Coming home and growing food again
In North Kivu, COPAD Grands-Lacs supports families rebuilding their livelihoods after displacement.
A woman holds maize cobs in her hands. In another photograph, a harvest is piled in front of a group gathered in a field. In images supplied by COPAD Grands-Lacs, the return to farming takes a tangible form: cultivated land, mature vegetables and harvested maize.
For families in Buroha, however, coming home does not mean returning to their former lives. According to COPAD’s field account, fighting forced residents to seek shelter in displacement sites around Goma or with host families. Some returned to damaged or looted homes, overgrown fields and damaged water infrastructure.
Buroha is in Masisi territory, North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here, bringing land back into cultivation is a step towards feeding a family and rebuilding a livelihood.
Growing maize in a field featured by COPAD. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
From abandoned fields to the first harvests
COPAD describes support combining seeds, agricultural tools, training and crop monitoring. Women heading their households are central to this approach, alongside other families returning after displacement.
The work continues long after planting. Fields need tending, crops need monitoring and pests need managing. The photographs show this daily work, as well as mature cabbages and harvested maize. COPAD reports that the fields it supports have been brought back into cultivation.
The aim is to help families improve their diets and develop more regular incomes. Between restarting cultivation and achieving a lasting improvement in daily life, further seasons of work and support may still be needed.
Mature cabbages in the field. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
Maintaining a maize field. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
Pooling resources in Rutshuru
In neighbouring Rutshuru territory, also in North Kivu, COPAD describes another part of its work: village savings and loan associations, known locally as AVEC. Members contribute regularly to a shared fund, from which they can borrow to support an economic activity. Interest paid on loans remains in the collective fund.
The approach aims to create access to finance within the group and gradually strengthen its resources. For COPAD, helping these associations become more independent remains a priority.
Treating plants in a maize field. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
Participants display harvested maize cobs. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
Rebuilding over time
A harvest does not end the difficulties. COPAD reports shortages of seeds, tools and other agricultural supplies, crop pests and poor rural roads that make it harder to transport produce to market. Insecurity and gender-based violence also remain concerns.
Preparing for future growing seasons, diversifying diets and strengthening savings groups are among the organisation’s goals. Continued support matters as much as the initial intervention.
In Buroha and Rutshuru, families are working to rebuild their livelihoods. COPAD supports that effort. The photographed maize cobs do not tell the whole story of returning home, but they show one stage of it: the land is producing food again.
COPAD Grands-Lacs, the Cadre œcuménique pour la paix et le développement des Grands-Lacs, is a Congolese organisation based in Goma. According to its organisational profile, its work covers food security, health, water and hygiene, protection and community development. Contact: info@copad-gl.com
A farmer holds maize cobs. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
Harvested cobs in the foreground, with a group in the field. Photo: COPAD Grands-Lacs.
