MAE/017
Support to the hospital and the Panzi Foundation

This project was designed to support the implementation and strengthening of the care model for victims of sexual violence set up by Dr. Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize 2018. Dr. Mukwege launched this initiative in response to extreme violence and widespread rape resulting from successive wars and persistent instability, of which women and children are victims in the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project covers the Panzi General Referral Hospital, specialized in several areas including the treatment of survivors of sexual violence and safe deliveries, as well as the Panzi Foundation, which links women to other social services to complement the work of the Panzi Hospital on the socioeconomic reintegration of women.

The Panzi Hospital faces various constraints keeping it from fully fulfilling its mission. For one, it does not currently have adequate equipment to take care of all its patients. The inadequacy and dilapidated nature of some of its buildings, but also the lack of suitable technical infrastructure and substantial overcrowding in in-patient care complicate the work of the nursing staff. Moreover, sanitary facilities and plumbing are insufficient and deteriorated. The specific objective of the project is to strengthen the support programme for victims of sexual violence at the Panzi Hospital and at the Panzi Foundation in order to improve the access of vulnerable populations to quality client-focused services beneficiaries by:

• improving access to referral health services at the Panzi Hospital by rehabilitating / extending and equipping some of its key areas, in particular those intended for victims of sexual violence, women with complex urogenital pathologies, and mothers with children;
• improving access to socioeconomic reintegration services through the Panzi Foundation by strengthening the role of mutual societies (MUSO) and support around housing, agro-pastoral activities, and agro-food processing, as well as training in carpentry;
• improving access to the Foundation's legal and judicial services (with a particular emphasis on victims and survivors of sexual violence) by building and equipping two legal clinics and supporting children’s access to land and civil registration;
• improving capacity building for the steering, coordination and management of the holistic Panzi programme as part of a participatory and inclusive process.

In its overall strategy, the project aims to contribute to the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence as well as to the care of victims and survivors of sexual violence in the province of South Kivu and the Ibanda health district in order to improve their health and living conditions and promoting their socio-economic reintegration.

The project’s entire intervention strategy prioritizes the cross-cutting theme of gender (equality between men and women) and, when necessary, will also contribute to the environmental theme.

The project is funded by the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and will be implemented in collaboration with the Luxembourg Red Cross.