The experience of World Vision DRC
These are deeply challenging times for people like me who are working on the frontline in the Eastern Zone of the DRC. I continue to hear stories like that of Justine Tumaini, a 13-year-old girl and student of Buhimba Primary School in Busanza village of Eastern DRC. Justine and her friends had no access to latrines in their school, and had to try to find a latrine in neighbouring schools. But, every time they were chased away. Instead, they were forced to go the bathroom in the bush, which comes with a high risk of infection and sexual abuse. Thankfully, Justine participated in our education in emergency intervention, which offered free school fees, school materials, and teacher trainings.
Given the changing nature of the context in Eastern DRC, we (World Vision DRC) adapted this programme to include a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) component in schools, allowing girls and boys to access proper latrines. This gave Justine and her friends options to address the immediate issues, while we, and our partners, work towards developing community resilience, peace, and longer-term, improved health outcomes in Busanza and the surrounding area. We were able to quickly and appropriately adapt this programme because of World Vision’s Fragile Context Programming Approach (FCPA).
Why is adaptive management important?
Numerous reports from NGOs, universities, and UN Agencies all affirm that humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding needs in fragile states and protracted crises are interlinked, but corresponding interventions are often not. According to a UNOCHA analysis, inter-agency humanitarian appeals now last an average of seven years, and the size of appeals has increased by nearly 400 percent in the last decade. This situation requires urgent adaptation. One of the key concepts as outlined in the New Way of Working is the multi-year timeframe which focuses on funding operations built over several years to achieve context-specificity and, at times, to address moving targets. However, this is not the typical way of working for many in the humanitarian community, therefore the approaches used by the sector require urgent adaptation.
This blog is part of CDA’s From Where I Stand series, designed to listen to people most affected by aid as they explore and amplify their leadership experiences, stories, and lessons for the aid sector.
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