls.

Retention of students - specifically amongst girls - is a serious issue in the DRC. The obstacles that hold them back include early forced marriage, domestic chores, child labour, poverty, and the tendency to prioritize male education. Heroes of Peace builds schools for girls and women who wants to come back to school and achieve their education.

This breaks the tradition of not having adult high schools. This eliminates a culture of considering women as objects and that deems them as a last choice in the family when comes it comes to receiving education. Heroes of Peace provides sanitary pads for young girls attending school to avoid missing class during menstrual periods. In campaign to win hearts and minds, Heroes of Peace lobbies against early and forced marriages and promote education and self-reliance among girls.

Heroes of Peace modernizes schools across North and South Kivu. This includes the building and operation of new schools, utilizing traditional community spaces to deliver messages of peace and reconciliation by providing programs that raise awareness of the effects conflict in DRC and community-driven solutions. Schools are often used to provide workshops to parents regarding peace, reconciliation, and entrepreneurship.

Through the modernization of schools, primary age youth graduate to high school with the skills to problem-solve and coordinate, and with understanding that they are responsible for creating solutions for change. To support this change-making, Heroes of Peace leads community workshops for adults to learn how to be youth allies to support young decision-makers.

Heroes of Peace provide scholarships to economically disadvantaged students. This works reduce the number of child soldiers in the DRC. Alongside education, a key focus of this work is mentorship and psychological support for former child soldiers.

With your support, Heroes of Peace plans to be at the forefront of the improvements to the education system by offering computer literacy classes to allow students to access information at a young age and during the learning process - a rarity in the DRC. We will provide quality education by training teachers, equipping them with the necessary material, and provide multilingual instruction.

THE FACTS.

1 out of every 2 women in the DRC is illiterate.

Over 7.5 million children aged 5-17 are not in school, 3.9 million of whom are girls.

1 in 5 children below the age of 11 will never attend school. And 2/3 of current students are illiterate.

Nearly 4 in 5 teenagers are not enrolled in school and 90% of them are illiterate.

A Congolese child spends an average of 9.2 years in school.