Democratic Republic of the Congo 2024-2026 IFRC network country plan (MAACD002) – Democratic Republic of the Congo

NATIONAL SOCIETY PROFILE

The Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC Red Cross) was created in its current form in 1961 as an auxiliary structure of the public authorities in the humanitarian field. It was admitted to the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 1963. The National Society has a branch in each of the 26 provinces and 245 territorial committees, and a large network of trained and motivated volunteers and staff. The DRC Red Cross is equipped with provincial disaster response teams with 110 trained members, a regional disaster response team with 10 trained members, and a national disaster response team with 30 trained members.

With its decades of experience in helping the most vulnerable people, the National Society has extensive experience in responding to epidemics of cholera and Ebola, disasters including floods, volcanic eruptions and landslides, and population movements. In 2022 alone, the DRC Red Cross reached over 9.4 million people with long term services and development programmes, and 5.7 million people with disaster response and early recovery support.

The DRC Red Cross is finalising its Strategic Plan 2024-2028, following an evaluation of its Strategic Plan 2019–2023 and other assessments. The draft Strategic Plan articulates priorities of the National Society to further strengthen its organizational development, and to improve the quality of its services for the benefit of vulnerable people in the five domains of community health, risk management and addressing the consequences of disasters, youth, protection, gender and inclusion, and promotion of humanitarian values and the fundamental principles of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement