DR Congo

The issues keeping families in poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are deep and complex. Although the DR Congo has a wealth of natural resources, a decades-long civil conflict has impeded food security, market access, and poverty reduction. The social fabric of the country has been torn; millions of Congolese have been displaced, tribal tensions run rampant, violence erupts daily, and hope is hard to find.

Despite humanitarian aid interventions, extreme poverty and hunger persist across the DR Congo. Although the agricultural sector employs nearly 70 percent of the active population and produces 44 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), rural small-scale farmers struggle to provide for their families and lack the resources and training to succeed.

Plant With Purpose’s pilot program was launched in summer 2015. The program is centered in the Kakumba Watershed of South Kivu. Plant With Purpose has stable networks in South Kivu and is leveraging these connections to ensure the success of this pilot program.