Communities in DRC hold on to hope as Church workers struggle to keep life-saving aid flowing

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), our neighbours are facing desperate shortages of food and medicine as global aid cuts take their toll. Yet across the country, local Church volunteers and community leaders continue to care for their neighbours, offering food, shelter and hope even as resources run dangerously low.

At a high-level meeting in Paris this week, world leaders gathered to address the worsening situation in the Great Lakes region. The Democratic Republic of Congo, already suffering from decades of conflict, displacement and disease, is now being hit by devastating global aid cuts.

According to the United Nations, more than 21 million people in the DRC urgently need humanitarian assistance, but current funding can reach only a third of them.

Despite these enormous challenges, the Catholic Church remains a lifeline, present in every province of the country. Through CAFOD’s local partner Caritas Congo, and alongside other Church networks, vital aid continues to reach those most in need, running health centres, schools and emergency shelters when many international agencies have been forced to withdraw.

“Cuts in global aid are a man-made crisis,” said Abbé Edouard Makimba, Executive Secretary of Caritas Congo. “We have not left the DRC, and we will not do so. We risk our lives every day to bring aid and protection to our communities. We urge the decision makers gathered in Paris: see us and support us.”

Caritas Congo and local Church volunteers have already provided over £2.6 million worth of food, shelter and medical care to people displaced by violence in eastern DRC. But this work is becoming increasingly difficult as essential supplies, including medicines for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, begin to run out.

“The Paris Conference is a wake-up call for international solidarity,” said Christine Allen, CAFOD’s Executive Director. “While aid budgets may be shrinking, the scale of human suffering is growing. We cannot turn our backs while millions go hungry. The Church is there, on the frontlines, and we must stand with them.”

Bernard Balibuno, CAFOD’s Country Director in Kinshasa, added:

“This crisis shows the human cost of aid cuts. We welcome the UK’s presence at the conference, but words must now turn into action, into funding that reaches local organisations saving lives every day.”

CAFOD is calling on governments and donors not to overlook the crisis in DRC, and to ensure that support flows directly to local community groups who know their people best.