Fight against Gender based violence in schools and other settings.

AIP works to fight against all forms of gender-based violence in schools and other settings.

AIP Girls protesting agains gender based violence after a women was murdered by her husband.

Many other aspects are affecting girls and their schooling!

Fighting sexual violence in schools

Though statistics are clearly lacking at the moment, there is however growing evidence showing that misuse or rather the malicious use of social media by young people in the school environment significantly contributes to girls’ wastage or dropout. For unknown reasons, some individuals do blackmail some girls by divulging intimate

images and / or sound elements on them, thus durably attempting to their dignity and smearing their personality. Without psychosocial support or appropriate counselling, many of the victims end up dropping out of school because they cannot bear the weight of shame and stigmatisation. This is quite an insidious and silent scourge going on in the school environments in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the moment, and thus affecting girls schooling.

In 2018, some such cases were reported at the Shaumba High School in Kinshasa. In the second half of 2019, there was another case that hit the headlines in the city of Kinshasa about a gang rape of a 13-year-old girl by classmates whose photos were widely shared on social media. Unable to bear the brunt of the stigma at school and in the community, the whole family had to relocate elsewhere to give themselves the chance to rebuild psychologically. AIP was able to assist the girl survivor, her sibling and her mother by providing psychological and judicial support. As a result the girl and her sister have recovered and have gone back to school. In view of the above, including the likelihood of many unreported cases, and considering the risk of seeing this scourge escalate in the school environment of the DRC, AIP continues to engage all concerned stakeholders (girls, boys, parents, state officials, etc.) to ensure girls are fully protected and their rights upheld. This includes education or raising awareness on girls’ rights, morally arming them to denounce abuses, as well as providing holistic care to the survivors, which includes referral for medical attention, if necessary, provision of psychosocial support, and accompaniment of

judicial redress, among other things. To start this programme activity in 2019, AIP randomly visited 3 high schools in Kinshasa where more than 400 youth were sensitised on girls’ rights and protection.