DRC: ACTED’s mobile CCCM strategy to respond to the needs of displaced populations in South Kivu

ACTED, through its project supported by the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), is responding to the most urgent needs of displaced and displacement-affected people in South Kivu and Maniema provinces. This multi-sectoral response project covers urgent needs in food security, water, hygiene and sanitation, shelter, and camp coordination & camp management (CCCM). The CCCM approach includes humanitarian information services.

In 2021, armed conflict in South Kivu spread to the Shabunda territory. The populations of nine affected localities (Ngoy, Bitaku, Katembele, Walubazya, Nyaminkundo, Zambya Kasugulu, Kabulongo, and Fundi) undertook a rapid displacement to calmer territories. In the space of five days, from 23 to 27 October 2021, almost 2,000 internally displaced families arrived in the territory of Shabunda, located on the Kiziba-Kitindi-Kikungu axis.

Map of South Kivu and ACTED’s intervention

Following a needs assessment and a vulnerability survey in these host territories, ACTED has identified the 4,868 most vulnerable families who then benefited from multi-sectoral assistance. These identified families were from both host and displaced communities. They have received food aid (palm oil, rice, cassava flour, etc.), household items (such as soap, tarpaulins, kitchen utensils) and personal hygiene kits (including underwear) to meet the needs of women.

Alongside the multi-sectoral emergency response activities, ACTED has adopted an off-site CCCM approach and provides management and coordination support to IDPs in host villages. ACTED is therefore monitoring the provision of protection and assistance services to IDPs and host communities in Shabunda in order to improve living conditions in the area.

Host and displaced populations are at the heart of local governance and coordination with humanitarian actors. ACTED supports the establishment of sectoral committees and the steering committee. The sectoral committees undertake development activities and community support. The steering committee, made up of elected members of the sectoral committees, accompanies the sectoral committees and raises their needs with humanitarian actors operating in the area. ACTED trains the members of these committees on topics such as:

• The CCCM
• Humanitarian principles
• Community participation
• Cross-cutting protection
• Information management

In this framework, ACTED carries out sensitization activities on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as gender-based violence. ACTED supports the constitution of protection committees, recruits and trains protection focal points within vulnerable communities.

Another component of ACTED’s CCCM approach in Shabunda territory is the construction of infrastructure, including two community centers in the localities of Itula and Kiziba – which are managed by the steering committees. Solar lighting has also been installed to ensure the security of the communities and to reduce incidents and aggressions at night.

In South Kivu, ACTED combines its assistance activities with the mobile CCCM approach in four territories: Shabunda, Mwenga, Kabare and Kalehe. Thanks to this approach, the assisted displaced persons and the host community are encouraged to participate in the life of the community and are sensitized to their rights. This approach allows them to be self-reliant and to contribute to their own protection, by managing the assistance they receive in a sustainable way. ACTED, through the mobile CCCM, increases the resilience of communities in order to provide local responses. In order to support displaced and host populations in South Kivu and Maniema, ACTED hopes to expand the out-of-camp CCCM approach in its interventions in Eastern DRC.

To go further:

• Displacement Tracking Matrix, IOM
• Food security response in Shabunda territory
• Camp Coordination and Management (CCCM), UNHCR