{"id":11341,"date":"2025-07-10T08:33:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/?p=11341"},"modified":"2025-07-10T09:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T09:30:44","slug":"in-kinshasa-peace-clubs-take-root-results-of-ywca-drcs-strategic-reinforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/in-kinshasa-peace-clubs-take-root-results-of-ywca-drcs-strategic-reinforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"In Kinshasa, Peace Clubs Take Root: Results of YWCA-DRC\u2019s strategic reinforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kinshasa, May 2025, The Young Women\u2019s Christian Association of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (YWCA-DRC) has just completed a series of training sessions in six schools across the nation\u2019s capital, Kinshasa, with a clear objective: to strengthen civic engagement and foster a culture of peace among youth aged 15 to 25.<\/p>\n<p>These workshops not only raised awareness about conflict management and gender-based violence (GBV), but also led to tangible results on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>At the Institut Technique Agricole de Mombele and Lyc\u00e9e Sainte Germaine, students stood out for their enthusiasm and active participation. Discussions on the &#8220;Do No Harm&#8221; approach and analysis of community dividers and connectors helped raise awareness of the often invisible mechanisms of social division.<\/p>\n<p>At Coll\u00e8ge Marzello Zago and Complexe scolaire Giovani Santolini, students demonstrated remarkable analytical skills, particularly during the mapping exercise on tribal perceptions. The clubs managed to create a safe and respectful space for dialogue around social representations an important step toward dismantling ethnic stereotypes. School authorities were also praised for their engagement.<\/p>\n<p>Narcia Musoki\u2019s sessions on gender-based violence left a lasting impression. Using a participatory method with image boxes and open discussions, students gained a clearer understanding of their legal rights\u2014particularly through the simplification of Article 170 of the 2006 law on sexual violence.<\/p>\n<p>This session helped break taboos by including young boys in the conversation and equipping all participants with tools to respond to abuse\u2014an important shift in a school environment where such issues are often ignored.<\/p>\n<p>One of the expected outcomes was that clubs would be able to report unresolved conflicts, produce regular activity reports, and continue peace-building efforts independently. While this remains a work in progress, several clubs have already expressed a desire to organize follow-up sessions and revive regular meetings.<\/p>\n<p>These results show that youth are eager to get involved, but need more structured support to sustain their actions,&#8221; said David Kiseke, one of the program\u2019s lead trainers.<\/p>\n<p>YWCA-DRC is already planning a reinforced follow-up phase in the coming months, with the implementation of simple tools for reporting and intergenerational knowledge transfer within the clubs. The real challenge now is to move from a one-time project to a lasting culture of peace in schools.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" class=\"wp-image-11342\" src=\"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1.jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-100x75.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-960x720.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-900x675.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/word-image-11341-1-480x360.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width:767px) 480px, (max-width:1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kinshasa, May 2025, The Young Women\u2019s Christian Association of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (YWCA-DRC) has just completed a series of training sessions in six<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[279],"tags":[312,323,315],"class_list":["post-11341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dr-congo","tag-conflict-analysis-do-no-harm","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-peace-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceworkafrica.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}