From Margins to Mediators: How Women are Leading Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo

July 2025

In Kasai, a province torn apart by years of armed conflict, more than 200 women are resolving disputes, rebuilding trust, and stepping into leadership roles once considered out of reach.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of country with a population of 105 million has faced complex challenges and unrelenting instability. The Kasai Province alone experienced violent conflicts that killed 5,000 people and displaced more than 1.4 million people.? Amid this turbulence, the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has played a modest but strategic role promoting an inclusive approach, empowering local actors, especially women and youth, to lead peace from the ground up.?

A recent independent evaluation of PBF’s engagement in DRC over the past five years from 2019 to 2024 highlights peace dividends triggered by the Fund’s support in areas such as social cohesion, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and local governance.? One standout initiative is the project “Strengthening the role of women and youth in local governance and peacebuilding”, launched in 2021 and implemented by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN Women. Set against a backdrop of a community devastated by armed. At the heart of the project had an ambitious vision:? restore social cohesion?? and empower the most excluded groups including women and youth.

At the center of this effort are 200 women trained as community mediators – women, who, just a few years ago, were excluded from public life and decision-making. Today, they are resolving disputes that once escalated into violence: from land conflicts and family feuds to inter-community tensions. .

"We couldn't move from one hill to another after the 2017 conflict," says a member of the newly formed network of women mediators. "Now we can."

Their work doesn’t stop at mediation. The impact of the project goes beyond conflict resolution.

Women mediators are breaking down barriers in a region where patriarchal norms once barred them from influence and leadership roles. The project also contributed to the MONUSCO transition, including by supporting local peace mechanisms.

Thanks to the networks and trust built through the project – first supported by MONUSCO and later by the PBF – some of these mediators have assumed leadership roles in provincial administration and even the National Assembly in Kinshasa.

A local official mentioned that these women mediators “showed that peace is not just the absence of violence, but the reality of inclusion.”

In a region where international peacekeeping missions are drawing down—MONUSCO is progressing towards its disengagement from the DRC—the work of PBF-supported initiatives is clear: sustainable peace must come from within. By equipping communities with tools to manage tensions and by elevating women and youth as peacebuilders, the Fund is helping to lay the groundwork for a more stable and inclusive future.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) portfolio evaluation is now available on the PBF website .

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