Kinshasa, June 2nd, 2026 (CPA). – The promotion of the fundamental rights of women and girls was highlighted in a project entitled “Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership (RWVL)”, launched on Tuesday in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), during a dedicated awareness day. “The project launched today will strengthen the promotion of the fundamental rights of women and girls, particularly gender equality rights. It will also enhance the organizational capacities of local women’s rights organizations while taking into account different social groups, including vulnerable populations,” said Arthur Matengo, representative of the Minister of Gender, Family and Children. The minister’s representative emphasized the strategy of increasing women’s political participation in decision-making positions at all levels, noting that the project will be implemented across the country’s provinces. According to him, the Permanent Framework for Consultation of Congolese Women, organizer of the event, has already embraced the concept of women’s leadership.
“That is why you do not wait to be given a place. You build the table, the chairs and the meeting hall alongside the Government and the entire community. You do so based on three truths: women’s leadership is not a copy of men’s leadership because, in the DRC, leading means reconciling fields and offices, peace and development, tradition and innovation. This is your strength. The second truth is that without peace, there is no leadership,” he said. Through this conviction, CAFCO has succeeded in placing women at the center of the peace building process, working hand in hand with men to build a fair society free from discrimination, he stressed.
“When a woman sits at the negotiating table, the agenda changes,” Mr. Matengo affirmed. The third truth, he noted, is based on training, financing and confidence. “The real obstacles facing Congolese women today are not a lack of skills, but rather limited access to information, financing and decision-making spaces,” he added. According to the women’s rights advocate, speaking about women’s leadership in the DRC means speaking about resilience—women who support families when everything is collapsing, who create businesses without access to credit, and who persevere while bombs are falling. “It is in this context that the Government of the Republic, through the clear vision of the President of the Republic, Head of State and champion of positive masculinity, has made the promotion of women’s leadership one of its priorities. This vision has been illustrated by the appointment of a woman as Prime Minister, a first in our country,” he said, before calling on concerned organizations to unite. “You have every interest in working together to achieve the objectives assigned by your organizations. Together, we carry more weight; together, we make decisions; and together, we can build better,” concluded the representative of the Minister of Gender. The DRC, despite its abundant natural resources, continues to face numerous challenges regarding women’s leadership. The Government led by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, with approximately 35 percent female representation, offers a ray of hope in a landscape still dominated by patriarchal structures. CPA/