10 YEARS
OF TURNING PAIN TO POWER
1734 WOMEN
HAVE GRADUATED
In December 2021 , The City of Joy graduated 85 women in its 20th training session in women ’ s leadership . The next graduation will be held on June 23 .
To date , 1734 women have graduated from City of Joy , with our 21st class beginning on January 13 , 2022 . Graduates currently live in more than 65 villages of South Kivu , North Kivu , Maniema and the city province of Kinshasa .
Recruitment of the 21st class happened despite many challenges : heavy rain , lack of roads and bridges to access candidates and some security issues in the region . Recruiters walked miles on foot , and some travelled by ship , motorbike and bus to reach villages . The prevalence of Covid across the region also meant that staff took extra precautions ( masking , social distancing ). But we persevered !
We have an incredible team of 54 staff who work at City of Joy on a daily basis . This team is the heart of our program and was triumphant during the early days of Covid . A handful of staff hunkered down at the City of Joy with women so that programming could continue without worry of exposure .