Access to livelihood

In January 2018 a UN News story described how “Violence *in South Kivu+ has also prevented many people from working the fields to raise crops, fuelling a heightened risk of food insecurity and raising the possibility that thousands of children could suffer from malnutrition due to the lack of food”.

According to ACTED’s website access to humanitarian aid in Suith Kivu, especially in Fizi and Shabunda territories, is impeded by road conditions:

The activities of most of the organizations operating in the Fizi and Shabunda territories [South Kivu] are often slowed down or stopped because of the road condition. Access routes are impassable, preventing humanitarian workers to reach populations in need of emergency aid. Consequently, populations with already low incomes see their socio-economic conditions steadily deteriorating, in areas where basic necessities are particularly expensive.⁶³⁸

634 Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), CrisisInSight, Humanitarian Access Overview, May 2019, p.

7

635 Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), DRC (Sud Kivu) Fire in Ibanda municipality, city of Bukavu, 24 August 2018, p. 1

636 UNOCHA, Plan Opérationnel d’urgence 2019: Sud Kivu et Maniema (RD Congo), Jan- Jun 2019, 10 April 2019, p.8 [Unofficial translation provided by a COI researcher]

637 UN News, Restive eastern DR Congo home to one of world’s worst displacement crises for children – UNICEF, 25 January 2018

638 ACTED, Restoring humanitarian access to landlocked territories, undated [Last accessed: 17 July 2019]

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported in February 2018 that “The vast green fields and the abundance of water in South Kivu belie the fact that malnutrition and food insecurity are rife in that province. Families whose food needs and incomes are based on agriculture have been forced to abandon their fields to stay alive.

Each month, an estimated 1.9 million people in South Kivu do not even eat a meal every day.

Diseases that attack staple food, such as cassava and bananas, have aggravated the situation”.

Basing its analysis on country information compiled by a range of sources the Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) reported in August 2018 that “Access to drinkable water is a major problem in Ibanda [municipality in the city of Bukavu]. Overpopulation and a lack of funding mean the absence of a regular water supply is a recurring problem, and people living in Bukavu sometimes spend months without running drinking water. People resort to drinking unclean water from the river or digging wells in their land. These makeshift wells are often built near latrines, which poses serious health concerns and exacerbates the risk of waterborne diseases spreading. (AFEM 24/03/2017, Speak 13/11/2015)”.

The same source further noted that “Bukavu is in Stressed Phase (IPC 2) and food insecurity levels are expected to remain unchanged until January 2019. (FEWSNET accessed 22/08/2018)” and that “Only 58% of the population have access to drinkable water in Sud Kivu. (OCHA 21/08/2018)”.

In October 2018, food insecurity has had a major impact on the whole of the DRC and particularly in North and South Kivu described the Norwegian Refugee Council: “Some parents in South Kivu’s Fizi territory have taken their underage children out of school to send them to work in minefields so that money can be earned to feed the family”.

For its upcoming evaluation of World Food Programme’s (WFP) interim strategic plan, the Terms of Reference noted that “In 2018, the situation has deteriorated further: the Emergency Food Security Assessments (EFSA) carried out by WFP and partners in June 2018 in Ituri, Kasai, Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental, Maniema, North Kivu, South Kivu, Tanganyika, estimates that there has been a 100% increase compared to the previous year in the number of food insecure people (affecting over 13 million) and that there are 4.6 million malnourished children”.

The same source further noted that “From 2013 to 2017, the response of WFP in DRC was classified as a Level 2 Regional Emergency; following a deterioration of the security situation, in October 2017, the response was upgraded to a Level 3 Corporate emergency. The Level 3 emergency was initially declared to respond to needs in the Kasai region, but in May 2018, following a significant deterioration of the food security situation and an increase in the number of internally displaced people the

639 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, South Kivu: A spiraling humanitarian crisis, 22 February 2018

640 Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), DRC (Sud Kivu) Fire in Ibanda municipality, city of Bukavu, 24 August 2018, p. 2

641 Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), DRC (Sud Kivu) Fire in Ibanda municipality, city of Bukavu, 24 August 2018, p. 4

642 Norwegian Refugee Council, Hunger Levels Double in Congo as violence intensifies, 16 October 2018

643 World Food Programme (WFP), Terms of Reference, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO1: AN EVALUATION OF WFP’S INTERIM COUNTRY STRATEGIC PLAN (2017 - MID 2019), Undated [last accessed: 22 July 2019], para. 9

emergency was extended to include the Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tanganyika regions”.

Reach Initiative’s Joint WASH and Shelter Assessments in the provinces of Central Kasai, South Kivu, Maniema, Tanganyika, Upper Lomami, Haut Katanga, North Kivu and Ituri published in December 2018 stated [unofficial translation]:

Concerning the essential household goods sector (MEA), the sudden displacement and the partial or total destruction of conflict-affected villages in the provinces of South Kivu *…+ has created an emergency situation. This is exacerbated by the cyclical, multiple and prolonged nature of displacement and promiscuity in places and shelters. In terms of access to basic services, the situation remains critical. Health centers and schools were severely affected in the clashes, with major damage to infrastructure and equipment. The poor state of the road network throughout the territory must also be taken into account, as it restricts the ability of humanitarian organizations to conduct assessments and obtain information on the needs of the populations affected by the crisis.⁶⁴⁵

The same report further noted [unofficial translation]:

[I]n all provinces (49%), lack of transportation was the main barrier to market access for populations. A second obstacle mentioned by ICs [Informateur clé: Key informants] in a large proportion (32%) of surveyed AS [Aire de santé: health areas] is insecurity on the road to markets. The lack of a functional market is also an obstacle for the populations in 30% of the AS evaluated in SK *South Kivu+ *…+ the terminology “functional market” took into account the following criteria: a market on which most food and non-food products are accessible to people, which take place on a regular basis (at least twice a week) and located less than two hours walk back and forth. The lack of access to a functional market as defined here does not therefore mean the absence of markets in general. People sometimes have to make much longer trips to and from home or access certain products through smaller markets (local purchase) or through free collection. Subsequently, ICs were asked to indicate whether non-food items (NFIs) *…+ were generally available in these functional markets.⁶⁴⁶

UNOCHA reported in its ‘Humanitarian Overview 2018’ that with regards to food security [unofficial translation+ “In South Kivu, a deterioration has been observed since 2016 in the territories of Fizi and Kalehe. In 2018, they are, with Shabunda, listed in phase 4, as well as the territory of Kabambare in Maniema”.

The same source further noted that:

The nutritional situation remains alarming in South Kivu and in Maniema, with an overrun of the thresholds in the middle of the year [2018] in almost all priority health zones in the Operational Plan. Some worrying peaks have been reported in the territories of Fizi, Nundu, Kabambare, Salamabila and Ruzizi. The cholera epidemic that has broken out in September [2018] in the territories of Fizi and Uvira could have an aggravating impact. In Bijombo, where important population displacements took place in July and August [2018],

644 World Food Programme (WFP), Terms of Reference, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO1: AN EVALUATION OF WFP’S INTERIM COUNTRY STRATEGIC PLAN (2017 - MID 2019), Undated [last accessed: 22 July 2019], para. 31

645 Reach Initiative, Evaluations conjointes EHA et abris dans les provinces du Kasai Central, Sud Kivu, Maniema, Tanganyika, Haut Lomami, Haut Katanga, Nord Kivu et Ituri, December 2018, p. 9 [Unofficial translation provided by a COI researcher]

646 Reach Initiative, Evaluations conjointes EHA et abris dans les provinces du Kasai Central, Sud Kivu, Maniema, Tanganyika, Haut Lomami, Haut Katanga, Nord Kivu et Ituri, December 2018, p. 28 [Unofficial translation provided by a COI researcher]

647 See UNOCHA, APERÇU DES BESOINS HUMANITAIRES 2018, October 2018, p. 16 [unofficial translation provided by a COI researcher]

communities may miss the agricultural season, which would lead to a further deterioration of the situation nutritional.⁶⁴⁸

Basing its analysis on country information compiled by a range of sources the Assessment

Capacities Project (ACAPS) reported in May 2019 that “Food insecurity in Sud Kivu has

deteriorated in 2018 due to large-scale population movements which are the main driver of

food insecurity and malnutrition in the DRC (FAO 02/2019). In Sud Kivu, 3.65 million of 5.75

million people are food insecure, including 112,000 people in estimated to be in Crisis

(IPC-3) and 634,000 people to be in Emergency (IPC-4) for the period August 2018 – June 2019

(IPC Info August 2018). Fizi and Uvira territories are facing Emergency levels of food

insecurity with close to 400,000 people in Crisis and Emergency while Mwenga territory is

facing Crisis levels (41,000 people in IPC3) (OCHA, assessed 27/05/2019). Although

up-to-date data on food security in Sud Kivu is limited, violent clashes, internal displacement and

return movements are likely to negatively impact food security as food stocks are lost,

access to crops and livestock is limited, and markets in host areas are likely under pressure

(FEWS NET April 2019). In DRC, nearly 2 million children are suffering from severe acute

malnutrition (SAM); Sud Kivu is one of the worst affected provinces. (USAID, March

2018)”.