Scoutpreneurs drive youth-led change in DR Congo!
Scouts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) are tackling country-wide poverty, hunger and unemployment with a brilliant, youth-led solution involving… mushrooms!
How? Scouts started a mushroom cultivation project and are training Scouts and other young people to become mushroom producers; they are supporting these Scouts to then increase the production of more mushrooms and train more Scouts in the production technique. Young people involved with this project gain key skills in growing nutritious food to supplement their primary diet and that of their families. Importantly, they can sell any surplus generated to create an income.
Simple solutions deliver Skills
It's a simple yet effective Scout response to three of the most significant challenges facing communities throughout DR Congo; unemployment, food insecurity and malnutrition. An estimated 73% of the population live on less than $1.90 a day according to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate (15–24-year-olds) is over 35% (ILO 2020 State of Skills Report) and 27 million people are acutely food insecure and 3.4 million children are acutely malnourished (World Food Programme).
Skill development delivers occupations for youth.
It's changing lives. Meet Christian Shungu, now an Assistant Scout Trainer and Mushroom Growing Trainer:
As a new arrival in Kinshasa and unemployed, I was dependent on family members for my basic necessities. The mushroom cultivation project rescued me. Today, following training in mushroom production and seed cultivation (mycelium), related activities in our production unit, and training for trainers, I have become integrated into our community and have since trained other young Scouts. We produce mushrooms, market and sell our product. I have an occupation! Mushroom cultivation is not only a good project, but for me, it has been a tool for social integration, financial independence, the fight against famine and juvenile delinquency and has helped me to thrive”
Community impact for DR Congo youth:
· 956 Scout & 385 non-Scout Participants
· 3453 Scout & 9856 non-Scout Beneficiaries
· 94,545 hours of service delivered through this project
· Supporting SDGs 1, 2, 8
Watch Christian explaining his involvement in this video here (in French).
Young people are at the heart of the project
Christian tells us that this Scout project, places young people at the heart of the solution to build a better future for themselves and their communities within the broad framework of the “Food For Life” Scout Programme”, active in the Africa Scout Region since 2005.
I was unaware of the impact that this training could have in my everyday life. I can now obtain considerable earnings and help my Scouts to finance themselves by producing white mushrooms in a short time. I am proud to be a Scout and to know that the Scouts du Congo organise such training. This is a good thing for Congolese youth and community progress.” Ngwej Kabay Dan, Troop Leader of the Tshatshi Scout Group, Kinshasa
Environmental sustainability is hand in hand with project sustainability.
So why mushrooms? Simple: they are easy to cultivate, grow quickly, production and harvesting can be done at any time of the year, the material necessary for their cultivation is inexpensive — plant residues — and mushrooms are nutritious, deemed an excellent supplement to local diets, which are often based on chikwange (stiff dough made from cassava flour) and frozen Thomson fish.
We thank our mushroom trainers, the National Team for initiating this project, which is so important for our young people and World Scouting for supporting the implementation of this proposal.” Louis-Vincent Ngoy, Kinshasa Provincial Commissioner, Community Development, Trainee in mushroom cultivation
Environmental considerations also abound as the DR Congo Scouts support their mushroom production by gathering and recycling local organic waste to use in the soil as manure to improve yields. Fungi are one of the few organisms which feed on lignin and cellulose, elements present in much agricultural waste or derivatives from other producer activities, such as straw, coffee grounds, spent grain and sawdust. The Scouts also distribute the organic waste they collect to other small urban farmers.
Thanks to your donations!
Thanks to support from BP Fellows, DR Congo Scouts have increased their momentum and impact. The project delivers a national mushroom farm to host training courses, where profits from the sale of the surplus mushrooms are reinvested in the development of the project. From here, they have organised training courses on the entire mushroom production chain to skill 956 Scouts and 385 non-Scout participants, creating hundreds of traditional and eco-educational mushroom farms and additional family mushroom farms. Initial project reports estimated they had reached over 13,000 beneficiaries, and the impact continues to be amplified.
Future plans include the development of additional mushroom production training centres in other parts of DR Congo, alongside the continuation of peer-to-peer training on mushroom and seed production, to train even more young people in skills to help them break the cycle of poverty, hunger and unemployment.
Next time you see a mushroom, think of what it represents and how your wider support to World Scouting has helped young people in DR Congo to positively impact their own lives and the lives of their families and local communities.
Photo credits: Féderation des Scouts de la République démocratique du Congo
To discover more impactful Scout projects, visit our 2021 Annual Report.
FOOD FOR LIFE FUND
It’s easy to set up a monthly donation (recurring) via our website to enable more Scouts like Christian to learn production and entrepreneurship skills, boosting local food security and increasing employment opportunities.…and, of course, regular donations also count towards your lifelong BP Fellowship!
Click to DONATE to the “Food For Life Fund”