IOM DRC Promotes Recovery in Former Rebel-Held Areas

GENEVA, Switzerland, February 14, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- IOM is expanding its activities to help internally displaced persons (IDPs) and affected communities in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through a new project: Human Security in Rutshuru and Nyiragongo Territories.

The pilot project is part of IOM's Dutch-funded DRC Recovery and Community Resilience programme launched in November 2013 following the withdrawal of M-23 rebels from Goma, the capital of the DRC's North Kivu province.

The project will assist in the return and reintegration of IDPs, invest in return communities and promote the return of key state functions in selected areas of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories.

IOM and the Congolese government have identified priority zones based on IOM-generated return projections. Local peace and development committees will be reactivated in targeted areas and will select and implement projects that focus on quick-impact community reconstruction and job creation.

The government urgently needs to re-establish key state functions in the area to fill a power vacuum, following M-23's sudden departure after 20 months in control.

IOM will provide a minimum level of support for returning civil servants. It will also provide them with capacity building training to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to improve community relations.

IOM will also help the government in planning, coordinating and monitoring the return and reintegration process, using data from information and IDP site management coordination programmes operating in the DRC since December 2012.

The programmes produce regular displacement site profiles, gap analysis maps and information on the movements and needs of some 200,000 IDPs living in IOM-managed displacement sites.