Our Story

The Association of Working Children and Youth of the DRC (AEJT - DRC) was founded in 2008 in Uvira, on the initiative of a group of young community leaders and former child workers, who were aware of the alarming situation of street children, working children and marginalized youth in the country's urban areas.

At that time, the Congolese capital was experiencing an explosion in the phenomenon of children living and working on the streets, a direct consequence of armed conflicts, chronic poverty, domestic violence and mass school dropouts. These children were not only invisible in public policies, but also stigmatized, exploited, and often victims of police or social violence.

AEJT - RDC was born from an urgent, local and internal observation: the young people themselves wanted to create a supportive, peer-to-peer structure, to offer a safe space, listen to their needs, and build with them concrete alternatives for social and professional integration. The organization was based on essential principles:

• Child-centered approach: children and young people are at the heart of decisions and activities, and are seen as agents of change.
• Community anchoring: action starts from the bottom up, with families, neighborhoods and local structures.
• Innovative small-scale solutions: AEJT first set up clubs for working children, victims of early violence, educational discussions, awareness-raising activities through street theater, then educational and professional micro-projects.
• Progressive capacity building: AEJT has grown through local and international partnerships, while maintaining inclusive governance, focused on the direct participation of young beneficiaries.

Today, AEJT - RDC works in several provinces of the country, in favor of education, vocational training, sustainable agriculture, sexual and reproductive health, protection, citizen participation and inclusion through sport, emergency education, assistance to natural disasters, peaceful resolution of conflicts, peace and good governance with the conviction that every child, woman and person regardless of their past, has the right to dignity, security and a better future.