While conducting interviews with nearly 60 SOS FED beneficiaries in Mboko recently, they frequently pointed to illiteracy and a lack of education as continuing concerns. Twenty-year-old Nyota Assumani was one of these women. Illiterate and having only completed a second grade education, Assumani sought SOS FED’s services, she says, “…because women in my village are often left behind due to a lack of education.”

The Congolese education system is in a dire state. The wars prevented an entire generation of children from attending school, and although free primary education is guaranteed for all Congolese under the 2006 constitution, the government spends only eight percent of its budget on education. Consequently, families are left to pay for the majority of educational costs on their own– making education unaffordable for many people, especially those living in rural zones. World Bank figures show that only 29 percent of students complete their first six years of schooling, with a much lower percentage finishing secondary school. Consequences of this educational deficiency range from continued economic difficulty to the luring of women to what some say is an easy way for those with very few marketable skills to earn a living: prostitution.

SOS FED aims to bridge the education gap in South Kivu by offering basic skills in a classroom setting. Classes are held three times per month and cover reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. Women are also taught about their legal rights and their options for recourse against abusers.

Back to Assumani: She tells me that she feels empowered by gaining an education, albeit belated. She is happy, she says, to have made this positive change in her life. She goes on to say that she envisions a world in which women can be elected president, become judges, or have other positions of power if they are provided with adequate education.

SOS FED classes are a small step, but they offer women better economic prospects, decrease impunity, and most importantly empower women to make positive changes in their lives. With lasting peace, Assumani’s vision will undoubtedly come to pass, but until then, NGOs like SOS FED have to fill in gaps to the best of their ability.

Nyota Assumani, twenty-year-old SOS FED beneficiary