Crisis Prevention and Recovery Newsletter

Gender in the DRC
Mainstreaming gender in recovery efforts
By Augusta Angelucci, Senior Gender Advisor, UNDP DRC

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) suffered enormous loss of life and widespread human rights violations during the two wars that occurred since 1996. In particular, women and girls were often the victims of rape, sexual violence, forced prostitution and the forced infection and transmission of HIV/AIDS.

The UNDP office in the DRC has implemented a gender approach in all reconstruction strategies; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programmes; and good governance projects to ensure the emergence of a fairer society.

During the political transition period, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Family, a branch of the government, adopted a strategic document for the promotion of gender equality. The document, “Strategy Document for the Integration of Gender into Development Policies and Programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” supports the integration of gender equality into all areas of the country’s administration and all levels of institutional reform. As part of the implementation of this strategy, UNDP supports the Ministry, sectoral departments, and civil society organizations in promoting gender equality—helping them formulate policies and programmes, draw up budgets in a gender-oriented manner and operationalize them at the national level.

The strategy document helped UNDP support transitional institutions, in particular the Parliament, in their work on a new constitution, ensuring that it would include a gender-equality dimension. The new constitution of the DRC, approved in a popular referendum, reflects this aspiration through the explicit mention of gender equality in its preamble and in several articles—thereby acting as a cornerstone for all gender equality and equity policies in the DRC.

As part of a project to support the electoral process in the DRC, UNDP supported an environment that encourages consultation and debate on female leadership and the involvement of women in electoral systems and processes. This work has been carried forward by ensuring the integration of gender equality in all of the Independent Electoral Commission’s bodies and activities and by ensuring access to information, training and the participation of Congolese women in all stages of the electoral process, as both voters and candidates. UNDP also addressed the removal of articles discriminating against women from a draft administrative governance strategic reform document and promoted gender balance in public services.

By integrating gender analysis into community recovery projects, UNDP assists in the socio-economic reintegration of large numbers of women and girls who were victims of violence and sexual assault. Through training and apprenticeship programs such as tailoring, information technology, agriculture, animal husbandry, and microfinance, UNDP helps women who were victims of violence support themselves and reintegrate into their communities. As a complement to this, UNDP supported a revision of the national law on sexual violence and the reform of the legal system to include legal provisions for women who have survived sexual violence.

Within the framework of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), UNDP has adopted gender analysis as part of its approach to ensure that women who were former combatants or associated with armed forces benefit from the national DDR programme. Since the early stages of the programme in 2003, UNDP has drawn attention to the importance of mainstreaming gender in the national framework. Special kits have been distributed to women ex-combatants at transit sites; workshops have been held to raise awareness of the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security; staff have been trained on gender issues and DDR; gender-focused projects have been implemented; and an office-level advisor was employed.

Despite these efforts, the DRC remains one of the most dangerous places for a woman to live. UNDP will continue to work to strengthen women's security, advance gender justice, and ensure gender-responsive recovery in the country.