“There is hope for a happy life.” The difference livelihoods training is making in the DRC

Without limited access to training and markets, even families in work can struggle to afford essentials such as food and medicine, and supplies for their children to attend school, such as uniforms and books  – making it difficult for the next generation to receive the resources and opportunities they need to break the cycle of poverty. 

Concern has been working with local communities in the DRC to offer livelihoods programmes such as context appropriate small business start-up and training programmes. Our teams also support local village savings and loans assosications (VSLA), which are improving individual and group financial literacy and long-term financial planning. Savings groups have proven so successful that neighbouring communities have spontaneously started their own, requesting training and support from Concern.

We spoke to four women about the impact livelihoods training has had on their lives. 

Maria lost evertything she owned after her village in Eastern DRC was destroyed in 2019. She had to leave with her family to a village thirty kilometres away. The family returned when they heard peace had been restored, and started to rebuild their home and livelihoods from the ground up. Neighbours helped as much as they could, but it was two years before the family could save enough money to pay school-related costs for their children.

A mother of 10 children, Maria was selected to be part of Concern's livelihoods programme. She and her husband received peanuts, beans and maize seeds to begin cultivating crops again. Maria also joined a Concern-supported VSLA and receives compensation for the time spent attending the group’s training activities. 

"After receiving this assistance, I now had food, money and something to work at. I went from a wandering life to one where I had something to do,” Maria says. “The children are happier than before because, at least today, they can see there is a kind of activeness in the family.”

Maria is now able to provide for her children’s needs. She has also noticed that theft has gone down in her area, as people are now receiving the support they need to grow their own crops for food and income. 

“For myself, I wish to improve what I am doing, because Concern has shown us that cultivating peanuts was also possible in this area. That’s something we were not used to cultivating before," Maria reflects.

“I dream of being able to produce so many crops, like peanuts or something else, to sell in the main city of the region.

Today, mother-of-five Alice runs a successful dressmaking and fabric selling business in Eastern DRC. She owns five sewing machines and is training other women how to tailor and set up their own businesses. 

But this wasn't always the case. Alice fled her village with her children three years ago. The family had to start from scratch as they were unable to bring anything with them when they fled.

“Finding food was a big problem. We had to search for people for whom we could do laundry to get some money. We found people who had farms and offered to go and collect cassava leaves, and cook them for the family,” she remembers. 

Initially, Alice – who had learnt to sew in her home village - did not have her own sewing machine and worked in her neighbour’s tailoring shop. Over time she saved up enough capital to start her own small business. 

Alice is part of a Concern-supported VSLA and has been able to purchase fabric to resell. She is also diversifying her income with livestock management training from Concern and hopes that between her sewing business and raising chickens she will be able to support her children through school.

“Now I hope and expect that in a year I will be rich. I'll be a boss lady,” Alice says. “And if I continue with the savings and loan group and with the training I'm receiving in livestock management, I think my situation will not be the same a year down the road.”

Bernadette has used a loan from her Concern-supported VSLA to pay school costs for her children and medical treatment for herself.

“The VSLA is very important, very useful because it allows people to have this culture of saving, and it also enables us to get loans when there’s an emergency, or if we have health issues,” she says.

A mother of nine, Bernadette fled with her family when conflict broke out in her village. Her husband remained behind to farm and provide food for the family, before joining them two months later. 

“Our biggest challenges are paying rent and school costs for our children, getting healthcare, and finding food - because it is a long distance from here to the place where we farm. It takes us four hours to go there and collect food,” she explains.

Along with the VSLA, Bernadette is also participating in literacy training with Concern. On a monthly basis, she receives approximately £18.50 for her time spent in training and the VSLA meetings.

“When I receive that money each month, I am very happy because I have never seen a learner or a student receive money while studying,” she says. “I am very happy every time I receive this money because it is in my interest to learn and take part in the training.”

Bernadette eventually hopes to be able to buy her own home with the savings she’s able to make thanks to the VSLA. 

Guilaine and her husband used to farm. When conflict broke out in their village, they left their fields and travelled for six days with their children to reach safety in the town where Guilaine’s mother-in-law lives. 

“First, we slept at a village on the way, but violence was still around. So wecontinued,” she says.

Guilaine’s husband had fractured his arm, making it difficult for him to work. She often had to find odd jobs to bring in an income for their family.

“With the health of my husband, it was very hard. The biggest challenge we have been experiencing is food. We don't have food. The other challenge is healthcare for the children and their father. It has been really challenging," she says.

Guilaine is now partaking in Concern’s livelihoods programme. “I was overjoyed when I heard that I was selected,” she says. “I even danced!” 

Guilaine had the option to pick her preferred training and selected hair dressing, as she felt it had the highest earning potential. She is compensated for the time she spends in training, so that she is able to continue providing for herself and her family. 

“When I graduate, I will open a hairdressing business providing people with hairdressing service,” she says. “I feel very happy to receive the training and support. What it means to me is that there is hope for a happy life.”

Concern has been working in the DRC for thirty years. In 2023, we developed a new livelihoods strategy that aims to enhance the quality of our programmes and build on our role as an effective and engaged partner, working closely with communities, local NGOs and state partners to provide the best quality service and replicate good practice.

Conflict and climate disasters such as flooding can make it difficult for people living in extreme poverty to earn a reliable income. Through livelihoods training and bespoke start-up supports, people have the opportunity to gain new skills and resources to provide for themselves - from the provision of tools and seeds needed for farming, to literacy skills and vocational training, such as hairdressing.

Find out more about our response to the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo here.