Democratic Republic of the Congo Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Democratic Republic of the Congo snapshot
Appeal highlights
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to the highest number of United Nations-verified grave violations globally, and one of the highest numbers of internally displaced people. An escalation of armed conflict in the country is severely impacting 14.9 million children, who are harmed by recurrent disease outbreaks, endemic sexual violence and growing access constraints – all exacerbating vulnerability and heightening child mortality. Increased military operations in 2024, along with hostilities expected after withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, will add to children's risks.
- UNICEF has prioritized life-saving interventions. Along with other cluster partners, it plans to cover at least 75 per cent of the cluster-specific populations in need for critical activities, subject to available resources. To enable a holistic humanitarian response, UNICEF will strive to provide integrated life-saving assistance while enhancing community resilience and social cohesion to pave the way for recovery. Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, gender considerations and prevention and response to gender-based violence will be integrated into all interventions.
- UNICEF requires $804.3 million to address the acute needs of children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Timely, flexible and multi-year funding will be essential for UNICEF to reach the most vulnerable crisis-affected and forgotten children.
Key planned targets
2 million children vaccinated against measles
933,574 children with severe wasting admitted for treatment
1.2 million children/caregivers accessing community-based mental health and psychosocial support
2.4 million people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water
Funding requirements for 2024
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the world’s most complex crises, and one of its most forgotten. The upsurge in armed conflict and intercommunal clashes in the country has resulted in huge levels of displacement and further aggravated chronic poverty, systemic weaknesses and people's vulnerability. A total of 6.04 million people are displaced, including 3.5 million children, making this the worst displacement crisis in Africa. Instability and difficult conditions are challenging children’s mental health and psychosocial well-being: In 2023, 14.9 million children experienced the worst effects of violent conflict, because they were exposed to extreme violence and put at heightened risk of abuse in often precarious living conditions.
The country accounts for the highest number of verified grave violations against children in the world, with close to 3,400 grave violations verified in 2022. In the first half of 2023, these violations increased by 41 per cent. The prevalence of sexual violence against girls rose sharply, with a 40 per cent increase in the number of verified cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence. Two out of five survivors assisted in 2023 across the country were children under 18. Moreover, with 900,000 children out of school, and more than 1,000 schools closed, the country is not only facing a lost generation of children without an education but is also home to children who are at a high risk for violence and child marriage.
Child survival remains fragile due to major epidemic outbreaks and persistent levels of wasting, and this will worsen as conflict and the reduced capacity of the health system persist. Measles outbreaks are wreaking havoc on children, with the number of suspected cases reaching 282,323, with 5,330 deaths reported, largely exceeding the total reported cases in 2022. Children are also facing the worst cholera outbreak in six years, with 42,672 suspected cholera cases and 357 deaths reported. In 2023, North Kivu was the province hardest hit by cholera, with more than 65 per cent of all cases in the country – 41 per cent among children under age 18 and more than 25 per cent in children under age 5. The cholera outbreak is expected to persist into 2024. Needs are further compounded by such extreme weather phenomena as flooding and landslides, which led to the death of 3,000 people in May 2023 in Kalehe, South Kivu Province. Such natural disasters are expected to intensify in 2024.
The nutrition situation in the country remains critical, with 15 per cent of health zones on nutrition alerts. The number of emergency nutrition alerts is 6 per cent higher than the same period in 2022. Throughout the country, more than 1.2 million under 5 years of age require treatment for severe wasting; 4 million women/children need protection services; 6.6 million children require emergency water and sanitation; and 1.6 million children require emergency education.
UNICEF’s strategy
While committed to prioritization, UNICEF will ensure that no child is left behind for all life-saving activities. In 2024, UNICEF will maintain its pivotal role as a front-line responder, prepared to deliver rapid, comprehensive, life-saving assistance and address the immediate and critical needs of vulnerable children, to ensure their multifaceted needs are effectively met. Gender sensitivity will be systematically integrated into the response.
To enable holistic humanitarian assistance, UNICEF will provide immediate access to essential services while placing the protection of children and their communities at the centre. Localization through community engagement and the empowerment of local organizations and existing structures remains the backbone of UNICEF’s strategy. This allows for improved effectiveness, acceptance and enhanced access to hard-to-reach areas while increasing overall efficiency and value for money. This approach also sets the stage for longer-term interventions. Linking humanitarian efforts with development interventions, so critical for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a major priority of UNICEF’s.
As crises occur, UNICEF and partners deliver vital, life-saving assistance to mitigate urgent needs and alleviate immediate impact. UNICEF’s localized Rapid Response Mechanism addresses dynamic vulnerabilities resulting from population movements and natural disasters, while the targeted rapid response to suspected cholera cases immediately breaks the chain of transmission. Vulnerable children, including those associated with armed groups, unaccompanied or separated children and those affected by gender-based violence receive tailored care and services.
UNICEF strengthens links between health, nutrition, WASH, education, child protection, mental health and psychosocial support and gender-based violence programming to safeguard children's lives and improve access to quality, inclusive assistance within protective, child-friendly environments. UNICEF focuses on improving access to basic WASH services, primary health care, immunization, prevention and early detection of severe wasting and referrals and treatment within communities and health facilities. To support responses to public health emergencies, UNICEF, with the Government and partners, contributes to the coordination and response of several outbreak response pillars. Community needs, including essential social services for children, adolescents and women, will be addressed while strengthening community resilience mechanisms. The use of humanitarian cash transfers will help to meet urgent needs, with impact maximized through multipurpose transfers.
UNICEF prioritizes protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and will continue to enforce a holistic and systematic approach to scaling up related interventions, as well as gender-based violence prevention measures, within all interventions through an innovative mechanism.
UNICEF leads the WASH, Nutrition and Education Clusters, the Child Protection Area of Responsibility and the non-food items working group and co-leads the United Nations Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism in the country.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.