Green Congo Initiative is committed to fostering resilience and addressing environmental, social, and economic challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The story of Green Congo Initiative began on the university benches, at the Faculty of Science of the Official University of Bukavu (UOB), in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As geology students, we were often required to visit natural environments as part of our academic projects. During these field trips, we witnessed firsthand the negative impacts of human activity on the environment. Deforestation, pollution, erosion… these were issues we could no longer ignore.
Faced with this reality, we decided, still as students, to informally come together and take concrete actions to help preserve the environment. Our goal was to contribute, in our own way, to improving the ecological state of the areas we visited.
After graduating, inspired by figures engaged in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation, we chose to formalize our group. Motivated by the desire to stop being passive, we officially structured the group, and thus Green Congo Initiative (GCI) was born in 2019.
We wanted to become solution-oriented actors, not just observers, by carrying out reforestation campaigns, raising awareness, and developing and implementing impactful environmental projects with both local and international partnerships.
Over time, despite challenges such as a lack of funding, logistical hurdles, insecurity in some regions, and limited institutional support, GCI has forged strong partnerships locally (with communities, universities, schools, and local leaders) and internationally (NGOs, youth networks, etc.). These alliances allowed us to build skills, launch more ambitious projects, and expand our geographical reach.
Today, GCI operates in three provinces in Eastern DRC: North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, with our headquarters in Goma, a strategic base for coordinating operations in often hard-to-reach areas. Our leadership team includes six members (two of whom are women), and we are supported by around 172 volunteers across the territories we serve.
We have collaborated with prestigious organizations such as the European Union, Louvain Coopération, UNICEF, YOUNGO, and others. These collaborations have enabled us to access funding, technical expertise, and increased visibility, allowing the public to recognize our work.
A core focus of our work is community reforestation, climate change mitigation, and environmental protection. In a context where the DRC loses approximately 500,000 hectares of forest per year due to slash-and-burn agriculture, mining, and illegal or informal logging, Green Congo Initiative aims to contribute to reforesting these degraded lands through its actions.
Our Work
Green Congo Initiative (GCI) is a Congolese organization working in the fields of environment and sustainable development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is officially registered as a local non-profit organization under registration number F.92/52.207.
Our vision is to make Congo a model of sustainable development, responsible environmental management, and social justice, where every citizen, especially youth and women, plays an active role in building a greener future.
We are committed to amplifying the voices of women, encouraging their participation in decision-making, and fully involving them in the design and implementation of our projects.
Our Strategic Approaches
Green Congo Initiative uses a set of complementary and coherent strategic approaches to effectively address environmental and sustainable development challenges in the DRC. These approaches guide our actions, inform our partnerships, and ensure long-term impact at both the community and national levels.
1. Environmental Protection
We prioritize concrete, nature-based, and sustainable solutions, including community-based reforestation, responsible waste management, and restoration of degraded ecosystems. These actions are carried out with and for the communities to strengthen local resilience to the effects of climate change.
2. Youth and Gender Inclusion
Environmental governance cannot be inclusive without the active participation of youth and women. We promote gender-sensitive governance through transformational educational projects, such as the creation of climate clubs in schools and by involving girls in environmental decision-making processes.
3. Climate Innovation
In response to the climate emergency, we integrate science, technology, and innovation into our interventions. This enables us to develop modern, adapted solutions from forest monitoring to the use of renewable energy and promotion of eco-friendly agricultural practices.
4. Community Resilience
We believe that communities must be at the heart of solutions. That’s why we use a participatory approach where beneficiaries become co-actors in projects. We also support a just ecological transition, ensuring that no one is left behind in the sustainable development process.
5. Awareness and Advocacy
Sustainable change requires collective awareness. We organize large-scale awareness campaigns, use community media and social networks to mobilize people, and actively advocate with authorities for better integration of environmental issues into public policies.
6. Capacity Building
We invest in training, community dialogue, and the development of environmental leadership, especially among young people. These efforts aim to equip local actors with the necessary skills to lead and sustain long-term change.
7. Strategic Partnerships
We embrace a multisectoral approach by collaborating with stakeholders from various sectors: local institutions, NGOs, schools, businesses, donors, and international networks. These partnerships enhance our impact and create lasting synergy between local initiatives and global commitments.
Flagship Projects by Green Congo Initiative
Among our most significant actions are large community reforestation campaigns carried out in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. Conducted in close collaboration with local communities, these campaigns have restored deforested sites, with around 2,000 trees planted. These trees were planted through the direct efforts of Green Congo Initiative (GCI), which has committed itself to planting at least 400 trees per year, despite having very limited financial resources. These efforts not only contribute to the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and the fight against erosion, but also raise awareness among rural populations about the importance of protecting natural resources.
In the town of Sake (North Kivu), we conducted a major training and awareness workshop focused on reforestation, waste management, energy transition, and environmental protection. More than 130 participants, both boys and girls from local civil society organizations, took part. The workshop strengthened their capacities and sparked a local movement toward taking concrete environmental action.
Green Congo Initiative also organized the National Youth Conference on Climate Change in the DRC (LCOY 2023), in partnership with YOUNGO, the official youth constituency of the UN Climate process. The event brought together over 500 young participants, including 150 in person from various provinces across the country. At the end of the event, the youth drafted and signed a policy position paper to be presented to international decision-making bodies on climate issues. The conference awakened climate consciousness among Congolese youth, increased their participation in decision-making processes, and amplified their voices both nationally and internationally.
See also: Inclusive Dialogues of Young Schoolchildren on Environmental Protection in DR Congo
Another major project was the Inclusive School Dialogue on Climate, carried out in Goma from October 2023 to April 2024. Over six months, the project led to the creation of six active climate clubs in six secondary schools and trained more than 400 students, 70% of whom were girls, on environmental and climate issues. The initiative introduced a strong climate education dynamic in schools and reinforced youth engagement in environmental protection.
Our Future Ambitions
Green Congo Initiative aspires to expand and strengthen its impact through the development of innovative projects in several key areas. We aim to further our work in reforestation and sustainable agriculture, promoting environmentally friendly and climate-resilient practices.
Gender equality remains central to our future actions, ensuring women’s active involvement in climate action. Strengthening the climate resilience of communities is a top priority, along with the promotion of a just and inclusive energy transition.
We also plan to intensify our efforts in waste management and in improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), always with the direct involvement of the affected populations.
Through these strategic areas, Green Congo Initiative seeks to contribute to a more sustainable, equitable, and ecosystem-respecting future.
Our Core Belief
“The climate crisis cannot be solved without the integration of science, technology, local innovation, and social inclusion.”
That is why we are committed to revolutionizing traditional responses to the climate crisis by prioritizing local, participatory solutions grounded in science and the lived realities of communities.
