Safe water for people affected by floods and conflict

DRC | CERF | 2024

DR Congo, Tshopo and Ituri.  In November last year, Mandoko, her husband, and their seven children had to flee their home when the Congo River flooded, submerging their village. "We had no choice but to flee," she recalls. "We found refuge in a church on the hill but lost all our food. Fortunately, we received help from relatives and neighbours."

Four months later, when the waters finally receded, they returned home to find only mud-covered wooden debris. "We lost everything," she recalls. "Now, we are gradually resuming our farming so that we can survive."

DR Congo grapples with some of the world's most complex humanitarian challenges. An estimated 8.7 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance, stemming from a mix of ethnic, territorial, and resource-based conflicts, compounded by natural disasters like these major floods.

Exceptionally heavy rainfall starting last December caused the Congo River to surge to its highest level since 1961, prompting the Government to declare a hydrological and ecological disaster. The flooding inflicted significant damage across the country.

Mandoko is just one of the 108,000 people displaced by repeated floods in Tshopo in 2024. The floods have destroyed over 5,000 hectares of farmland and crops, disrupting planting and leading to food insecurity and hunger as local market prices rise.

In addition, clean water sources – critical for people and their livestock to stay healthy - were contaminated or destroyed, increasing the risk of disease and making farming difficult.

In response to the crisis, CERF allocated $6 million from its Rapid Response window. Thanks to this support, UNICEF and partners rehabilitated 25 water points in the Tshopo area, reducing the risk of disease and helping families like Mandoko safely rebuild their lives.

A similar project helped communities in Ituri province, where people displaced by conflict were only able to get safe drinking water through water trucking: critical, but unsustainable and expensive in the long term. Clean water points also support women’s safety. Deborah, living in a displacement camp, explains that, “fetching water far from home can come with the risk of rape and violence. By contrast, being able to access safe water within the camp at the new water points is safer and more secure.”

Published November 2024

Based on an original story from OCHA, as well as recent UNICEF en RDC material,

More information on recent CERF allocations to DRC.

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