Uvira, 23 April 2012 - The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) turned over an elementary school named Maendeleo to the delegate of the students' parents in Kiliba, territory of Uvira, in an official ceremony.

Roughly $ 18,000 were contributed by MONUSCO Quick Impact Project to complete the project placed under the supervision of its child protection section office in Uvira and a Non-Government Organisation ADIK (Action pour le développement intégré du Kivu). Jointly led by the chief of MONUSCO office in Uvira and the chief of the town of Kiliba, the ceremony was attended by a delegate of the students' parents, teachers and students. The school is in Kiliba, the district of Londoni; it has 6 class rooms and 4 latrines; It will accommodate 300 students, 40% of which will be girls; the school will function with a morning session (primary school) and an afternoon session (secondary school), according to the school headmaster Mulimani Bwami.

ADIK thinks Maendeleo (development in Swahili) is an ideal a solution for the children left out of school in Kiliba since 1994, following the closure of the Kiliba sugar refinery. The situation was further aggravated by the 1996 war with the enlistment or conscription of children by warring factions. In a bid to solve the problem, students' parents took some initiatives, amongst others: securing an authorisation to open the school in 1994 and premises to build the school. The plot was contributed by the chief of the territory. Parents' committee, for their part, donated bricks, tables and workers. Mindful of the school reintegration and protection of the child rights, pursuant to its mandate, ADIK found all these potentials in its field of action. Mandated by the parents' committee, ADKI knocked at MONUSCO's door for assistance to complete the building of the school.

On Thursday 19 April 2012, as part of its QIP projects, MONUSCO's Pakistani peacekeepers handed over in a ceremony presided by their battalion commander, Colonel Naveed Aktnar, a big public school rehabilitated by them in Uvira. The work includes refurbishment of 5 classrooms, repainting of walls, reinforcing roughcast and installing electrical power.

Laurent Sam Oussou/ MONUSCO