Gorilla Journal 31, December 2005

Activities of a Local NGO in the Surroundings of the Virunga National Park

This article is to introduce Voix de la Nature (Voice of Nature), or VONA for short, a NGO that supports conservation, the development of tourism, the promotion of peace and the reduction of poverty. This is a local NGO, which works on behalf of the environment and development in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was set up in 1997 with the following objectives:

  • To spread awareness of the region's fauna and flora;
  • To promote the sustainable use of renewable natural resources;
  • To support initiatives of the local population in the development of agriculture, fruit cultivation, construction and rehabilitation, leading to the self-sufficiency and development of the population;
  • To promote scientific research and activities such as reforestation and measures against erosion and landslides, which fall within the framework of protecting and rehabilitating the environment.

Currently, VONA has 589 members, distributed among the territories of Rutshuru, Masisi, Lubero, Beni, Fizi and Walikale.
Since its foundation, VONA has carried out several activities concerned with nature, health, development and rehabilitation. Amongst these has been a workshop funded by Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe on the management and conservation of Sarambwe. This workshop, in which the ICCN and its partners, local authorities, the national authority for the environment, the police and local NGOs participated, helped raise awareness of the importance of Sarambwe and its protection. Several recommendations were put into words by the participants; this is an important contribution to the conservation of this site because concrete activities followed.

Ex-combatants   Photo: Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo
These ex-combatants (81 in total) were demobilized by VONA and employed in the rehabilitation of social infrastructure.

Since then, VONA has been active in the area of reforestation, producing and planting 85,000 seedlings with financial support from UNDP UNOPS, and an additional 15,000 seedlings through the efforts of its own members. In the area of health, 24 public toilets were constructed and 8 others were restored in the public markets of Goma, after they had been damaged by the eruption of the Nyiragongo Volcano in 2002. Currently, VONA is focusing on contributions to conservation, the development of tourism and the promotion of peace in the surroundings of the Virunga National Park.
The previous decade has had a severe impact on the conservation of the Virunga National Park and on the population of its surrounding region. The ICCN reports that 109 guards have been killed in the defence of the park; the impact on the local population is more severe - there is no way of telling how much people have suffered. The same is true for the basic social infrastructure, such as schools, health centres, hospitals, dispensaries and rural roads: they have been completely or partially destroyed. It is therefore difficult to talk about conservation without mentioning development, without which the basic social and rural infrastructure cannot be restored.
VONA does not restrict its activities to reforestation and health in the public markets of the towns. It has also made several contributions to the restoration of rural and tourism roads in the Mikeno sector, and has undertaken the following projects:

1. Reconstruction of the 17 km Jomba-Chanzu-Source Kamira road in 2001.
Financially supported by IUCN and the World Food Programme, this had the following impacts:

  • Facilitation of the transport of goods from the local population centres to the markets;
  • Facilitation of the access of conservationists to tourist sites and the gorilla conservation sites of Jomba and Bikenge;
  • Facilitating the laying of a water pipe from Kamira to Jomba, organised by Mondo Guisto (Just World: one of the development branches of the Catholic Church); this pipe brings water to 35,000 people.
  • Restoration of trust and the introduction of an atmosphere of peace to the project workers;
  • Attraction of new members to VONA;
  • Spreading greater public awareness of the advantages of protecting the Virunga National Park.

2. Reconstruction of the 23 km road (also used by tourists) Rugari-Kanombe-Kabaya-Rumangabo. This has permitted:

  • Tourists to access the conservation site and the gorilla site at Bukima;
  • Heavy use of the road by people visiting markets and by lorries on the route Rumangabo-Kabaya-Bukuta;
  • Easy transport of agricultural and plantation products such as charcoal;
  • Improvement of the prospects of peace and the re-integration of former fighters, whether already demobilized or in the process of being demobilized;
  • The provision of paid work for over 100 workers for three months;
  • Again, spreading greater public awareness of the advantages of protecting the Virunga National Park;
  • A contribution to poverty reduction.

3. Reconstruction of the 19 km road from Kabaya to Bweza. This had the same effects as the rehabilitation of the road from Rugari to Kanombe (see above). It also allows people to enter the four groupements that form the border of the Mikeno Sector within the Bwisha community.

4. Public awareness to nature conservation in the Virunga National Park.

5. The dissemination of the Forestry Law of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

6. The rehabilitation of the Social Institute of Bunagana, which currently makes it possible for several secondary school students, particularly the children of the Bukima guards, to attend schools in Bunagana.

7. The construction of a maternity clinic in Bunagana.

Bunagana   Photo: Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo
Reconstruction of the social institute of Bunagana

None of these activities would have been possible without the support of ICCN, UNMC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), UNDP/COMREC (United Nations Development Programme), the World Food Programme, Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe, the collaboration of the local population, and the active members of VONA.

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo

Claude Sikubwabo Kiyengo conducted a gorilla survey in the Maiko National Park from 1989 to 1992, and in 1994 he took part in the gorilla census in Kahuzi-Biega. After that he worked for the ICCN in Goma and from 2000 to 2004 for the IUCN program PPP. After having worked for IUCN to develop programs that will be implemented during the next years, he joined ICCN again in 2006.

Virunga National Park overview

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