North Kivu remains deeply dangerous. Killings and massacres are part of daily reality for communities caught in ongoing conflict. Against this backdrop, Centre Résolution Conflits (CRC) is working to help communities rebuild the social bonds that violence tears apart.

In the rural community of Oicha, CRC organised a peace forum that brought together people who rarely share the same room. 90 participants, including 37 women, sat alongside representatives from the military and police, the National Intelligence Agency, and political and administrative authorities. Together, they identified the issues driving communities apart and discussed what needed to change. For many local citizens present, it was the first time they had been able to put their needs directly to the people with the power to act on them.

The conversation continued after the forum ended. Four follow-up meetings have since taken place, bringing together Oicha's deputy mayor and members of various political parties to work through how the forum's recommendations can be put into practice.

Alongside this, CRC organised five advocacy sessions giving activists the opportunity to put their case directly to Oicha's political, administrative and military authorities. The sessions gave local demands for social justice a formal setting in which they could not easily be dismissed.

In Oicha, people who have too often been left out of decisions about their own lives are now part of making them.