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IPHD provides American food commodities donated by USDA to almost 500,000 primary and pre-primary or kindergarten children worldwide in prepared meals daily.  In the Congo Republic, IPHD feeds 140,000 children, including pygmy children in Lekoumou Province.  This is often the only full meal these children eat each day.  IPHD provides a meal of rice or beans, cooked with American vegetable oil. This is complemented with local foods purchased by IPHD, such as sugar, fruits, flour, cassava, and similar items.  Almost all of the country's rice and beans are imported and what is available on the local market is too expensive for the parents of these children.  IPHD bought locally and distributed through school lunches almost 500 tons of local foods, besides over 9,000 tons of US-donated commodities.

  

Besides providing a school lunch daily, eaten on school premises, IPHD has published posters and manuals for schools on malaria prevention, provided deworming medicines, zinc and Vitamin A capsules to 213,480 pre-school and primary school children in 228 schools, distributed over 10,000 mosquito nets through schools, trained over 200 school directors, teachers and school inspectors in malaria prevention, and provided school supplies to 1,629 schools.  IPHD has also constructed 160 school kitchens, purchased cooking utensils, and rpaired 60 school buildings.  Four other schools were repaired with the help of US Navy teams.

In 2007 and 2008, the malaria prevention program, along with provision of educational supplies, and improvements in school kitchens will continue to be IPHD activities. Up to 50 additional schools will be repaired, along with improvement of water supplies for schools.  Latrine construction is a part of the school repair program.  IPHD began in 2002 to develop community school support groups and parent/teacher associations.  All of the schools in the coastal province will have PTAs or school support groups by the end of 2008, allowing IPHD to transition these schools to the Congolese Government and local groups.  This may be the first African program to start the transition to local support and resources. Community support has increased from zero to almost $100,000 annually.

School attendance has increased from 75 percent in Niari Province to 88.3 percent.  In Bouenza, it rose to 95.5 percent because of the attraction of school lunches.  In Lekoumou Province the enrolment of pygmy children in 14 primary schools went from 35 in 2001/2002 to over 1,000 in 2006.  In the same period,  national enrolment in schools with school lunches increased 10-12 percent.

USDA has also funded a school gardens project for IPHD in Lekoumou, and provided funds for over 9,000 scholarships for school materials/supplies.

In 2006-2007, IPHD received 75 tons of dehydrated vegetable soup from USAID for schools in the coastal province, benefitting 24,000 children. 

Besides the school feeding program, IPHD manages a wide range of development projects inthe Congo Republic, many of which are supported by USDA.  These include the following projects:

  • Vocational Training of Youth and Ex-militia:  Through the Salesians, Caritas and other training schools located in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, IPHD has trained almost 1,000 boys and girls in woodworking, electricity, welding, auto repair, masonry, plumbing, sewing, hairdressing, and other marketable skills.  About 50 percent of the trainees were ex-militia youth learning a skill so that they could be reinserted into the life of the nation as productive citizens.

Woodworking/Carpentry

  • Farm Fund:  IPHD has made small loans and grants to almost 2,000 farmers for seeds, tools, animals, and other needs.  This program includes a component to plant cassava that is resistant to the blight affecting this part of Africa.
  • Women's Loan Fund:  A total of 400 loans have been made to women's cooperatives and groups, with over a 90 percent return rate.  This allows women to set up income-generating activites such as a market stall to sell food, undertake food processing, organize a sewing or clothing shop, and other projects which have raised family income by 40 to 110 percent.  This is the only fund of its kind in the Congo Republic.
  • HIV/AIDS Project:  IPHD began its HIV/AIDS activities in the Congo in 2001.  Much of its focus was on sensitizing young people about the disease.  Through local organizations such as Molo Molo and PRESEIC, young adults and children developed skits or plays for their schools around the theme.  Plays were also broadcast by seven radio stations.  CDs and video cassettes were developed and distributed to nearly 3,000 teachers for use in schools.  Several rap songs were produced.  Over 1,000 students were trained as "peer educators", along with several hundred teachers.  A study by IPHD shows that HIV/AIDS is increasing in the country.  While it is around 5 percent nationwide, in cities such as Pointe Noire it is 8 to 9 percent.
  • Cash/Food-for-Work Program:  IPHD provides food commodities or cash of up to US$4.00 to workers for each day worked on a community project.  IPHD has completed over 150 projects. These include bridge repair, road repair and construction, repair of school buildings and clinics, cleaning irrigation and drainage ditches, and other projects - employing 10,000 workers.
  • Fishing Development: IPHD supports river fishing groups located along inland rivers.  Since protein is lacking in the diet and river fishing was almost destroyed in the recent civil war, IPHD is providing funds to rehabilitate the river fishing industry by supplying nets, outboard motors, small boats, refrigeration, and through educating fishermen on marketing.  Over 10 groups have benefitted, increasing their income by over 100 percent.
  • Small Business Loan Fund:  This is one of the most successful activities developed by IPHD in the Congo Republic. Over $1.0 million in credit has been provided to small entrepreneurs and cooperatives to establish a small business or to expand a business.  Over 500 loans have been made, benefitting almost 2,000 people.  One of the most successful small businesses supported by IPHD is the chocolate factory in Pointe Noire.  IPHD helped purchase equipment for the factory and provided business and marketing training to the owner.  The factory employes 10 workers and produces small chocolate bars, and a chocolate spread similar to "Nutella".  IPHD helped "Chef David" to improve and expand his pizzaria in Brazzaville - producing the best pizza in the country.  He now has two restaurants.  Some 30 household furniture shops received loans, 65 small restaurants were helped, along with an animal feed production plant, cell-phone business, ice-cream factory in Dolosie, and many other small businesses.

Generator for the Chocolate Factory

  • Medical Assistance:  Through Medical Missionaries in Manassas, Virginia, IPHD received two containers of medical equipment and drugs valued at over $1.0 million.  In addition, Medical Missionaries sent a team of eight doctore and nurses in 2006 to care for the sick who were too poor to receive other medical attention.  The team worked in Pointe Noire, reaching out to families in slum areas of the city.
  • Emergency Aid:  With the help of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance of USAID, Texaco, and Chevron, IPHD was able to respond to the needs of flood victims in December 2006 in the Brazzaville area.
  • Other:  IPHD has shipped a container of toys and games for school children, a container of canes for the blind, and provides other forms of assistance to the Congolese people.

In summary:  IPHD has provided nearly $44 million in cash and in-kind resources to the Congo Republic since 2000.  Its aid program has benefitted over one million Congolese.