Day: November 26, 2022

Humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the highest in the world. People in the DRC have been facing persistent conflict and violence for decades.

 

There are currently over 5.6 million displaced people within the country – the highest number in Africa. More than 1 million Congolese refugees live in neighbouring countries. Due to the conflict, children cannot stay in school or go back to it.

 

Raphaële, who works for EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, recently visited the South Kivu province in the DRC. Here, the EU and partners are running projects to support the construction and renovation of primary schools. Our funding also helps provide educational kits for children. Read her first-hand account.

 

Our convoy reaches the small village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province of the DRC, after a long drive on a bumpy dirt road running along a steep mountainside.

 

Physical access constraints and frequent clashes between local armed groups explain why remote communities in the Hauts and Moyens Plateaux of South Kivu receive few visitors.

 

The humanitarians in charge of the MERCI project (Multisector Emergency Response for Conflict Impacted populations) are among the exceptions. The project is funded by the EU and implemented by OXFAM Belgium and Street Child.

 

The goal of MERCI is to make a positive impact on the lives of more than 3,000 men, women and children heavily affected by the conflict, whether they are internally displaced populations, members of host communities, or returnees.

 

Education in emergencies

 

We stop in front of the village’s primary school. Immediately, dozens of children gather around the cars, welcoming us with curious eyes and shy smiles.

 

Many are wearing very simple uniforms and carrying brightly coloured backpacks: they form part of the educational kits that OXFAM and Street Child distributed to the young pupils at the start of the school year.

 

The project, launched a few months ago, includes the construction and renovation of 20 primary schools in 10 local communities.

 

Here, work has already started on one of the buildings: inside, the new cement floor is smooth and clean, and a large blackboard hangs on the wall.

 

Desks are still lacking in the classroom where far too many pupils are sitting together, but it is a decisive first step towards improving the learning conditions of children.

 

Caring for the environment

 

A few metres away from the school buildings, we visit the nursery garden.

 

The children have sown seeds which are already starting to grow. The small trees will later be planted around the school.

 

South Kivu’s forests are threatened by slash-and-burn farming as well as by the intensive use of wood as fuel to fire mud bricks and cook food. The project helps to raise community awareness about the need for reforestation.

 

Schools are the focal point of the MERCI intervention, which aims to protect vulnerable populations by creating a safer and more prosperous environment.

 

The smiling children who surround us are the promise of a better future for this conflict-torn community.

 

Story by Raphaële Magoni, Desk Officer DRC, EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

 

Source: European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

“Check against delivery”

Thank you, dear Volodymyr, for convening us on this very important day.

This meeting falls on the Holodomor memorial day – when 90 years ago, hunger was used as a weapon by the Soviet Union against the Ukrainian people.

Today, Russia is again using food as a weapon.

As part of its brutal aggression against Ukraine, Russia has destroyed your agricultural production, targeted your grain silos, and blockaded your ports.

Thus Russia is depriving of vital access to food the most vulnerable countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

And then it uses disinformation to blame others for its despicable actions.

We must continue to fight back against this.

Your initiative “Grain from Ukraine”, which has my full support, is crucial to our efforts.

You are showing unwavering commitment to global food security, international responsibility and solidarity with those most in need.

And we stand by your side.

In Bali, G20 leaders called for global solidarity to fight hunger caused by Russia’s war of aggression.

We will not falter in our responsibilities and will continue to do everything we can on this front.

The Solidarity Lanes established by the Commission and bordering Member States are a major success.

Since May, they have enabled the export of more than 17 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain and food products.

And they are the only option for the export of all other, non-agricultural Ukrainian goods to the rest of the world.

The Solidarity Lanes have become a lifeline for Ukraine’s economy, bringing more than 19 billion euros of much-needed income to Ukrainian farmers and businesses.

The European Commission, together with Financial Institutions such as the EIB, the EBRD, and the World Bank, have now mobilised 1 billion euros of additional funding to boost the capacity of these Solidarity Lanes.

And we welcome the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative for 120 days.

Taken together, the EU Solidarity Lanes and the Black Sea Grain Initiative have allowed the export of more than 28 million tonnes of agricultural products to the world market, especially to the countries most in need.

It is very important to signal to the world today that we will not let our most vulnerable partners down.

This is why I am very pleased to announce the support of the European Commission to load two ships with grain.

We will pay to transport 40,000 tons of grain which is the remainder of the grain that you have made available. Whatever the costs are.

90 years after the Holodomor, we honour the memory of Ukraine’s victims.

They died in silence, starving to death, and, at that time, the world did not rise to help them. We will not let this happen again.

As we come together with Ukraine today to help avert hunger around the world, we also stand with Ukraine as it mourns the innocent victims of the Holodomor.

And we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Slava Ukraini!

 

 

Source: European Commission