JRS Great Lakes

Number of people served in 2017: 57,457

With a regional office in Goma, JRS Great Lakes coordinates the provision of education, psychosocial support, and livelihoods projects to vulnerable refugees and other forcibly displaced people in the region.

The JRS Great Lakes region was set up in 1995 in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide and other widespread ethnic violence. The first team was dispatched to Bukavu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and JRS quickly spread to other parts of the Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. Since then, JRS teams have accompanied people uprooted by violence largely due to the exploitation of ethnic identity and the struggle over land and precious natural resources.

JRS is currently present in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Tanzania.

In North Kivu, JRS runs vocational training in jobs such as carpentry, basketwork, sewing or soap manufacturing, promote the socioeconomic empowerment of the IDPs.
In North Kivu, JRS runs vocational training in jobs such as carpentry, basketwork, sewing or soap manufacturing, to promote the socioeconomic empowerment of IDPs. (Sergi Camara/Entreculturas)
Urban refugees attending a JRS livelihood training in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Urban refugees attending a JRS livelihood training in Bujumbura, Burundi. (Jesuit Refugee Service)

Contact

Regional Office:

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo

+24 399 018 9794

Regional Director:

Eric Goeh-Akue SJ