Who are we?
DIOFAP is a network whose mission is to both contribute to the restoration of long-lasting peace and to promote and encourage women leadership in the Congo through supporting member organizations.

The 7 member organizations of the network include 5 women organizations (HAM, EPF, GAD, FADC and GRENIER) and 2 men’s’ organizations (CIRESKI and ADIF). These organizations all work together under the principle of men and women, all together, for the peace and the promotion of women leadership.

DIOFAP’s activities are fulfilled according to the following strategies:
● Training and the sharing of information
● Advocacy and lobbying for women’s rights
● Providing support and contacts
● Exchanging of experiences with other organizations
● Meetings

For decades, the inequality between men and women is a living reality in the province of South-Kivu, especially in our operating area in the Congo (Territories of Uvira, Fizi and Walungu).
That inequality is seen in all domains of life. In the field of prevention and conflicts resolution, we see minimal involvement of rural women in the three territories, yet they are the main victims of the re-occuring conflicts. Also, they are often excluded from negotiations that are aiming to manage conflicts in communities, and therefore are not commonly integrated into the peacekeeping strategies.

Truly, many women experience different kinds of rights violations on a daily basis. This can be seen in the household, in the family and at work. In all these places, women are simply not involved in decision-making.
Many families in our area invest in boys’ educations while limiting those of girls to 3 traditional subjects within basic education: reading, arithmatic and writing. In other families, the girl only goes to school given that all the boys in the family are educated and that the family still has the financial means to sponsor her education.

In order to combat this inequality, a combination of collective efforts from different partners is necessary. Therefore, the network DIOFAP has been created where a group of 7 committed organizations work to promote peace and women leadership.