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Make a real difference...
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to communities across Africa.
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Share skills and knowledge...
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and sponsor children...
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to develop a better future
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...and change lives forever!
Since independence from Belgium in 1960 the Democratic Republic of Congo has
effectively been a battleground with ongoing wars and insurgencies that have
killed upwards of 5.4 million people, the most causalities of any war in
earth's history, save for the Second World War. Today the country continues to suffer from inter-ethnic clashes, military operations of armed groups, the illegal exploitation of resources and natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires. This ongoing situation has left the
Democratic Republic of Congo in 175th place out of 189 countries and territories in 2019 as ranked by the HDI (Human
Development Index) measured by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and
the World Bank which is based upon the life expectancy, literacy, access to
knowledge and living standards of a country.
15% of the Democratic Republic of Congo's child population are orphans, 770,000
of them orphaned through AIDS alone. However, most have become orphans a result
of the ongoing conflicts. We're talking about 5,000,000 orphaned children here ~
about the entire population of Scotland. Life expectancy for a child in the Democratic Republic of Congo is 60.68 years (2019)
with a child mortality rate (under fives) of 84.8 deaths per 1,000 births. The country's education system, despite attempts to improve it over the last two decades, suffers from both poor coverage and poor quality. 3.5 million children of primary school age are not in school and national data indicates that only 67% of children who enter first grade will complete their final primary grade.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2021 estimate that 27.3 million people (out of DRC's overall population of 89.56 million in 2020) need food aid and, of those, 7 million people face severe malnutrition.
Child sponsor programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo range from providing
practical help for displaced children in the east of the country with blankets
and shelter to working with orphans and abandoned children, improving access to
health and education as well as helping to develop the country's infrastructure. You can help when you sponsor a child in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: The Lighthouse Project
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: SOS Children's Villages
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Convant Kids Congo
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Worldshare
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Congo Solidario
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Mission Hurst
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Children in DRC
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Volunteer in DRC
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Child Sponsor Democratic Republic of Congo: Country Profile
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Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
