📚 Beyond food: building complete self-sufficiency

While access to sufficient and balanced food is essential for the survival and well-being of rural communities, it does not, on its own, guarantee true self-sufficiency. For vulnerable populations to sustainably escape poverty and build a better future, education and health must be integral to agricultural and nutritional efforts.

In many rural areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, illiteracy rates remain alarmingly high, particularly among women and children. The lack of school infrastructure, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the long distances to travel to reach a school discourage many families. At the same time, access to quality healthcare is virtually nonexistent, exposing populations to preventable diseases, high infant mortality, and delayed or nonexistent medical care.

🏫 EBaM: A plea for local education and healthcare

Aware of these challenges, EBaM actively advocates with local and national authorities for the construction of new schools and health centers in the most isolated rural areas. The objective is to:

• Reducing inequalities in access to education, particularly for orphans and girls;
• Promoting literacy among widows, in order to strengthen their autonomy and civic participation;
• To guarantee accessible basic healthcare, particularly for children, pregnant women and the elderly.

🏗️ A long-term vision: sustainable community infrastructure

Beyond advocacy, EBaM aims to build, in the medium and long term, its own schools and community health centers, managed in partnership with the beneficiaries themselves. These infrastructures will be designed to:

• To meet the specific needs of local communities;
• To provide quality education, adapted to the rural context;
• Providing primary healthcare, from prevention to treatment;
• Create jobs for teachers, health workers and support staff from the communities.

🌍 Holistic, human-centered development

By integrating education and health into its agricultural and nutritional activities, EBaM adopts a holistic, human-centered approach to development. The goal is to break the vicious cycles of poverty, ignorance, and disease, and to lay the foundations for a more just, educated, and resilient society.