As part of the Project for Trade Facilitation in the Great Lakes Region (Projet de Facilitation du Commerce dans la Région des Grands-Lacs –PFCGL), HEAL Africa is actively engaged in preventing gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment at the construction site of border infrastructure between DRC and Rwanda at Petite Barriere, Goma.

Placing women at the center of its approach, HEAL Africa recently held an advocacy workshop on the prevention and response to GBV, sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment in the main hall of Goma’s city hall on Friday, March 22, 2024. The main objective of this workshop was to raise awareness among the population of Goma, with a focus on residents of the Mapendo and Kahembe neighborhoods, which are in close proximity to the border infrastructure under construction, about the prevention and fight against GBV and SEA/SH.

During his opening speech, Goma’s mayor François Kabeya emphasized the crucial importance of organizing activities for preventing and responding to gender-based violence, exploitation, abuse, and sexual harassment. “This scourge constitutes a lethal weapon in the context of the war experienced by the province of North Kivu and particularly the city of Goma,” he asserted.

HEAL Africa’s approach is based on establishing a concrete and accessible mechanism for complaint management. A hotline, suggestion boxes, and safe spaces are made available to the community surrounding the border construction sites for reporting any acts of GBV, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment perpetrated by the construction workers and other stakeholders involved in the PFCGL project in the area.