Project partners

To realize the project, we work closely with three organizations in the Congolese province of South Kivu. In addition to our main partner who is located in the provincial capital of Bukavu, we have two partner organizations which work directly on the project site Idjwi and are familiar with the structures there.

ECP

Our main project partner “Coordination Provinciale des Ecoles Conventionnées Protestants au Sud-Kivu” (CP-ECP / SK) is a coordination center of the National Union of Evangelical Churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has its headquarters in Bukavu. ECP is in charge of all Protestant schools in the South Kivu region. At the end of 2015, ECP and EWB jointly initiated the present project with idea “Electricity through Hydropower”. The role of ECP will be project management regarding administrative and legal matters. In addition, our main project partner ECP will take on the social responsibility for the comprehensive awareness of the local population for the project. This will be done through the approach of “Information and Participation”.

CPR

One of our partners on the island of Idjwi is “Center de Promotion Rurale” (CPR) – an NGO founded by the Protestant community “Communauté Baptiste au Center de l’Afrique” (CBCA). The aim of CPR is to improve the living conditions of the people of Idjwi. This is done, for example, with health stations and agricultural projects aimed at securing food and reforesting the island. In the course of the project, CPR will be responsible for sensitizing the local population. Furthermore, it will support the project with its vast experience in project evaluations and it will be represented in a future committee responsible for the hydropower plant and electricity distribution.

PROLASA

Our other partner mentioned above who is directly at the project location is “Program de Laïcs pour la Santé” (PROLASA), founded in 1985. PROLASA, originally a medical aid program operating a mobile clinic and an orphanage, has now expanded its project portfolio and is very committed to diversifying the highly agricultural-dominated labor market.

The pioneering work of PROLASA building a hydroelectric power plant to supply an emerging industrial campus is the starting point for the planned expansion of the power grid. We can rely on the technical staff on the already collected technical and logistical experience of PROLASA. Thus, structures already exist that will later be in charge of the long-term maintenance of the plant.

PROLASA has completed large parts of the small hydropower plant on its own and with the support of other partners. Concerning the network expansion and the revision of the power plant for a long-term use, PROLASA has asked our university group for support.

These project partners are part of our strong local network which has its origins in one of the project initiators of EWB, who has been working with the evangelical community CBCA for about 5 years. His father has been cooperating with ECP and CBCA on a regular basis for about 15 years, which allows us to draw on long-term relationships with leading employees as well as hydro-electric specialists at the universities of Goma and Bukavu.