The MONUSCO Office of Gender Affairs has launched a series of projects aimed to improve security and participation of women and girls in the DRC during the electoral process.

The first project entitled ‘Research Action’ aimed to construct a network to identify, count and categorise all violations upon the rights of Congolese women and girls during the electoral process. The ultimate objective is to ensure that women and girls can fully participate in the electoral process, equal to men in electoral activities and in full security.

The information collected was transmitted to the ‘Commission Nationale Electorale Independante’ (CENI) or the relevant sections of MONUSCO for appropriate action and for future preventative measures. The network was created in partnership with CAFCO, YWCA, AFEJUCO and the Commission Episcopale Justice et Paix. The Gender Section encourages the population, in all provinces of the DRC, to report any violations to local representatives of the aforementioned organisations.

The second project, ‘Training of Trainers’ aimed to develop mechanisms and strategies to reinforce the capacities of civil society members, political party candidates and electoral administration frameworks to train a maximum of candidates for the upcoming provincial and local elections. In five provinces of the DRC (Maniema, South Kivu, North Kivu, Oriental Province, Western Kasai), 500 trainers will be trained (100 trainers in each province).

The third project was a sub-regional workshop on the exchange of peace, security and prevention of conflict in the Great Lake countries during the pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral period. It was held in Goma, North Kivu, the same year with the objective to reduce the risks of escalation of conflict in the countries of the Great Lakes sub region and consolidate peace and security of women. Representatives from Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and DRC attended the workshop, organised in partnership with the ‘Concertation des Collectifs des Associations Féminines de la Sous-région de Grands Lacs’ (COCAFEM/GL)

The projects, funded by the Luxembourg Embassy, aimed to improve the general security and participation of women during the electoral period, ensuring a fair, democratic and gender-equal process.