| Administrative History | Allocations: 1961-1970, 1975-1976, 1978-1982; programme spending in 1994/95, for any subsequent spending, see later annual reports.
The Congo achieved independence on 30 June 1960. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also known as DR Congo, DRC, DROC, RDC, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply Congo. From 1971 to 1997 it was named Zaire. Leopoldville, now Kinshasa; Stanleyville, now Kinsangani.
SCF first began working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1964. The country was affected by fighting and political disruption which followed the declaration of independence from Belgium in 1960. SCF sent a team as part of the International Union for Child Welfare (IUCW) project to establish public health services at N'Djili Public Health Centre in Leopoldville. The programme included mother and child welfare, nutrition and hygiene education, and training of nurses and midwives. In 1965 a maternity section was added to the health centre. Special clinics were held to treat sickle cell anaemia and tuberculosis (TB), and provide immunisations.
In 1965 SCF set up a health and nutrition project in the Kivu province, where there was widespread malnutrition and starvation. SCF established a milk distribution scheme in Stanleyville, where there was an urgent need for food following recent fighting. In 1966 SCF began distributing milk, food, clothes and drugs in Kwilu. By 1967 the majority of food centres in Kivu were no longer needed, and some were changed into child welfare clinics, but work ceased when disturbances meant that the Health Visitor had to escape to Rwanda. SCF withdrew support from the DRC in 1967, due to financial complications caused by devaluation in the UK. SCF paid a 'bridging' sum of money to enable the IUCW to carry on with the work. In 1973-74 a grant of £55 went to aid refugees from fighting in Burundi.
SCF returned to the DRC in 1994. SCF set up projects relating to unaccompanied children and Rwandan refugees in the DRC. In the late 1990s SCF set up the Kinshasa Urban Programme and Emergency Health Programme in North Kivu, South Kivu and North Katanga. SCF was also involved in projects which supported rehabilitation of basic services and educational facilities for children affected by war in North Kivu and South Kivu. |