CRS in Republic of the Congo

Brazzaville is the capital city of the Republic of Congo, and to differentiate the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo (RoC) is often called Congo-Brazzaville. The country covers an area of 342,000 km2 (132,000 square miles), a territory which extends from the Atlantic to the heart of Central Africa. The RoC shares borders with the Central African Republic in the north, Cameroon in the Northwest, Gabon in the west, Angola in the extreme south-west, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the east and south.

Caritas in Congo

The national coordinating body of Caritas is often solicited by international organizations for program implementation due to their presence in the most remote locations of the country. Caritas Congo provides leadership support to all nine diocesan Caritas of the country. The local Catholic Conference of Bishops recently decided to reinforce its national Caritas team, enabling it to coordinate and strengthen diocesan Caritas partners in the Republic of the Congo. An internal assessment coupled with a CRS institutional capacity assessment revealed that significant capacity building was needed to achieve this end.

Health

Fight against Malaria with the grant from the Global Fund

CRS has been selected as principal recipient by the Global Fund to lead a high impact intervention program aimed at reducing mortality from malaria by 20%, through a mass distribution of 3,074,650 long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets. The implementation of the project wasdone in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health through its technical body, the National Malaria Control Program.

In addition to Strengthening of the Health Management Information System (HMIS) in the country the GF grant also includes other components to facilitate program implementation from the central to the community levels, such as:

• A KAP (knowledge, aptitude and practices) survey
• An entomological survey
• A post campaign survey
• Software and equipment for data management.

CRS' History in Republic of the Congo

Catholic Relief Services began its program in the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) in 1997 at the invitation of the country's Catholic Conference of Bishops with a specific aim to provide emergency assistance during the last years of a long civil war. CRS collaborates with Caritas Congo, a network of nine diocesan Caritas partners. From 2000 – 2017, CRS has been supporting Caritas/Congo, from its Kinshasa office, to implement emergency and development activities in the RoC. In 2017, a CRS funding of $171,000 enabled Caritas Congo to intervene in the Pool area for the distribution of essential household items to 5,000 displaced people. This assistance, deployed quickly under the leadership of Caritas Congo.