28/11/2013
Challenges and opportunities
The eastern of the DRC have been severely affected by the most recent conflict that has endured since August 1998. Women and children have been at particular risk of sexual and gender-based violence, and r**e has often been used as a weapon of war. This situation has caused alarmingly high rates of HIV/AIDS transmission as well as physical and psychological trauma.
Current estimates of child and maternal mortality in the Kivu region are 213/1000 births and 1,289/100,000 live births respectively. At 1,289 deaths per 100,000 live births, the DRC holds the world record for mother mortality, resulting in the loss of 585,000 children each year. This means that one in five newborn Congolese children will never reach the age of five. Among children under the age of five, 30% of deaths are caused by malaria, which claims the life of 300,000 children each year.
In Eastern DRC, 60 percent of households are headed by women. Many women are widowed mothers, struggling to support their families and keeping their children in school and with health care.
Given that female clients have historically demonstrated higher loan repayment rates and tend to invest more of their profits to better the lives of their children than do male clients, it is fortunate that over 90% of Mutuelle d’Epargne et de Credit de Goma (MECREGO) members are women. This constitutes a good opportunity upon which the KVHC project can rely.
