Kinshasa, 15 june 2010 - The Stabilization Funding Board (SFB) of the Stabilization and Recovery Funding Facility for Eastern DRC (SRFF) chaired by Prime Minister, Adolphe Muzito and Deputy SRSG, Fidele Sarassoro approved five programmes, amounting to US$ 5 million after reviewing a number of projects developed within the framework of the STAREC/ ISSSS (acronyms for Stabilization and Recovery Plan/ International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy) to support the fight against sexual violence which will be implemented by a number of UN agencies in partnership with the government of D.R.C. and international as well as local NGOs.

The first programme focuses on struggle against impunity in South Kivu and Ituri. It envisages that Congolese government in collaboration with local and international partners will support access to justice for victims of sexual violence. The activities are aimed at reinforcing judicial capacity, access for victims to free judicial aid, lawyers' special training and communal leaders' training. A number of data centers have been planned to register and handle sexual violence cases for South Kivu and Ituri. These will be equipped with requisite paraphernalia and will be connected to the central system in Kinshasa. Judicial officials are planned to be imparted necessary training and reports on criminal statistics will be published regularly. The program has been scheduled for 18 months with the SRFF funding of US$1.0 million approximately.

The second programme, Protection of Vulnerable Groups and Prevention of Sexual Violence will be implemented in various localities of Ituri and South Kivu in partnership with the government, UN, international and local NGOs. The aims of the programme are, protection, reduction and prevention of sexual violence while backing the local partners and creating awareness of sexual violence among local communities. The programme uses various techniques of sensitization for creation of a protective environment. It will be implemented over the course of a year with a budget of approximately US$1.6 million finance by the SRFF.

The third programme, Security Sector Reform aimed at reducing sexual violence in South Kivu and Ituri will be implemented in partnership with the government, UN, and international agencies. The goal of the program is to train some 2300 FARDC personnel in the fields of human rights, sexual violence, discipline, code of conduct, etc., while reinforcing their institutional capacities for prevention and reduction of sexual violence cases in South Kivu and Ituri. The programme is planned to be implemented over 12 months with a total budget of US$ 1.25 million.

Multi-sectoral assistance is the underlying theme of the fourth programme which focuses on health, medical, psychological, social, economic and legal support, rehabilitation and reinsertion of survivors in community as the salient features of the strategy adopted in fight against sexual violence. The government with its international and national partners will strive to arrange access of sexual violence victims to requisite facilities. The objectives of the programme are expected to be attained in twelve months with a budget of more than US$2.25 million.

The fifth one is a comprehensive programme to be jointly set up by government, UN, national and international NGOs for improvement of information and management of data on sexual violence cases. Real success of preventive actions, protection and sensitization, multi sector intervention, struggle against impunity and security sector reforms will depend on genuine and authentic statistics. A number of areas and partners have already been identified to collect, analyze and validate data on sexual victims in Ituri and South Kivu provinces. More than a half million dollars have been allocated for the project which will run over a span of 12 months.