D.R. CONGO CENTER FOR WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY
(Information, Training – Research -Solidarity – Crisis Unit)
A COMMON CAUSE UK PROJECT
Limete –Kinshasa-DRCWPSC – A Centre for Women’s Empowerment (Capacity Building)
Established in 2021 in Limete, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the DRC Women, Peace & Security Centre (DRCWPSC) is a socio-economic initiative that is run by Diaspora Congolese women based in the United Kingdom (UK), to provide capacity building for women. Inspired by the legacy of the late Cecile Faray, a renowned Congolese stylist and seamstress, who passed away from Ovarian Cancer in 2019, the Centre honors her memory by
utilizing her donated equipment to operate a Sewing Workshop Project.
Mission and Objectives: The Centre’s Sewing Workshop Project aims to enhance the capacity of local Congolese women through various approaches:
- Collective Income Generation: Bringing together local Congolese women seamstresses to work collectively as a team in an income-generating industrial production cooperative.
- Training and Awareness: Providing training on teamwork building, social cohesion, women’s rights, legal frameworks, peace, and justice through sewing and other enterprise.
- Skill Development: Offering training in pattern design for superior finished products, particularly in the reproduction of different washable sanitary products on an industrial scale, along with other items like aprons, clothes, and bedding.
- Local Product Accessibility: Producing affordable local products for sale within the community.
- Hygienic Pad Distribution: Producing large quantities of reusable washable cotton hygienic pads for free distribution to women and girls, particularly in deprived areas and internally displaced refugee camps.
- Environmental and Educational Impact: Promoting environmentally friendly sanitary products, educating on physiology, menstruation, recycling, and eco-friendly healthcare to minimize plastic use and address period poverty and violence against women.
- Crisis Unit Linkage: Linking the Sewing Workshop to the Crisis Unit on Violence Against Women of the DRCWPSC, to raise awareness, provide holistic support for survivors and disseminate information and literacy.
- Community Engagement: Sewing useful products to be sold at affordable prices within local communities, fostering economic empowerment and sustainability.
Through these efforts, the DR Congo Women, Peace and Security Centre (DRCWPSC) seeks to create a supportive and empowering(capacity building) environment for Congolese women, promoting economic independence, social cohesion, and environmental stewardship.
Mail Contributions to:
Friends of the Congo
1629 K Street, NW Ste 300
Washington, DC 20006
Memo: Center For Women Peace & Security