Meeting with the beneficiaries of Children’s Rights Innovation Fund Project in Kalemie DRC

Report of the meeting of the beneficiaries of the project on children’s rights in Kalemie supported by Children’s Rights Innovation Fund.

This year 2026, we started the implementation of the project focusing on the promotion of forced migrants children’s rights in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This project is being implemented in Kalemie City, Tanganyika Province, DRC. It is seeks to empower vulnerable children about their rights and focuses on Internally Displaced Children and on refugee children who are involved in small income generating activities in Kalemie city. These children are visible everywhere working hard in order to support their families and themselves but their rights are highly abuses.

In total 20 children will be direct beneficiaries of the project and will access to some funds in terms of capital in order to boost their income generating activities. Among them 7 are refugee children from Rwanda and Burundi composed of 5 girls and 2 young boys, the other three and people from the refugee host communities made on 3 among them 2 girls and 1 young boy. We also have 7 children from Katanika Internally Displaced Persons among them 5 are girls and 2 are young boys, the other three (3) are from IDPs host Communities composed of 2 girls and one 1 young man.

Activities

The following activities have already done by our team in Kalemie and others are still ongoing.

The 20 young people direct beneficiaries have been identified, their income generating activities recorded and understanding better their background through a form which we developed.

We held the very first meeting bringing all the beneficiaries together in order to know each other and to be briefed about the project. This meeting was unique as it was the very first time that IDPs came across refugees and it was the same with refugee children.

Coming activities

In very few days these children will now be training in the following topics: How to start and manage an association, because they will be encouraged to make their own association, they will be trained about their rights and how to advocate for these rights once they are abused, this will help these children to be active citizens, they will be trained in business, savings and loans because we need them to develop their activities in order to overcome their financial challenges, and lastly they will develop some campaigns towards other children in similar situation in DRC.

The second group of 50 young people

Another group of 50 people mainly young girls will also be trained in their rights and in group management, among them we shall 20 from two IDP Camps, 10 from the refugee community, 10 from the host communities and 10 girls are socially engaged in their communities now through various charitable activities. The characteristic of this group is that it is not among the most vulnerable and will be joined together with the 20 others for human rights awareness campaigns.