From Survivors to Changemakers: U-Report Communities Growing within Internal Displacement Camps

Launched: August 2024

In July 2023, U-Reporters from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps from provinces designated as Level 3 Emergencies took the initiative to bring their participation to the next level by forming U-Communities in their camps. The SBC team organized a U-Report Tour dedicated to providing them with capacity-building training for the youth to support scaling their UCommunities. They also received mentoring and funding to help them learn skills and start their businesses, enabling them to achieve independence and meet their basic needs.

Background

The initiative was started by U-Reporters, who wanted to engage their fellow youth and transform their communities. Due to the violence from which they had fled and sometimes surrounded the IDP camps, many of these displaced youth were left feeling isolated and facing many challenges.

Goals and Methods

Strategy

• The communities were established to inspire displaced youth to act as positive change agents in their communities and become independent and strong.
• In each IDP camp, the management committee helps select 60 young people – half of which must be girls – to join five-day theoretical training on topics like entrepreneurship, employability, community engagement, protection from abuse, advocacy, and new citizenship.
• Next, they receive practical skills training to help them start small businesses to meet their needs.
• Finally, the displaced youth get financial help, equipment, and mentoring from a local youth group with expertise in entrepreneurship.

Programme resources:

• A total budget of USD250,000 included start-up grants for the companies established, didactic materials for the training sessions, arterial equipment for the U-reports clubs created, and allowances for the trainers.
• The UNICEF DRC SBC section provided RR Funds for the programme.
• The SBC U-Report officer was the main focal point for the field implementation team. He was supported by an SBC officer in the provinces and the Innovation manager coordinated activities.
• Three other colleagues participated remotely in the implementation of this programme.

Results

Young people in 16 IDP camps in eastern DRC (9 in North Kivu, 5 in Ituri, 2 in South Kivu) each formed U-Communities. Additionally, girls started 5 U-Report Girl's Clubs to discuss daily challenges and generate solutions. These clubs received tailored experiences from U-Report, such as polls and chatbots focusing on girls' issues. 

These U-Report communities collectively performed more than 50 U-Actions per week—ranging from clean-ups to PSEA sensitization— to improve health, social harmony, and family wellbeing in the camps.

More than 1,220 displaced youth – half girls – received training and funding assistance to start their businesses.

In North Kivu the provincial youth division set up a computer centre for digital training, for which UNICEF provided laptops. Each U-Community leader was also provided with a laptop and smartphone.

Through the initiative, 20,000 displaced youth joined U-Report, enabling them to contribute further to change by giving feedback on their living circumstances.

Learnings and Recommendations

Top 3 success factors

• Entrepreneurial empowerment: Youth received in-depth training in entrepreneurship, covering areas such as business planning, financial management, and marketing. Encouraged by these newly acquired skills, several young people have successfully launched small businesses offering services and products to camp residents, such as barbering, soapmaking, and solar charging. The U-Report training they received was designed to help them identify local skills and market needs and create products in response.
• Creation of community networks: Through training sessions on the U-Report platform, displaced youth have created support and mutual aid networks within their community, which they run themselves, supported by UNICEF. They use these networks to share information, support each other, and promote positive initiatives within the camp, reinforcing a sense of belonging and mutual aid.
• Social inclusion: Training provided by U-Report helps displaced youth overcome stigmas. By actively participating in community initiatives (U-Actions) and sharing their experiences through U-Report, they have contributed to greater understanding and empathy within the displaced community. With a lack of social cohesion in DRC leading to armed conflict, using U-Report to bring youth together from across the population can hopefully contribute to peacebuilding.

Key challenges

• Limited funds to help many more young people, with every community costing up to US$20,000 to establish. There are many camps in the east of the country with more newly arrived youth who have been suffering from violence and a lack of opportunities.
• Security risks: IDP camps can be unsafe sometimes, which can disrupt our implementation of activities. We cooperate with local leaders and camp staff to ensure U-Report activities have a safe environment.

Top things to do differently

• Analyze each IDP camp's needs, realities, and challenges – e.g., one camp might be facing a cholera outbreak while another is more challenged by violence – and customize training accordingly to make it more impactful.
• Further improve the feedback mechanisms and use this data to change and enhance U-Report Tour activities based on young people's needs and ideas.
• Schedule regular training sessions for new community members to improve their skills.

What worked?

• Turning challenges into opportunities: Some young, displaced people have turned the challenges they faced in the camps into entrepreneurial opportunities. For example, using U-Report training to identify local skills and market needs, they could create services or products that met the community's specific needs, thus improving their economic situation.
• Entrepreneurial Empowerment: In a displaced persons camp, a group of young people received in-depth training in entrepreneurship, covering areas such as business planning, financial management, and marketing. Encouraged by these newly acquired skills, several young people have successfully launched small businesses within the camp following the training streams, offering local services and products to residents.
• Creation of community networks: Through training sessions on the U-Report platform, displaced young people have successfully created support and mutual aid networks within their community. They use these networks to share information, support each other, and promote positive initiatives within the camp, reinforcing a sense of belonging and mutual aid.
• Social inclusion: Thanks to training programs on the U-Report platform, displace teenagers and young people are overcoming the stigmas they once faced. By actively participating in community initiatives (U-ACTION) and sharing their experiences through the platform, they have contributed to greater understanding and empathy within the displaced community.

What did not work?

• In some camps, young people lacked basic needs such as food and found participating in the U-Report Tour Programme wasn't a priority.

What’s next?

• Extend the U-Report Tour program to other IDP camps in the country, not just those in L3 Emergency areas – targeting 10 more in 2024. UNICEF DRC - Youth Engagement Case Study | 9
• Equip U-Report communities in the camps with materials necessary to implement their U-Actions.
• Continue the mentoring and apprenticeship program for displaced youth to empower them and help them recover socially.
• Ongoing digital Skills training.

Contacts

• Sophie Chavanel, Chief SBC, schavanel@unicef.org

• Norman Muhwezi, Innovation Manager SBC, nmuhwezi@unicef.org

• Aimé Kasereka, SBC Programme Officer, akasereka@unicef.org