Summary of the Congo Project
The Congo Project is based in the post-conflict context of the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), in an area that has been severely damaged by the 1997-2002 civil war, the Pool Region. In this area all essential services have been interrupted; furthermore, agricultural techniques have regressed to subsistance forms and the commercial circuits for local products have been disrupted. The populations’ life standards and the local economy have deteriorate to the point that external support has become necessary.
The Rural Development Project in Congo (Congo Project) was started by Avec International immediately after the end of the war in 2002. The aim of the Project is to fight poverty, underdevelopment and the rural exodus which have affected the area since the war started (1997). The Project is rebuilding the necesary conditions for an efficient and sustainable agriculture, through the following initiatives:
- Providing specific knowledge and equipment for Avec Congo the locally-based partner of the project to allow them to analyse needs and problems and to plan and enact solutions
- Helping the reconstruction of essential services for the population
- Providing organizative support to the local farmers and their families
- Diffusing knowledge to promote productive and environmentally sustainable agriculture and stock-breeding
- Enhancing the production of homegrown vegetables to fight malnutrition
- Ensuring the transformation and commercialization of rice, corn and other local products
- Restarting stock-breeding as a fundamental component of local intergrated agricultural cycles
The Project is divided in three parts:
- Capacity-building for Avec Congo (completed)
- Supporting local education (completed)
- Restarting local family-based agriculture and stock-breeding (in progress)
Click here to see detailed information about the Congo Project (in French).