Partnership between Dynamo International and the Committee for Supporting Social Street Work (CATSR) in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Dynamo International has been collaborating closely with the Committee for Supporting Social Street Work (CATSR) since 2006, as well as with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS), and particularly the Directorate of Social Interventions for Child Protection (DISPE).
CATSR Mission
The CATSR’s mission is to value and promote social street work, as well as to contribute to developing structural and sustainable responses to the problems encountered in the field and experienced by the most vulnerable populations, particularly children in difficult situations. It is the social street workers, members of CATSR, who support children in street situations.
The rich and fruitful partnership between Dynamo International (DI) and CATSR has made it possible to implement a multitude of projects and above all to conduct effective advocacy campaigns with Congolese public authorities for a new child protection law in DRC. Thus, Law No. 009 on child protection in DRC was promulgated on January 10, 2009. Social street work is recognized in DRC, which constitutes a particularity on the African continent, even if public funding is slow to come.
DGD Program 2022-2026: Protection and multidimensional care for children in street situations and vulnerable children in DRC
This program aims to improve the lives of children in street situations and other vulnerable children in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. In DRC, very few children in street situations have access to basic social services. Thanks to this program, supported by Belgian cooperation (DGD) and Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI), several actions are implemented:
- Multidimensional support for children in street situations, particularly through socio-professional, family and community reintegration;
- Capacity building for social workers to better intervene in the field;
- Community awareness of the situation of children on the street;
- Consultation between actors in the child protection sector.
This program, which runs from 2022 to 2026, also contributes to strengthening the implementation of the child protection law in DRC.
Reception centers for children in street situations in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi: protecting and supporting children in street situations
In Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, two reception centers provide essential support to children in street situations. These structures offer them a secure space, personalized support and basic social services adapted to their needs.
The LIKEMO center — Kinshasa, active since 2017, welcomes an average of thirty children per day.
The JASKA center — Lubumbashi, inaugurated in November 2023, pursues the same mission in Lubumbashi. It hosts about 20 duty days each month, bringing together an average of 25 children per day. Each month, more than 500 meals are distributed and more than 100 medical treatments are provided.
Children welcomed in these centers can wash, receive medical care, eat balanced meals, participate in games and educational activities. They also benefit from psychosocial support and awareness sessions. Children are welcomed to the centers by social street workers, who regularly intervene in the city’s neighborhoods. The centers play an essential role in their educational, family or socio-professional reintegration.
Wallonia-Brussels International Project: Socio-professional integration of young people in street situations in DRC in Kinshasa / 2022-2024
This project is part of the continuity of projects supported by WBI from 2022 to 2024, implemented in partnership with CATSR. It aims to help young people in street situations, particularly girls, to learn a trade and integrate into professional life. In Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, they can follow training in shoemaking, vehicle washing or sewing. In addition to technical skills, they are supported to find employment or create their own activity.
Brussels-Capital Region Project: Socio-economic empowerment of young people in street situations in Kinshasa / 2022 — 2025
In Kinshasa, this project supports young people in street situations by offering them practical training in agroecology such as quail breeding, market gardening and beekeeping. Supervised by social workers and experts, these young people develop skills to launch their own activities or find employment.
This project also improves the functioning of the LIKEMO emergency reception center, which can thus produce part of its meals and offer new reintegration activities to young people welcomed at the center.
Programme partners
With the support of
