There are many organisations working in eastern DRC and beyond who have had experience of providing livelihoods through re-integration programmes for vulnerable groups, from World Bank funded large scale programmes providing livelihood assistance to tens of thousands of vulnerable people, to small scale community-led initiatives. The approaches range from vocational training for young people to mining co-operatives for women to micro-finance for individuals.
It can be particularly challenging providing livelihoods to vulnerable groups and community stability can be challenging as a result. Peace Direct has funding for a workshop which hopes to take place in eastern DRC in September 2012, to exchange knowledge and experience between experts in the livelihoods field and to develop models of best practice for providing livelihoods to vulnerable groups who may be at risk of violence. The applicability of these approaches will then be trialled by a small group of local organisations to refine the model and learn lessons for future projects.
As part of the planning stage for this workshop, Peace Direct is currently looking for livelihood experts and those with relevant experience of reintegration programmes. We are looking for a range of participants from local civil society, government, UN agencies and INGOs to attend and provide input to the content, direction and format of the workshop.
If you are interested in attending the workshop then please let us know by emailing John Bainbridge ([email protected]) with a short description of who you are and what your experience is. Please feel free to circulate this call to others.
