After two years of implementation marked by numerous political, security, and health challenges, but also the beginning of achieving results, the programme continued for the third period during which the results acquired began to be consolidated and capitalised. Achievements during the period include the establishment and/or operationalisation of 33 civil society forums and consultation frameworks set up in the six provinces, the local human rights units set up in Kinshasa, and the 12 human rights cells set up in Kinshasa and the Kasai provinces Central and Lualaba. In addition, 6 multi-stakeholder dialogue frameworks have been established at the local level by LYREC (4 in Kinshasa, 1 in Kasai, and 1 in Kwilu) and 6 by Cehaj 1325 (3 in Kinshasa, 2 in Lualaba and 1 in Kasai)- while the CEJP has installed 4 in Kananga, Inongo, Kikwit, and Matadi. This makes a total of 61 dialogue frameworks established at the end of the period.
The civic education module on Human Rights and on the rights of women, youth, and persons living with disabilities that were designed in year 2, was validated in year 3 by 30 members of the urban division of education and schools headmasters and 36 experts on gender and the rights of persons living with disabilities. The strategy for integrating the module into the basic education system, and its piloting from the next school year, has also been developed during the period. Currently, advocacy is underway to ensure the integration of the curriculum in the official programme of primary and secondary education. As part of the advocacy, a technical note has been produced presenting the module and the process of integration into the basic education system. This is to ensure that the new Minister of Education is fully informed about all the previous processes and progress to date and to facilitate his support of the initiative.
Advocacy is underway with the authorities of the security services (police, army, immigration, and military intelligence) for better consideration of gender, in particular the promotion and access of women and persons living with disabilities to positions of responsibility (senior officers) as recommended by the baseline study completed during the second year of the programme. The study presented the current state of gender mainstreaming and the protection of the rights of vulnerable people in the security services.
The main challenge Diakonia faced during the reporting period was related to the weakness of partner organisations (late reports, high staff turnover especially of admin-finance staff which weakens certain partner organisations where capacity-building activities are started over and over; and generally weak finance management practices).
