This Carter Center initiative promotes collaborative action by establishing and supporting networks of like-minded organizations.
Mural art painted by Jason Kibiswa Bulambo in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ongoing conflicts, lack of accountability, and disregard for human rights have contributed to a history of violence and inequality for some of the most vulnerable populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Local civil society organizations and human rights activists are working tirelessly on the front lines to demand reforms.
The Carter Center has worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2007, when the Human Rights House was established. Human Rights House is one of three Carter Center programs in the country, including the Extractives Industries Governance Initiative and Election Observation Missions. The Human Rights House was established to help empower civil society organizations and strengthen their technical and organizational skills to carry out their work effectively.
The Carter Center aims to reinforce the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ability to determine its future in a way that respects the people’s will and serves their needs. The Human Rights House provides a safe meeting space for local civil society organizations to receive training, resources, and tools to help them become more effective in their work to address human rights issues at the local and national levels.
Human Rights House programming is divided into three areas: Women's Voice and Leadership, Human Rights Defender Protection Networks, and Youth Houses.
Since 2018, The Carter Center has been supporting local women's rights organizations trying to achieve reforms through local, national, and international efforts. Core partners receive multiyear financial and technical support to strengthen their capacity to improve respect for women’s rights.
The Center also provides smaller grants to selected women's rights organizations and activists looking to pilot responsive, impactful initiatives to address both emerging and enduring threats to women’s rights.
To read more about the Women's Voice and Leadership Project's impacts and partners, please visit the project’s French-language website, VLF Congo.
Since 2011, the Human Rights House has worked to promote the development and support of province-based solidarity networks that have the technical capacity and resources to respond rapidly to threats against human rights defenders.
The Carter Center enables six provincial protection networks comprising over 360 civil society organizations to engage in in-depth analysis, networking, and advocacy around issues affecting human rights defenders. The program has also built the capacity of the protection networks to respond quickly to the needs of women's rights advocates, anti-corruption reformists, and climate justice activists.
In 2016, The Carter Center partnered with local civil society organizations in Kinshasa and Goma to establish three Youth Houses, through which the Center works to increase awareness among young people of the principles of democracy and human rights and to foster an understanding of the power of their voices and their ability to make critical contributions to their communities.
The Youth Houses provided a venue for roundtables on youth engagement in political and public life, attended by thought leaders, government officials, and civil society representatives. The initiative also implemented a series of democracy and human rights-themed artistic competitions in Goma and Kinshasa. These relationships helped youth develop coherent, compelling messages to encourage youth engagement and tangible social and political changes within their communities.
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