From survival to governance: women of the Great Lakes on the frontline

Thirty years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the onset of cyclical conflicts in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, the international humanitarian and security architecture remains trapped in an obsolete paradigm: treating women in the Great Lakes region merely as victims or passive beneficiaries of aid.

The evidence gathered for this project tells a different story. From Goma to Kigali and across Bujumbura, women have driven an organic transition from survival to local governance. They operate as first responders, crisis mediators, and managers of invisible peace infrastructures.

This public showcase presents the findings of Nina Chizungu's FCRJ Activist-in-Residence project, From Survival to Governance, grounded in the analytical trajectories of 32 women leaders, activists and survivors engaged between December 2025 and March 2026 across the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi. Nina Chizungu is a Congolese feminist, researcher and human rights defender, and Programme Director and Gender Expert at Sote Pamoja RDC, where she leads cross-border initiatives connecting grassroots resilience with institutional reform.

The project has produced a feminist archive – photography, testimony and story – and a joint policy brief, co-authored with Sote Pamoja RDC and the Feminist Centre for Racial Justice, calling for a radical paradigm shift: from symbolic recognition of rights to the mandatory, well-funded integration of women as sovereign actors in regional governance and security.

The session opens with a live guided exhibition: Nina moves through four to five visual themes – photographs, testimonies, audio and video – before a moderated conversation with two of the women whose trajectories shaped the research. The session is facilitated by Lucia Kula and closes with the exhibition and music.

This event is presented in French, with live English interpretation.