Cash relief for families displaced by the armed conflict in DRC

You can send funds directly to families displaced by the current conflict in eastern DRC

Over 500,000 people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been displaced by the fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese government forces for control of the city of Goma (home to 2 million people) and surrounding regions.

Fleeing civilians have to abandon their already precarious livelihoods and most of their possessions to seek safety elsewhere. Three in four people in DRC are living in extreme poverty, and over 80% of GiveDirectly recipients said they had less than a day’s worth of savings when they received cash.

Despite the fighting, markets and shops are reopening, which means cash in hand can help displaced families meet their immediate needs like food, shelter, and medical care.

Your donations can reach impacted families quickly and fully remotely

With our partners, GiveDirectly has developed a first-of-its-kind method to deliver money remotely to civilians as they flee, getting cash in their mobile wallets just days after a displacement incident. 

Working with a local mobile network operator, we analyze cell-tower ping data to identify rapid departures from conflict-affected areas. These signals are then cross-checked against on-the-ground security reporting and conflict analysis to reduce false positives. 

Imagine as you are fleeing with your family to safety, your mobile phone pings with a ten-question enrollment survey that you can complete in two minutes over text message. GiveDirectly takes less than an hour to confirm your identity before sending funds to your phone, fully remotely. 

We’ve used this method to deliver emergency cash to 8,800+ people fleeing conflict, often within days and entirely remotely.

Cash helps families meet immediate survival needs and begin rebuilding

Most recipients spent the cash on immediate survival: food, temporary shelter, medical care, and essential goods lost or stolen while fleeing.

As urgent needs are met, some families use remaining funds to begin rebuilding: repaying transport debts, renting farmland, or buying seeds and tools to rebuild their livelihood. These early steps toward recovery were only possible because they had support quickly enough to avoid selling assets or falling deeper into debt.

You’ll also support a new technology that could transform humanitarian aid

This program is a major breakthrough, as it can take ~100 days for aid groups to get cash aid to families after they were displaced according to the SAFER Consortium. That is because most aid organizations carry out in person surveys of recipients, which are often made difficult due to access constraints and security considerations. Our method can reach them about 20x faster.

This approach also avoids dangerous in-person registration in active conflict zones — reducing risk for both families and aid workers.

Your donation can help us reach even more families fleeing crisis and scale up the use of this new technology, though we may also deliver funds to impacted families using other targeting methods. 

Our other emergency cash programs in the news

• Heatmap: GiveDirectly Is Giving Cash to L.A. Fire Victims, No Questions Asked
• AP: AI is being used to send some households impacted by Helene and Milton $1,000 cash relief payments
• Fast Company: How Google and GiveDirectly are using AI mapping to get cash to Hurricane Ian victims
• Aljazeera: Could AI save Nigerians from devastating floods?

Partner

• Flowminder

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