A Holistic Approach to Women’s Rights in the DRC
Interview with Babunga S. Nyota, Fundraising and Communication Manager,
Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises
Human Rights Funding News, IHRFG e-newsletter, October 1, 2015
The Fund for Congolese Women - Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises – is the first non-governmental
Congolese fund mobilizing financial and technical resources to support organizations and networks of
women and girls, with or without legal status, who promote women's rights from the roots. Babunga
Nyota shares her story and theirs.
How did you come to be involved with Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises (FFC)?
I first encountered women’s human rights work in 2007, when I was working for the New Field
Foundation and Fahamu as an interpreter. I had no idea about human rights, let alone women’s rights.
Though I knew what was “good” and “bad” at the time, I was not interested in women’s human rights
work because, for me, those words meant that women wanted to dominate men.
In 2009, I had the opportunity
to work with the Norwegian
Church Aid in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC).
While with them, I often
visited camps in the field and
started to notice how hard life
was for Congolese women who had been forced to leave their homes due to conflict. I became
interested in women’s human rights as I began to see how unfairly women are treated.
I started working for Urgent Action Fund-Africa in 2011 and had the opportunity to read about all the
atrocities women were facing. I wanted to do something to help change women’s situation, but I didn’t
have the confidence until I had a fruitful conversation with an activist who told me, “We are fighting
against violence done to women; be it a man or a woman who does it, we will still fight. It is not good for
women to be oppressed in any situation by anyone.” That is when I decided to engage in this work. I
also wanted to give back to my country, having known what it is to be a refugee and what it is like when
your rights are not respected. When FFC published an open position that year, I applied. I am happy to
work for the promotion of women’s rights in my country.
What does philanthropy look like in the DRC?
DRC people love giving, as is the culture in the whole of Africa. The only challenge is the context of the
country does not allow them to give as much as they might want to contribute. People help here and
there, and church groups also assist, but I don’t know of any other local philanthropy group in the DRC.
There are many international actors in the country who receive a considerable amount of funds, while a
small percentage reaches the grassroots organizations. This was the reason for the creation of FFC: we
fundraise to support small organizations that are not able to access funding.
What are some of the challenges FFC has faced working in the DRC?
I would say there is a lot to do in terms of educating the
population on women’s human rights. FFC has been
working in a context where some tribes were in conflicts
and thus, at times, it is hard for them to work together.
But with sensitization and work on peaceful living,
women are able to come together to promote their
mutual rights.
A big logistical challenge is travelling and communicating
within the country. Transport can be difficult due to the prices of tickets, and many remote communities
lack internet access and calling networks. Some of our grantees are forced to travel long distances in
order to access internet or open a bank account. We work with humanitarian flights that make it easy
for us to move in the country and conduct our activities.
Why is FFC well positioned to support women’s rights in the DRC?
FFC supports a holistic approach to promoting women’s rights in the DRC. For example, we train women
candidates but also fund organizations to sensitize the population to the idea of voting for women
support advocacy for the placement of women in meaningful political positions.
We are unique and well positioned because we are Congolese women working for the promotion of
Congolese women’s rights. Given that some of our staff faced these challenges, we have a deep
understanding of the problems of women in the Congo.
As the conflict continued to grow in 2012, FFC convened
women to advocate for the restoration of peace in eastern
Congo. We welcomed women human rights activists from
North and South Kivu in the east of the DRC to come and
talk about the violence they have seen and experienced
during these cycles of conflict.
The activists came to Kinshasa and met with the Congolese government, representatives of various
embassies, and French President Francois Holland. It was important for these women – many of whom
have survived sexual violence themselves or witnessed other rights violations – to speak about their
experiences during the conflict in the DRC at the French summit. As a result, the French president
supported our fight internationally, saying sexual violence should not continue to be used as a weapon
of war.
FFC is able to go to places other organizations do not reach. We fund small organizations with grants
ranging from $1000-5000. We also provide follow-up and trainings so these organizations may be able
to fundraise from other sources of finance. We help them grow because we believe change will not
come from one organization but from the effort of many working together towards a common goal.
To learn more, please visit FFC’s website at www.ffcrdc.org.