Thursday, October 30, 2024 – The World Federation Against Drugs (WFAD) and implementing partners -Synergie des Femmes (SYFES), Dynamique Actions Pour la Solidarité et le Développement (DASOD) and Interactions RDC – officially closed the Swedish Cooperation-funded Project “Sober Youth, Healthy Communities: Transforming Violent Youth in Kinshasa”, during a ceremony in the Great Hall of Kinshasa’s Collège Boboto School in the presence of Mr. Peter Moilanen and Cressida de Witte, respectively Secretary and Board Member of WFAD, and Programme Coordinator of the International Office located in Sweden.

The ‘Sober Youth-Healthier Communities’ project focused particularly on mental health and psychosocial support services, including parental support groups for these young people formerly stigmatized and discriminated in their communities and society at large; offering healing support and a socio-economic reintegration component, to facilitate hope, reintegration and sustainability of change among participants. The project provided support for young people from the outset of helping them to leave violent gangs, including psychosocial support at individual, family, community and institutional levels, through to reintegration through vocational training and income-generating activities.

M. Dandy Yela, WFAD’s Country Representative in the DRC and the first to speak at the ceremony, briefly outlined the background to the launch of the project in Kinshasa, pointing out that this ambitious program has also ensured the supervision, training, empowerment and eventual reintegration into families and communities of young people at odds with society, and that it is also part of the fight against drug abuse and the illicit marketing of drugs in Kinshasa and the DRC, especially among young people. The Programme National de Lutte Contre les Toxicomanies was represented at the ceremony by its Director, Patrice Milambo who also intervened to raise awareness of the harmful effects of drugs and other psychotropic substances.

Peter Moilanen, Secretary and Member of the Board of Directors, said: “15 years ago I represented one of the four founding organizations of WFAD. All four of us saw the need of more global action in the restrictive drug field and today I must say that I am very proud of the activities that has been done by WFAD together with our partners all around the world, not the least here in DRC.” 

“For those that do not know us, we are a global umbrella organization with over 450 member organizations in almost 70 countries. Together we work to strengthen prevention, increase access to treatment, and promote recovery. We work with advocacy, capacity building and projects.  Rights of women and children are of great concern. We have been implementing projects in various countries, such as Georgia, India, Kenya, Balkans (Europe), and of course here in the DRC. Today is the closing event of the project and that is why we have gathered here. In the beginning of the week my colleagues and I have visited the different parts of the project all around Kinshasa. I must say that it is an impressive result we have seen”. He added.

She highlighted that over the years, the project may have empowered many people, but the needs are still very much present. The city of Kinshasa still faces the problem of increasing numbers of young people joining kuluna gangs, using illicit substances, committing acts of violence and crime, and stirring up trouble in their communities. WFAD and its implementing partners have only worked with the tip of the iceberg, and to create sustainable change to build resilient and safe societies, activities will need to be continued while adding others covering the mapped needs observed throughout the years of implementation.  In order to coordinate the project on the ground, WFAD’s national office in the DRC, headed by Mr. Dandy Yela, opened in the same year. And in December 2020, the project was officially launched.

The project also offered socio-economic rehabilitation and reintegration through vocational training and income-generating activities. The latter have led to the creation of production units in which beneficiaries use their acquired skills to generate income. Throughout this process, the beneficiaries receive support from mentors. To ensure the sustainability of the project and offer a lasting opportunity for financial independence, WFAD and its partner NEHEMA are in the process of registering the business units as social cooperatives, whose Board of Directors includes not only the supporting organizations, but also the beneficiaries themselves.

The combination of all these activities is essential to create a sustainable transformation in which WFAD and its partners address the root causes of existing problems while equipping young people with the emotional and economic tools necessary for lasting change. By supporting both the young person and his or her family, providing pathways to education and/or employment, and fostering self-reliance, to break the cycle, inspire hope and ensure sustainable reintegration.

The project enabled the recovery of a total of 1,179 young people aged 16 to 35 – 450 men and 729 women, including 130 young people aged 10 to 13 reintegrated into families – who benefited from mental and psychosocial support with the support of implementing partners Interactions RDC and Synergie des Femmes (SYFES).

A total of 859 people – 354 young men and 505 young women – have been empowered through vocational training and employment opportunities. A total of 60 young people empowered through the production and sale of clean water; 63 young people in environmental sanitation; 418 young women in cutting and sewing; 62 young women in pastry-making; 21 young people (18 young men and 3 young women) in printing and screen-printing; 5 young people ( 3 young men and 2 young women) in hairdressing; 30 young men trained in agriculture and fish farming; 1 young woman trained in plumbing; 100 young men trained and empowered through the transformation of plastic into paving stones and fuel and finally 100 young men trained in driving school for vehicles and other machinery. To ensure the sustainability of these tangible results, 12 production units – cutting and sewing, pastry-making, printing, plastic processing – have been opened for beneficiaries to work in, and a mentorship program has been launched with partner NEHEMA and EQUITY BCDC to ensure better management of these production units.

Overall, the Closing Event marked the end of the project in which the youth have proudly shared their achievements and their inspiring journeys. Simultaneously it also marked a new beginning in which WFAD aims to continue to highlight the needs of the youth and provide new opportunities to more youth – a quest that was also shared by our beneficiaries. WFAD invites other civil society organizations, national and international authorities, and other relevant stakeholders to join in providing tools for youth while building the bridge to economic and emotional empowerment, reducing violence and crime and creating resilient and safe communities.