Living Peace Institute (LPI) is a non-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of equality between men and women and the prevention of the gender-based violence. LPI is actively involved in the restoration of peace and gender promotion among couples, in the households and in the conflict-affected society at large.

An International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) conducted by Promundo Institute and the study on masculinity and gender-based violence in DRC conducted by UN Women have established a strong link between men being victims or witnesses of the violence in an armed conflict and perpetrating violence in their homes and communities.

Those studies, conducted in the context of post-conflict countries, concluded that educational activities and therapeutic group session help participants develop positive copping strategies to restore healthy and non-violent relation in a post-conflict situation.

Since mid-nineties, the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has witnessed activities of armed groups operating mainly in the provinces of North and South Kivu. These armed conflicts not only created a situation of persistent insecurity but also caused serious human rights violations.

The impact of those armed conflicts on the local population is disastrous on several levels. In a special way, women, girls and children have suffered enormously as victims of sexual violence perpetrated by men during this long period of armed conflict.

According to the International Men and Gender Equality Survey conducted in 2002, in DRC’s province of North Kivu, up to 40% of women and 23% of men have been victims of sexual violence.

The same survey found that male victims tend to manage high levels of stress and trauma. Unconsciously, to protect themselves from anxiety, these men resort to strategies that allow them to momentarily reduce their sensations of vulnerability. These strategies include the abuse of alcohol and drugs, fighting and violence against women and children.

Hence, males who are victims of violence perpetrated by other males in turn become perpetrators of violence, creating a vicious cycle of violence at home, in the community and in society at large.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), especially the eastern province of North and South Kivu, have experienced armed conflict for over the last two decades. Paradoxically, those conflicts which were conducted by men have exposed individuals’ vulnerability and man’s vulnerability in particular. . To vindicate his masculinity, man, victim of the violence uses violence towards his wife and children as a way of trying to vindicated his war-affected masculinity and overcome his vulnerability.

LPI was created to provide psychosocial support to war-affected men, perpetrator and victim as the same time, by inculcating in them positive masculinity through therapeutic group sessions among themselves. To achieve this, LPI targets vulnerable populations including the youth, men and women affected by the war.